How do I open an .md file?

An .md file is plain text, so any text editor can open it, but you will see the raw syntax (# for headings, * for emphasis). To see it formatted, drop the file onto this page or paste its contents into the left panel. The rendered document appears on the right.

How do I view a Markdown file in my browser?

Browsers show .md files as plain text if you open them directly. Use an online viewer like this one: drop the file on the page and it renders in the same tab. Nothing is uploaded, so it works for private files too.

Which Markdown features render?

CommonMark plus the GitHub Flavored Markdown extensions: headings, emphasis, links, images by URL, blockquotes, lists, task lists, pipe tables, fenced code blocks, inline code, horizontal rules and strikethrough. Fenced code with a language is syntax highlighted, $...$ and $$...$$ render as math with KaTeX, and `mermaid blocks render as diagrams. Footnotes aren't supported.

Is it safe to open a Markdown file from someone else?

Markdown itself is plain text and can't run code. A file can contain raw HTML, though, so this viewer sanitizes everything before showing it: scripts, forms, styles, inline event handlers and javascript: links are removed.

Can I edit the Markdown here?

Yes. The left panel is an editor, and the preview updates as you type. When you are done, use Copy Markdown to copy your edited source. There is no save to disk, so paste it back into your file.

How do I save the rendered document as a PDF?

Click Print and choose Save as PDF (or Microsoft Print to PDF on Windows) as the printer. The print layout leaves out the page around the document. For a PDF file with selectable text and clickable links, made without the print dialog, use Markdown to PDF; for a Word file, Markdown to Word.

Is my file uploaded anywhere?

No. The file is read with your browser's File API and rendered on your device. There is no upload, no server-side processing and no account. See how Craft Markdown keeps your files on your device.

Is there a file size limit?

Files up to 10 MB are accepted, which is far larger than a typical README or notes file. Very large files may take a moment to render.

Free • Online • Private

Markdown Viewer

Open an .md file or paste Markdown and read it rendered, right in your browser. No install, no signup, and the file never leaves your device.

Markdown

Open file

Preview

Open a .md file or paste Markdown to see it rendered.

Export

Runs in your browser · Nothing is uploaded

Benefits

An MD File Viewer That Just Reads the File

Open any .md file

drop a .md, .markdown or .txt file onto the page, or click Open file

Paste works too

paste Markdown from a README, a chat, or an editor and it renders as you type

Code, math and diagrams

GitHub Flavored Markdown plus syntax-highlighted code, KaTeX math ($...$ and $$...$$) and Mermaid diagrams, with a dark mode and a heading outline

Nothing is uploaded

rendering happens in your browser, so private notes stay private

Export from one place

download the document as PDF, HTML or Word, copy it as rich or plain text, or print it, right under the preview

Safe to open unknown files

scripts and event handlers in a file are stripped before anything is shown

Simple Process

How to View a Markdown File

Open or paste

Drop your .md file anywhere on the page, click Open file, or paste Markdown into the left panel.

Read the preview

The right panel shows the rendered document right away and updates as you edit the text on the left.

Copy or print

Copy the rendered text or the Markdown source, or click Print to print the page or save it as a PDF.

What renders

The viewer uses the marked library with GitHub Flavored Markdown turned on, then cleans the result with DOMPurify before showing it. This is what you'll see for each part of a Markdown file, checked against the viewer itself.

