HTML to Markdown Converter - Free and Instant

The HTML to Markdown converter turns pasted HTML into clean Markdown you can drop into a README, a static site generator or a CMS migration. Paste your markup into the input box, press Convert to Markdown, and copy the result. Headings, links, lists, code blocks and tables are translated for you.

What Is HTML to Markdown Conversion?

HTML to Markdown conversion rewrites tag-based markup as lightweight plain-text syntax that renders to the same structure. A heading written as <h2>Setup</h2> becomes ## Setup, and <strong>bold</strong> becomes **bold**.

HTML describes a page with opening and closing tags and attributes such as class, style and id. Markdown describes only the content: headings, emphasis, links, images, lists, quotes, code and tables. Because Markdown has far fewer features, the conversion keeps meaning and drops presentation. Colors, fonts, spacing and scripts do not survive, and that is usually what you want.

HTML vs Markdown in one sentence

HTML is a full markup language for building web pages, while Markdown is a readable shorthand for writing structured text that tools later turn into HTML. Most Markdown renderers accept raw HTML inside a document, but a file that is mostly Markdown is easier to read, edit and compare in version control.

How to Use the HTML to Markdown Converter

You convert HTML in four moves: paste, convert, review and copy. The page has one input box and one output box, so there is nothing to configure.

1. Paste your markup into the HTML Input box. You can paste a single paragraph or a whole article body.
2. Press Convert to Markdown. The Markdown Output area appears below with the result.
3. Read the output and compare it with your source, especially tables, nested lists and code blocks.
4. Press Copy to put the Markdown on your clipboard, then paste it into your editor, repository or CMS.
5. Press Clear to empty the input and start on the next snippet.

If you press convert with an empty box, you get the message "Paste some HTML first." If the clipboard is blocked, you see "Copy failed," and you can select the output text by hand instead.

Worked Example: From HTML Snippet to Markdown

A short snippet shows what the converter does with each element. Suppose you paste this into the input box:

<h2>Quick Start</h2><p>Run <code>npm install</code> and read the <strong>docs</strong> at <a href="https://example.com/docs">our site</a>.</p>

The output is a level-two heading, a blank line, and one paragraph:

## Quick Start

Run `npm install` and read the **docs** at [our site](https://example.com/docs).

The heading tag became two hash symbols, the inline code is wrapped in backticks, the bold text uses double asterisks and the link uses square brackets followed by the address in parentheses. Blank lines separate the blocks, which is what Markdown parsers expect.

Code blocks work the same way. A pre element that contains a code element with a class such as language-js becomes a fenced block that starts with three backticks and the word js, so syntax highlighting still works on GitHub and in most static site generators.

How Each HTML Element Is Converted

The converter maps common HTML elements to standard Markdown, including GitHub Flavored Markdown extras such as strikethrough and pipe tables. This is the mapping you can expect.

How to Read and Fix the Output

A good conversion reads like something you would have typed by hand: short lines, blank lines between blocks, and no leftover angle brackets. Scan for these common problems before you publish.

• Missing styling: Inline styles, classes and ids are not carried over. If a highlighted phrase mattered, add bold or italic by hand.
• Flattened wrappers: Elements such as div, section, span, mark, sub, sup and u keep their text but lose the wrapper. Superscripts like x2 come out as plain "x2", so rewrite them if the meaning depends on it.
• Line breaks: A br tag becomes a line ending with two trailing spaces. Some editors trim trailing spaces on save, which merges the lines again.
• Odd characters: Plain text that includes symbols such as asterisks or underscores can be read as formatting by a Markdown renderer. Preview the final file and add a backslash where needed.
• Tables: Markdown tables have one header row and cannot represent merged cells. Split spanning cells into separate ones in the source first.

Why Use Markdown Instead of HTML?

Markdown is easier to write, review and maintain than HTML, which is why documentation and blog tooling favors it. Here are the situations where this converter saves the most time.

Moving a site to a static site generator

Generators such as Jekyll and Hugo build pages from Markdown files. If your old site stores posts as HTML, convert each article body, then add the front matter your theme expects (title, date, tags).

Migrating between CMS platforms

Exporting from one CMS often gives you HTML. Converting it to Markdown strips the editor's extra wrappers, so the content imports cleanly into a platform or knowledge base that stores Markdown.

Writing README files and documentation

If you copied a rendered page or an email template and want it in a repository, convert it to Markdown so it renders on GitHub and diffs cleanly in pull requests.

Cleaning up rich-text pastes

Content copied from word processors often arrives as heavy markup. Paste that markup in and you get headings, emphasis and links without the formatting clutter. If you only want plain text, strip HTML tags instead.

Best Practices and Troubleshooting

Convert a small, well-formed section first, then scale up. That way you see how your particular markup behaves before you process an entire archive.

• Convert only the content area. Paste the article body rather than the full page. Navigation, headers and footers would otherwise appear as extra paragraphs in your Markdown.
• Tidy messy source first. If your markup is minified or badly nested, run it through an HTML formatter so you can spot unclosed tags before converting.
• Check images. Image output uses the source address exactly as written. Relative paths such as images/photo.jpg will break unless the file sits in the same relative location in the new project.
• Preview the result. Open the Markdown in your editor's preview, or turn it back into markup with the Markdown to HTML converter, and compare it with the original page.
• Build tables deliberately. If you need to create an HTML table from scratch before converting it, the HTML table generator gives you clean markup to start with.
• Test odd snippets live. To see how a fragment renders before you convert it, paste it into an online HTML editor with live preview.

Can you use HTML in Markdown?

Yes, most Markdown renderers, including GitHub's, allow inline HTML for things Markdown cannot express, such as a centered image or a details block. This converter, however, produces Markdown syntax rather than keeping unsupported tags, so add any special HTML back by hand after converting.

Limitations to Keep in Mind

The converter produces standard Markdown, so anything without a Markdown equivalent is simplified or removed. Script, style and noscript elements are dropped completely. Attributes such as classes, inline styles and ids are ignored. Unknown or custom tags keep their inner text but lose the tag itself. Forms, embedded videos and interactive widgets will not survive in a meaningful way, so recreate them with the embed method your destination platform supports.

Nested lists, long tables and unusual markup deserve a quick visual check. The output is a strong first draft that is usually ready to use, but a final read-through is part of any migration.

Convert Your HTML Now

You can turn HTML into readable, portable Markdown in seconds, with no install and no settings to learn. Paste your markup into the box above, press Convert to Markdown and copy the result. For related utilities, browse the web developer tools collection.