Markdown to HTML Converter — Live Preview
Turn Markdown into an HTML fragment with a live preview and one-click copy. Raw HTML in the source is escaped rather than passed through.
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Why the conversion is needed at all
Markdown is a writing format: plain text with a few symbols, readable and editable anywhere. Browsers do not render it. So something has to turn it into HTML — at build time, at request time, or once, by hand, here.
What you get is a fragment, not a page
The output contains your headings, paragraphs, lists and links as HTML, and nothing else. No <html>, no <head>, no encoding declaration, no styles.
That is not a shortcoming, and knowing it tells you what you can do with the result. Pasted into a page or a CMS field it inherits that page's typography and spacing, which is exactly what you want — the surrounding design governs how it looks.
Saved as a file and opened directly it will look unstyled, and accented or non-Latin characters may render as mojibake, because nothing has declared the character encoding. Both behaviours follow from the same fact.
What converts, and what does not
Supported: headings, paragraphs and line breaks, bold and italic and both together, strikethrough, inline code, fenced code blocks with the language recorded as a class, images with alt text, links, ordered and unordered lists, blockquotes, and horizontal rules.
Not supported: tables, footnotes, definition lists and other extensions. That is the one most likely to matter — a document with a table will lose it, so check before converting anything long.
One detail worth knowing rather than discovering: links are emitted to open in a new tab. If you want them to open normally, that attribute has to come out after conversion.
On code blocks, be precise about the promise: the language is written into a class on the element, which is what a highlighting library reads. It does not colour the code itself — that needs a stylesheet or a script on the destination page.
Raw HTML is escaped, not passed through
Markdown by design allows raw HTML inside it, and most converters reproduce it faithfully. This one escapes it. Angle brackets in your source come out as text, so an embedded tag appears literally rather than becoming markup.
Two consequences, and they pull in opposite directions. It is safe: pasted Markdown cannot smuggle a script tag through the conversion. It is also not CommonMark behaviour, so if you deliberately embedded HTML — an iframe, a details block, a styled span — it will not work, and you will need to add it to the output afterwards.
The safety point is worth stating carefully, because escaping here does not make rendering untrusted Markdown safe in general. If you accept Markdown from other people and render it on a live page, sanitise at the point of rendering. The risk travels with the input, not with this conversion.
When you would use it
- Pasting formatted content into a CMS that takes HTML but not Markdown
- Building an email body from notes
- Checking how a README will read before pushing it
- Getting a one-off document onto a page without a build step
A live preview shows the rendered result, with a toggle to see the HTML itself and a button to copy it. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded or stored.
For writing rather than converting — composing a longer document with the preview alongside — see the Markdown editor.
How to use the Markdown to HTML Converter
Takes about a minute. No signup, no download, your data stays in your browser.
- 1Open the tool. Scroll up to the Markdown to HTML Converter above — it loads instantly in your browser, no install needed.
- 2Enter your values. The fields come pre-filled with realistic defaults so you can see how it works — replace them with your own numbers.
- 3Read the result. The output updates instantly. Copy or share it — nothing is uploaded to a server, everything stays on your device.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about the Markdown to HTML Converter.
Does it convert tables?
No. Tables, footnotes and definition lists are not supported, and tables are the omission most likely to matter to you. A document containing one will come through with the table gone, so check for them before converting anything long rather than after.
Is the output a complete web page?
No, it is a fragment: your content as HTML, with no document wrapper, no head and no styles. That is deliberate, because it means pasting it into a page or CMS field lets the surrounding design govern how it looks. Saved as a standalone file it will appear unstyled and may show accented characters wrongly, since nothing declares the encoding.
What happens to HTML I have written inside my Markdown?
It is escaped and appears as literal text rather than becoming markup. That makes the conversion safe, and it also means deliberate HTML — an iframe, a details block — will not work. Add those to the output afterwards if you need them.
So is it safe to render Markdown from my users with this?
The escaping means this conversion will not turn a script tag into markup, but do not treat that as a general answer. If you accept Markdown from other people and render it on a live page, sanitise at the point of rendering, because the risk arrives with the input rather than with the conversion step.
Will my code blocks be syntax highlighted?
Not by the conversion. The language is written into a class on the element, which is the hook a highlighting library uses, but the colouring itself needs a stylesheet or script on the destination page. The output is correct markup for highlighting rather than highlighted output.
Why do my links open in a new tab?
Because that attribute is added during conversion. If you would rather they opened in the same tab, remove it from the output before publishing — worth checking, since inheriting new-tab behaviour you did not choose is a common surprise when pasting a fragment into an existing page.
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