In the .md file	Renders?	What you see
Headings, paragraphs, bold, italic	Yes	Formatted text
Links and bare `www.` addresses	Yes	Clickable links
Bulleted, numbered and nested lists	Yes	Lists
Task lists `- [x]`	Yes	Checkboxes (read-only)
Pipe tables, with column alignment	Yes	Tables
Strikethrough `~~text~~`	Yes	Struck-out text
Blockquotes and horizontal rules	Yes	Quotes and dividers
Fenced and inline code	Yes	Monospaced code blocks, with syntax colors when the fence names a language (JavaScript, Python, Bash, HTML, JSON, YAML, SQL, Go, Rust and about 20 more)
Images by full URL	Yes	The image, loaded from its web address
Images by relative path (`./img/photo.png`)	No	A broken image; the viewer can't see the other files in your folder
Safe raw HTML (`<details>`, `<sup>`, `<br>`)	Yes	Rendered
Scripts, forms, styles, `onclick` handlers	No	Removed for safety
YAML front matter between `---` lines	Partial	Shown as a divider and a heading rather than hidden
Footnotes `[^1]`	No	Not supported; the marker shows as stray text or a broken link
Math ( $x^2$ , `$$...$$`)	Yes	Typeset with KaTeX; a price like "$5 and $10" stays text
Mermaid diagrams (```mermaid)	Yes	Drawn as a diagram; a block that fails to parse shows the error and its source
Emoji shortcodes such as `:smile:`	No	Shown as typed; real emoji characters display fine

Common problems and fixes

Images don't show

A Markdown file stores images as links. Links that start with https:// load as long as the image is still online. Paths such as images/diagram.png point to a file next to the .md file on your computer or in its repository, and a web page can't open those on its own. View the file in its repository on GitHub, or in a desktop editor that opens the whole folder, to see local images.

There is a heading of settings at the top

Many .md files from static site generators and Obsidian start with front matter: a block of title:, date: and similar lines between two --- lines. The viewer doesn't treat it specially, so it appears as a divider followed by a heading. It doesn't affect the rest of the document.

Lines run together

In Markdown, a single line break inside a paragraph is shown as a space, the same as on GitHub. If the author wanted separate lines, the source needs a blank line between them or two spaces at the end of each line.

The file won't open

The viewer opens .md, .markdown and .txt files up to 10 MB. Files with other extensions, such as .mdx or .rmd, can be opened in a text editor and pasted into the left panel instead. Note that MDX components and R code chunks won't run here; you'll see them as text.

Other ways to view Markdown

VS Code. Open the file and press Ctrl+Shift+V (Cmd+Shift+V on a Mac) for a preview, or Ctrl+K then V to open it side by side with the source. Nothing to install.
GitHub and GitLab. Any .md file in a repository is rendered when you open it, including relative images from the same repository.
Markdown editors. Obsidian and Typora open .md files and show them formatted as you write.
Any text editor. Notepad, TextEdit or any code editor opens an .md file as plain text, which is readable but shows the raw # and * symbols.

This page is for when you just want to read a file quickly, on any computer, without installing anything or uploading the file. For opening .md files on Windows, Mac, Linux and phones, see What is an MD file?

FAQ

Markdown Viewer FAQ

Guides & Resources

More Markdown Tools and Guides

What Is an MD File?

Guide

What's inside an .md file and how to open one on Windows, Mac, Linux and phones.

Markdown to Word

Tool

Download your .md file as a Word .docx with real headings, lists and tables.

Markdown to Google Docs

Tool

Copy the rendered document as rich text and paste it into Google Docs, Gmail or Notion.

Markdown to PDF

Tool

Turn the file you are reading into a PDF with selectable text, no watermark, built in your browser.

Markdown to HTML

Tool

Turn Markdown into clean HTML you can copy or download, as a fragment or a full document.

Markdown to Plain Text

Tool

Strip the Markdown formatting and keep readable text, as a .txt file or on your clipboard.

Markdown Cheat Sheet

Reference

Every Markdown syntax element with copy-paste examples.

Word to Markdown Converter

Tool

Turn a .docx into a clean .md file you can open in this viewer.

Markdown Converter

Tool

Convert PDF, Word, HTML, CSV, Excel and more into Markdown, in the browser.

Need to turn a document into Markdown first?

Convert PDF, Word, HTML, CSV and Excel files to Markdown in your browser, then view them here.

Open the Converter