Convert Markdown to HTML for a CMS, Newsletter or Static Page

To convert Markdown to HTML, run it through a Markdown parser. Each # heading becomes an <h1>–<h6>, paragraphs become <p>, lists become <ul>/<ol>, and fenced code becomes <pre><code>. With GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) turned on, tables, task lists and ~~strikethrough~~ are converted as well. The result is plain, unstyled HTML you can paste into a CMS's HTML view, an email template or a static page.

Here's a common scenario: release notes written in Markdown in your repo, which need to go into a CMS or newsletter tool that only accepts HTML.

Step 1: Paste the Markdown

Open the Markdown to HTML converter and paste your text into Markdown input. Click Load sample for a quick example. The HTML output updates as you type.

Say your release notes include this:

## Release 2.4

| Name | Role  |
| ---- | ----- |
| Ada  | admin |

- [x] Faster exports
- [ ] Dark mode

~~Beta~~ Generally available.

```bash
npm install mylib@2.4
```

Step 2: Check the output

With GitHub Flavored Markdown ticked (the default), you get:

<h2>Release 2.4</h2>
<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th>Role</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Ada</td>
      <td>admin</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<ul>
  <li><input checked="" disabled="" type="checkbox" /> Faster exports</li>
  <li><input disabled="" type="checkbox" /> Dark mode</li>
</ul>
<p><del>Beta</del> Generally available.</p>
<pre><code class="language-bash">npm install mylib@2.4
</code></pre>

Things to notice:

• Tables become semantic <table>, <thead> and <tbody> markup with no styling. Your CMS or stylesheet decides how they look.
• Task lists become disabled checkboxes. Many email clients strip <input> elements, so for a newsletter, replace them with "✓" or plain text.
• Code blocks get a language-bash class. That's the hook that syntax highlighters such as Prism or highlight.js look for. Without a highlighter it's just monospaced text.
• Strikethrough becomes <del>.

Step 3: Decide whether you need GFM

Untick GitHub Flavored Markdown and the converter follows plain Markdown rules. The same table now comes out as a paragraph of pipes:

<p>| Name | Role | |---|---| | Ada | admin |</p>

and ~~Beta~~ stays as literal tildes. Turn GFM off when you need to match a platform that uses strict CommonMark without extensions, so your preview matches what readers will actually see. Otherwise leave it on. Most people write Markdown expecting GitHub's behavior.

Step 4: Copy or download

Copy the HTML into your CMS's source/HTML view, or download it as output.html. If the destination is a full web page, the output is a fragment: there's no <html>, <head> or CSS. Wrap it in your own template.

Conversion runs locally in your browser with the marked library, so unreleased product notes and internal docs don't leave your machine.

Watch out: raw HTML passes straight through

Markdown allows inline HTML, and the converter keeps it as-is:

<div class="note">Heads up</div>

comes out unchanged as <div class="note">Heads up</div>. That's useful for things Markdown can't express, like a <details> block or a styled callout. It also means the output is not sanitized. If the Markdown came from users (comments, profiles, support tickets), a <script> tag or an onerror= attribute in the input ends up in your HTML. Before rendering untrusted Markdown on a page, run the HTML through a sanitizer such as DOMPurify on the client, or an equivalent library on the server.

Tips for cleaner output

• Use fenced code blocks with a language tag (```js). You get the language-* class, which indented code blocks can't carry.
• Leave blank lines around block elements. A list with no blank line before it can get merged into the preceding paragraph.
• Avoid HTML-only layout in Markdown. If a document needs a lot of inline HTML, write it in HTML and format it with the HTML Formatter instead.
• Preview first. To see the rendered result rather than the source, use the Markdown Previewer.

FAQ

Does the converter add IDs to headings for anchor links?

No. Headings come out as plain <h2> and so on, without id attributes. If your page needs a table of contents or deep links, add IDs in your template or with a slug plugin in your build.

Why are my single line breaks ignored?

In Markdown, a single newline inside a paragraph is treated as a space. That's true for both CommonMark and GFM. To force a <br>, end the line with two spaces or a backslash, or leave a blank line to start a new paragraph.

Can I convert the HTML back to Markdown later?

Yes, with HTML to Markdown. Standard elements make the round trip cleanly, but tables and task lists may need touching up afterwards.

Turn your next Markdown draft into publish-ready HTML with the Markdown to HTML converter.