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Markdown to HTML Converter

Code

Convert Markdown to HTML instantly in your browser. Handles headings, bold, italic, links, lists, code blocks, blockquotes, and horizontal rules. No upload needed.

What is a MD→HTML?

A Markdown to HTML formatter converts Markdown source text into valid HTML markup. Markdown is a lightweight plain-text format designed to be readable as-is, but to display on a webpage it must be compiled to HTML — the language browsers understand. This formatter performs that compilation step instantly in your browser.

Markdown powers documentation platforms (Docusaurus, MkDocs, GitBook), static site generators (Hugo, Jekyll, Eleventy, Astro), blogging platforms (Ghost, Hashnode), and note-taking tools (Obsidian, Notion). In all of these, Markdown is the authoring format and HTML is the output. Understanding the HTML that your Markdown produces is useful for debugging rendering issues, customising output, or embedding Markdown-generated content inside a larger HTML document.

The formatter handles all standard CommonMark syntax: ATX headings, bold and italic emphasis, inline code and fenced code blocks, hyperlinks, images, ordered and unordered lists, blockquotes, and horizontal rules. It correctly HTML-escapes characters inside code blocks so that < and > do not break the HTML structure. Use it alongside the HTML to Markdown Formatter for the reverse workflow, or the Markdown Formatter to clean and normalise your Markdown source before converting.

How to use this MD→HTML calculator

  1. Paste or type your Markdown into the Markdown Input field.
  2. Toggle the Pretty Print option. Enable it to get human-readable HTML with line breaks; disable it for compact output.
  3. The HTML output updates on every keystroke. Review it to confirm the structure is as expected.
  4. If a link or image is not rendering, check that the Markdown syntax has no typos — a missing closing parenthesis is a common cause.
  5. Copy the HTML output and embed it where needed.

Formula & Methodology

The formatter processes Markdown line by line using the following rules:

1. Fenced code blocks (...) are extracted first, their content HTML-escaped, and wrapped in <pre><code>.
2. ATX headings (# to ######) are converted to <h1> to <h6>.
3. Horizontal rules (---, ***, ___) become <hr>.
4. Unordered list items (- , * , + ) are collected into <ul><li> groups.
5. Ordered list items (1. , 2. ) are collected into <ol><li> groups.
6. Blockquotes (> ) become <blockquote>.
7. Non-list, non-heading, non-empty lines become <p>.
8. Inline transforms are applied: ![alt](src) → <img>, [text](url) → <a>, `code` → <code>, **bold** → <strong>, *italic* → <em>.

Before/after example:

Input Markdown:
```markdown

Frequently Asked Questions

A Markdown to HTML formatter converts Markdown syntax into valid HTML markup. It parses headings, bold, italic, links, images, lists, code blocks, blockquotes, and horizontal rules and produces the corresponding HTML elements. The output can be embedded directly in a webpage or pasted into an HTML editor.
The formatter handles ATX headings (# to ######), bold (**text** or __text__), italic (*text* or _text_), inline code (`code`), fenced code blocks (```), links ([text](url)), images (![alt](src)), ordered and unordered lists, blockquotes (> text), and horizontal rules (---). Standard CommonMark syntax is supported.
With Pretty Print enabled, each HTML element is placed on its own line with consistent newlines between blocks. This makes the output human-readable and easier to inspect. Disable it to get a compact single-block output suitable for embedding into a larger HTML document.
Yes — paste the output into a dangerouslySetInnerHTML value in React or a v-html directive in Vue. Ensure you trust the source Markdown before doing this, as embedding user-generated content without sanitisation can introduce XSS vulnerabilities.
A Markdown preview renders Markdown visually inside the browser. This formatter gives you the raw HTML source text — the actual tags and attributes — so you can copy, inspect, and embed it. Use this when you need the HTML code, not just a visual preview.
No. All conversion runs entirely in your browser. Your Markdown is never sent to a server or stored anywhere. The tool is safe for proprietary documentation or draft content.
Fenced code blocks (``` ... ```) are converted to <pre><code>...</code></pre> with the content HTML-escaped so that < and > characters inside code are not interpreted as HTML tags. The language identifier after the opening fence is not converted to a class attribute in this formatter.
Raw HTML inside Markdown is passed through as-is. If your Markdown file contains `<div>` or `<span>` tags directly, they appear unchanged in the output. This is standard CommonMark behaviour.
Yes. Paste the entire contents of the README.md file into the input field. The formatter handles all standard Markdown syntax used in README files, including code blocks, lists, and links. GitHub-Flavoured Markdown extensions such as task lists and tables are not converted.
Markdown to HTML is the standard rendering pipeline — turning lightweight Markdown source into browser-ready HTML. HTML to Markdown is the reverse, used when migrating content from HTML-based systems to Markdown-based ones. Use the [HTML to Markdown Formatter](/html-to-markdown-formatter/) for that direction.
The formatter supports the CommonMark subset of GFM: headings, emphasis, code, links, images, lists, and blockquotes. GFM extensions specific to GitHub — task list items (- [x]), tables, strikethrough (~~text~~), and autolinks — are not converted in the current version.
Also known as
Markdown to HTMLMD to HTML converterrender Markdownconvert Markdown HTMLmarkdown preview