What is a Markdown file?
Markdown is a plain-text formatting syntax from 2004 designed to stay readable as source. It has become the default for documentation, READMEs, static sites and AI tooling, because it is unambiguous to parse, diffs cleanly in version control, and converts easily to HTML or PDF.
At a glance
- Full name
- Markdown
- Extensions
- .md, .markdown
- Type
- Document
- Introduced
- 2004
- Created by
- John Gruber, with Aaron Swartz
- Compression
- None
- MIME type
- text/markdown
Strengths
- Readable as plain text, with no editor required
- Diffs cleanly in Git, unlike binary document formats
- Converts reliably to HTML, PDF and DOCX
Limitations
- No precise layout control
- Dialects differ, particularly for tables and footnotes
- Not suited to complex print typography
When to use Markdown
Documentation, notes, READMEs, blog content and anything kept in version control.
The output needs exact page layout. Convert to PDF for that.
Convert Markdown files
Every tool below runs in your browser unless it is labelled otherwise, so the file stays on your device.
Markdown to PDF
Converts Markdown files into a cleanly formatted, print-ready PDF, rendering headings, lists, links, and code blocks correctly.
PDF to Markdown
Converts PDF pages to Markdown, keeping full-page visuals, extracting text and images, with optional OCR for scanned pages.
Markdown to HTML
Converts Markdown source text into clean, ready-to-use HTML markup for publishing on websites, blogs, and inside emails.
HTML to Markdown
Converts HTML markup back into clean Markdown source, stripping out unnecessary tags and inline formatting along the way.
Markdown Table Generator
Turns CSV or tab-separated data into a properly aligned, ready-to-paste Markdown table for docs, wikis, and README files.
Markdown conversions
Each page states what the target format cannot carry before you run it.
Markdown compared
Related document formats
Last updated 2026-08-03