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Markdown Formatter

Paste Markdown. Format it, check its structure, get the HTML. Nothing leaves your browser.

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About Markdown Formatter

Updated

What is a Markdown Formatter?

A Markdown Formatter takes your Markdown text and turns it into a clean, consistently styled document. It makes heading styles, list markers, emphasis characters, and whitespace the same everywhere, so your documents follow one style.

How to use this tool

Paste your Markdown into the editor and press Format. Lines that Format changed stay marked until you edit them, and Show before shows your text as it was. The tool checks the structure as you type: it counts words, headings, links, images, code blocks, lists and tables, and it marks skipped heading levels, a missing top-level heading, and images without alt text. Open Notes in the Result header to see each issue and heading next to its line.

Convert Markdown to HTML

Open the HTML tab in the Result header to see your Markdown as HTML. Copy and Download then take the HTML. The converter supports GitHub Flavored Markdown, including tables, task lists, strikethrough, and autolinks. You can format the HTML further with our HTML Formatter.

Customization

Open Options to set the heading style (# hash prefix or underline), the list marker (dash, star or plus), the emphasis character (star or underscore), and the list indent (compact or wide). The tool remembers your choices.

Markdown

Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber and Aaron Swartz in 2004. It was designed to be easy to read and write in plain text, with a syntax that converts naturally to structurally valid HTML. Markdown lets authors focus on content rather than formatting, using simple punctuation characters to mark headings, emphasis, links, lists, and more.

  • The conventional extensions for Markdown files are .md and .markdown. The .md extension is the most widely used across all platforms and tools.
  • The MIME type for Markdown files is text/markdown, as defined in RFC 7763.

Why use Markdown?

  • Markdown is readable as plain text. Even without rendering, the source is easy to understand and edit.
  • Markdown is widely supported across platforms including GitHub, GitLab, Reddit, Stack Overflow, Discord, and many more.
  • Markdown is lightweight and needs no special software. Any text editor will do.
  • Markdown is easy to learn. The basic syntax takes minutes to pick up, for technical and non-technical users alike.
  • Markdown is portable. Files are plain text and can be opened, edited, and shared on any operating system or device.
  • Markdown converts to many output formats, including HTML, PDF, and DOCX, with tools like Pandoc.

Common Markdown use cases

  • GitHub READMEs. Nearly every open-source project uses a README.md file to document the project, installation steps, and usage instructions.
  • Documentation sites. Tools like MkDocs, Docusaurus, and GitBook use Markdown as their primary content format for documentation websites.
  • Blog posts. Static site generators like Jekyll, Hugo, and Gatsby use Markdown files for blog content and convert them to HTML pages at build time.
  • Note-taking. Applications like Obsidian, Notion, and Bear use Markdown for notes, which keeps knowledge bases portable and searchable.
  • Messaging. Platforms like Slack, Discord, and Microsoft Teams support Markdown in messages for bold, italic, code, and links.

CommonMark specification

The original Markdown syntax by John Gruber had no formal specification, which led to differences between implementations. In 2014, CommonMark was introduced to create a strongly defined, highly compatible specification for Markdown. CommonMark gives clear rules for every part of the syntax, so all compliant parsers render the same way. GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) extends CommonMark with tables, task lists, strikethrough, and autolinks, and is the variant used across GitHub for issues, pull requests, comments, and documentation.

Other Markdown resources

  • CommonMark SpecificationThe official CommonMark specification, a strongly defined and highly compatible standard for Markdown syntax.
  • GitHub Flavored Markdown SpecThe GFM specification, extending CommonMark with tables, task lists, strikethrough, and autolinks.
  • Markdown GuideA free reference guide to Markdown syntax, covering basic syntax, extended syntax, tools, and cheat sheets.
  • Daring Fireball: MarkdownThe original Markdown project page by John Gruber, where Markdown was first introduced and documented.
  • GitHub Docs: Writing on GitHubGitHub documentation on writing and formatting with Markdown, including GitHub-specific features.
  • remark: Markdown ProcessorThe remark Markdown processor, a plugin ecosystem for parsing, transforming, and serializing Markdown.
  • Markdown on WikipediaHistory, syntax overview, variants, and comparisons to other lightweight markup languages.

Markdown FAQ

What Markdown flavors does this tool support?

This tool supports CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM), which adds tables, task lists, strikethrough, autolinks, and footnotes. It uses the remark processor under the hood.

Does it preserve front matter?

Yes. YAML front matter (the block between --- lines at the top of many Markdown files) and TOML front matter (between +++ lines) are kept as they are. The formatter only changes the Markdown content itself.

Can I convert the HTML output back to Markdown?

This tool converts Markdown to HTML. For the reverse direction (HTML to Markdown), you need a dedicated HTML-to-Markdown converter. The generated HTML can be formatted further with our HTML Formatter.

What does Markdown support?

Markdown supports headings, bold and italic text, links, images, code blocks (both inline and fenced), ordered and unordered lists, blockquotes, and horizontal rules. Extended syntax via GFM adds tables, task lists, strikethrough, autolinks, and footnotes.

What is GFM?

GFM stands for GitHub Flavored Markdown. It is a superset of the CommonMark specification maintained by GitHub. GFM extends CommonMark with tables, task lists (checkboxes), strikethrough text, autolinks (URLs are linked automatically), and footnotes. GFM is the most widely used Markdown variant on the web.

Can I use HTML in Markdown?

Yes, most Markdown processors allow inline HTML. You can embed raw HTML tags directly in a Markdown document, and they are passed through to the output. This is useful for elements that Markdown does not support natively, such as <details> collapsible sections, <video> embeds, or custom styling with <div> elements. Markdown syntax is not processed inside block-level HTML elements.