Markdown Preview

Online Markdown Editor & Preview

Write Markdown on the left and instantly see the rendered HTML on the right. This live preview covers the Markdown you use most: headings, bold, italic, links, images, inline code, code blocks, blockquotes, and simple lists. Perfect for writing README files, documentation, blog posts, and forum comments.

What Is Markdown?

Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber and Aaron Swartz in 2004. It allows you to write formatted text using a simple, readable plain-text syntax that converts to HTML. Markdown has become the standard for documentation on GitHub, GitLab, Stack Overflow, Reddit, Discord, Notion, and many other platforms.

The key philosophy behind Markdown is readability — a Markdown document should be readable as-is, without rendering. This makes it ideal for version control (diffs are clean and meaningful), email, and any context where plain text is preferred over rich text formats.

Supported Markdown Syntax

• Headings — # H1, ## H2, ### H3 through ###### H6
• Bold — **text** or __text__
• Italic — *text* or _text_ (underscores only count at word boundaries, so snake_case_names stay as they are)
• Paragraphs and line breaks — lines without a blank line between them form one paragraph; end a line with two spaces for a line break
• Strikethrough — ~~text~~
• Links — [text](url)
• Images — ![alt text](url)
• Inline code — `code`
• Code blocks — Fenced with triple backticks ```
• Unordered lists — -, *, or + followed by a space
• Ordered lists — 1., 2., etc.
• Blockquotes — > quoted text
• Horizontal rules — ---, ***, or ___

Real-World Use Cases

• GitHub README Files — Every open-source project needs a README.md. Preview your documentation before pushing to ensure formatting is correct.
• Technical Documentation — API docs, architecture decision records, and internal wikis are commonly written in Markdown.
• Blog Post Drafting — Many static site generators (Jekyll, Hugo, Gatsby, Astro) use Markdown for content. Draft and preview posts before deploying.
• Note Taking — Markdown is the format behind Obsidian, Notion, Bear, and many other knowledge management tools.
• Forum & Chat Messages — Reddit, Discord, Slack, and Stack Overflow all support Markdown syntax for formatted messages.

Tips for Writing Better Markdown

• Use a blank line between paragraphs — single line breaks are ignored in standard Markdown.
• Indent nested list items with 2 or 4 spaces for sub-lists (this preview shows them as one flat list).
• Use reference-style links [text][id] for cleaner source when linking the same URL multiple times (not rendered by this preview).
• Prefix code blocks with a language identifier after the backticks (e.g., ```javascript) for syntax highlighting on platforms that support it.
• Keep lines under 80-100 characters for readability in plain text editors and clean version control diffs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my content saved?

No. Everything runs in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is sent to any server or stored anywhere. Your Markdown content exists only in your browser tab.

Can I copy the rendered HTML?

Yes — click “Copy HTML” to copy the generated HTML markup to your clipboard. This is useful for pasting into CMS editors, email templates, or HTML files.

Which Markdown flavor does this use?

It is not a full CommonMark implementation. A small parser with no external libraries covers the syntax listed above, plus fenced code blocks and strikethrough from GitHub Flavored Markdown. Like CommonMark, it leaves underscores inside words alone, never formats the inside of code spans or URLs, and joins consecutive lines into one paragraph. It does not render tables, nested lists, task lists, reference-style links, setext headings (text underlined with === or ---), indented code blocks, or backslash escapes. For the final check of a README, preview it on the platform where it will be published.

Can I use HTML inside Markdown?

Standard Markdown allows inline HTML, but this preview shows HTML tags as plain text instead of running them, so pasted code cannot execute scripts in your browser. Links and images with javascript: or data: URLs are replaced with #. Stick to Markdown syntax for best results.

How do I create a table in Markdown?

Tables use pipes and hyphens: | Header | Header | on the first line, |--------|--------| as a separator, then | Cell | Cell | for rows. GitHub Flavored Markdown and most platforms support this syntax. This preview does not render tables; they appear as plain text.