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Markdown to HTML Converter

Paste Markdown and get clean, semantic HTML back instantly, with a live rendered preview alongside the raw code — all generated locally in your browser.

Where this actually gets used

Markdown has quietly become the default authoring format for a huge amount of content that eventually needs to become HTML: README files, blog posts drafted in a plain-text editor, documentation, comments in platforms like GitHub or Reddit that support Markdown syntax, and static site generators. The gap this tool fills is the moment you need the HTML output itself — pasting formatted content into a CMS that only accepts HTML, embedding a snippet into an email template, or extracting the raw markup to inspect exactly how a Markdown renderer is interpreting your syntax.

How to use it

  1. Paste or type Markdown into the left panel — headings, lists, links, code blocks, tables, blockquotes, and inline formatting are all supported.
  2. The right panel shows a live rendered preview, so you can visually confirm the output looks right before extracting the code.
  3. Toggle to “HTML source” view to see the actual generated markup, ready to copy directly into a CMS, email template, or static HTML file.
  4. Use the “GitHub Flavored Markdown” toggle to enable GFM-specific extensions — tables, strikethrough, task lists (- [ ] checkboxes), and automatic URL linking — matching how GitHub, GitLab, and most modern Markdown editors actually render these extras beyond the original Markdown spec.
  5. A “sanitize output” toggle strips potentially unsafe HTML (like raw <script> tags someone might have embedded in the Markdown source) if you’re planning to render the output somewhere that accepts user-generated content.

Common situations this solves

  • Converting a README or documentation file into HTML for embedding on a non-Markdown-native platform, like an internal wiki or a marketing page.
  • Pasting Markdown-formatted content into an email tool that only accepts HTML, without losing formatting like bold text, links, or bullet lists.
  • Debugging why Markdown isn’t rendering the way you expect on a specific platform, by comparing standard Markdown output against the GitHub Flavored Markdown variant.
  • Extracting clean HTML from notes or drafts written in a Markdown-based note app (Obsidian, Notion exports, etc.) for use elsewhere.
  • Generating a quick HTML preview of a blog post or article draft before pushing it to a static site generator, to catch formatting issues early.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between standard Markdown and GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM)?

Original Markdown, as designed by John Gruber, is fairly minimal — headings, basic lists, links, emphasis, and code blocks. GFM extends this with features that have become expected in most modern contexts: tables, strikethrough text (~~text~~), automatic linking of bare URLs, and task list checkboxes. If your output looks different than expected on a platform like GitHub, it’s usually because that platform uses GFM extensions this converter needs the toggle enabled to replicate.

Does this support embedded HTML inside the Markdown?

Yes, standard Markdown allows raw HTML to be mixed directly into the source, and by default this tool preserves it in the output. If you’re converting untrusted or user-submitted Markdown, use the sanitize toggle to strip potentially dangerous embedded HTML before using the output anywhere that renders to real users.

Why do my code blocks lose their syntax highlighting in the HTML output?

The converter generates the correct semantic markup (<pre><code class="language-xxx">) for syntax highlighting, but the actual coloring depends on a separate syntax-highlighting library or CSS being present wherever you paste the HTML — the raw HTML alone defines structure, not color, matching how most real Markdown-to-HTML pipelines are designed to work.

Can I convert HTML back into Markdown instead?

This tool is one-directional (Markdown to HTML) by design, since that’s the far more common need — but reach out through the site’s tool request option if reverse conversion (HTML to Markdown) would be useful, as it’s a reasonable and technically straightforward addition.

Does it handle tables correctly?

Yes, with the GFM toggle enabled — pipe-delimited tables with header separator rows (| --- | --- |) convert to proper <table>, <thead>, and <tbody> markup, including column alignment if specified with colons in the separator row.