About the Markdown Viewer

This is a free Markdown viewer that runs in your browser. You give it a Markdown document (a file from your computer, text you paste, or a link to a file on GitHub or anywhere else) and it shows the document formatted, with a contents list, the way GitHub would show it. It is run by one independent developer, not a company, and has no ads, accounts or paid tier.

Why it exists

Markdown files turn up everywhere now: READMEs, documentation, meeting notes exported from apps, and the answers chat assistants give. Double-click one on Windows or a Mac and you get a page of hash signs and asterisks. Before building this, I tested the ten online viewers Google showed for “markdown viewer” with the same test document (tables, math, diagrams, footnotes, front matter and three script injections) and a 650 KB file. One ran a script hidden in an image tag the moment the document was shown. Two hadn't finished the large file after 30 seconds and another froze the tab. Six showed the front matter at the top of the file as a run-on paragraph, and one that could open a GitHub link refused to make a share link for a long document. This site is my attempt to get all of those right in one place.

In more detail

It renders CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown, including GitHub's five alert types, footnotes, emoji, KaTeX math and Mermaid diagrams, with front matter shown as a table. Obsidian notes work too: wiki links, embedded pictures, callouts with titles and fold-outs, highlights and hidden comments. It opens files up to 20 MB, several at once or a whole folder, and if you drop a README's pictures with it, they appear where the document expects them. Paste a GitHub, Gist, GitLab or Bitbucket link and relative images and links are resolved against the repository.

When you are done reading, it prints only the document, copies it as formatted text for Google Docs or Word, downloads it as a Word file, HTML or .md, or makes a share link. Split view lets you fix the source as you read, with both sides scrolling together, and margin marks show which symbols made each block. Installed from Chrome or Edge, it can be chosen under Open with, or set as the default app, for .md files. The page follows your device's light or dark mode.

How it is checked

The rendering rules come from the CommonMark specification, the GitHub Flavored Markdown specification and GitHub's own documentation for alerts, math, diagrams and footnotes. Automated tests cover table alignment, task lists, the dollar-sign rule for math, alerts, heading anchors, front matter, link handling, injection attempts and a 5,000-section document. The 12 examples on the home page are written to exercise every feature, and each release is checked against them.

Limits

It doesn't store documents for you or sync with cloud drives. In a Word file, math stays as LaTeX text and pictures the browser can't fetch are left out with their description. Obsidian wiki links find notes that are open in the viewer, by file name (the one in the same folder when two share a name), not across a whole vault you haven't dropped, and an embedded note (![[Note]]) shows its text only when that note is open too (otherwise a link, and a note embedded inside it stays a link); a dropped folder is read up to 600 Markdown files and pictures; extensions from other apps, such as Dataview queries or custom containers, show as plain text. Inline styles, scripts and iframes in a document are removed on purpose. Private repositories can't be opened by link, because the site never asks for your GitHub login; download the file and open it instead.

Statistics and privacy

The site counts page views and which features are used, with its own analytics, never including your documents, file names or the links you paste. You can switch it off; the privacy policy explains exactly what is recorded and where.

Corrections

If a document renders differently from GitHub, or anything on the site is wrong, please say so through the contact page. A link to the file, or a share link, makes it quick to reproduce.