Markdown Preview
Write markdown and see live preview with syntax highlighting
Markdown Input
Paste, type, or drop a .md filePreview
About Markdown and This Editor
What is Markdown?
Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber in 2004 with a simple premise: a document should be readable as plain text even before it is rendered. Instead of wrapping text in HTML tags, you use punctuation that already looks like what it means — # Heading for a heading, **bold** for bold, - item for a list. A converter then turns that text into HTML. Because the source stays plain text, Markdown files work with version control, diff cleanly, and never lock you into a particular editor.
This editor renders GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM), the dialect used on GitHub, GitLab, and most developer platforms. That means tables, fenced code blocks with language-specific syntax highlighting, and strikethrough all work here exactly as they will in your README. The split-pane layout shows the rendered result on the right as you type on the left, so formatting mistakes — a broken link, an unclosed code fence, a table with misaligned pipes — are visible immediately instead of after you publish.
Beyond previewing, the editor doubles as a Markdown-to-HTML converter. The Copy HTML and Export HTML buttons produce a complete, styled HTML document from your input, which is useful for pasting into email templates, CMS fields that only accept HTML, or generating a quick standalone page from notes. You can also drag and drop an existing .md file straight into the editor to view it formatted.
Common Use Cases
- README files: Check how your project README will render before pushing to GitHub
- Documentation: Draft technical docs and verify tables and code blocks display correctly
- Blog posts: Write in Markdown, then export clean HTML for platforms without Markdown support
- Reviewing files: Drop a downloaded .md file in to read it formatted instead of as raw text
- Learning Markdown: Experiment with syntax and see the rendered result instantly
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Markdown and HTML?
HTML is the language browsers actually render; Markdown is a shorthand that compiles into HTML. Markdown covers the common cases — headings, emphasis, lists, links, images, code, tables — with far less typing, and you can embed raw HTML inside a Markdown document whenever you need something the shorthand cannot express.
Which Markdown flavor does this editor support?
It renders GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM), which extends the original syntax with tables, fenced code blocks, and strikethrough. If your document previews correctly here, it will look the same in a GitHub or GitLab README.
How do I get syntax highlighting in code blocks?
Open a fenced code block with three backticks followed by the language name, such as ```javascript or ```python, and close it with three backticks. The preview colors the code for that language automatically; if you omit the language, the highlighter attempts to detect it.
How do I create a line break without starting a new paragraph?
In standard Markdown you end a line with two spaces or a backslash. This editor has the common line-breaks option enabled, so a single press of Enter already produces a visible line break in the preview — matching how comments behave on GitHub.
Can I convert my Markdown to an HTML file?
Yes. The Copy HTML button places a complete HTML document on your clipboard, and Export HTML downloads the same document as a file. The export includes basic styling and highlight.js styles for code blocks, so it is presentable when opened directly in a browser.
Why does my table not render in the preview?
Tables need a header row, a separator row of dashes, and pipe characters between columns — for example: | Name | Age | on the first line, then | --- | --- | on the second. The most common mistakes are omitting the dash separator row or forgetting that each data row needs the same number of pipe-separated cells.
Related Tools
Working with other text formats? Try our JSON Formatter for structured data, Word Counter to analyze your draft, or the URL Slug Generator to turn your article title into a clean URL.
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