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HTML to Markdown

Convert HTML back to Markdown in your browser — headings, bold, italic, links and lists. A practical, lossy converter for the common tags.

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Quick Answer

Paste HTML and get Markdown: heading tags become #, bold and italic become double and single asterisks, links become the bracket syntax, and list items become dashes. Other tags are stripped to their text. It's a practical, deliberately lossy converter for the common cases — not a full HTML parser — and it runs entirely in your browser.

What the HTML to Markdown Does

Paste a chunk of HTML and the tool rewrites the familiar tags as Markdown, ready to copy or download as output.md. It updates live as you edit the input.

It's handy for pulling clean Markdown out of HTML you've copied — from an email, a CMS field or a web snippet — so you can store and edit it as plain text instead.

How It Works

It matches a common set of tags and rewrites them: heading tags h1 to h6 become the matching number of # marks, the bold and italic tags become double and single asterisks, an anchor becomes the bracket-and-parenthesis link form, and each list item becomes a dash line. Block tags like ul, p and div become line breaks.

Every other tag is removed, leaving its text behind, and runs of blank lines are collapsed. The approach is pattern-based rather than a full document parse, which keeps it fast and predictable.

Data source & conversion logic

No external data. It maps a common set of HTML tags to their Markdown equivalents — Markdown being Gruber's 2004 format, later specified by CommonMark — using text rules, in your browser.

  1. Step 1. Convert heading tags (h1 to h6) to the matching number of # marks.
  2. Step 2. Convert the bold and italic tags to double and single asterisks.
  3. Step 3. Convert links to the bracket-and-parenthesis Markdown form.
  4. Step 4. Convert list items to dash lines, and turn block tags into line breaks.
  5. Step 5. Strip any remaining tags to their text, tidy the blank lines, and copy or download output.md.

Privacy

The HTML you paste is converted in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.

Nothing is stored — refresh and it's gone.

Technical Details

InputHTML
OutputMarkdown
ConvertsHeadings, bold, italic, links, list items
Other tagsStripped to their text
MethodPattern-based (not a DOM parser)
Downloadoutput.md
Where it runsIn your browser, live

Standards & references

  • Markdown (Gruber, 2004) / CommonMark — the target plain-text syntax the tags are mapped to. The mapping covers a common subset, so it is intentionally lossy.
  • Pattern-based mapping — the tool rewrites recognised tags with text rules rather than building a full HTML document model, so simple, well-formed HTML converts best.

Accuracy & Limitations

Lossy by design. Only the common tags are mapped; tables, images, code blocks, blockquotes and any styling are reduced to text or dropped. Expect to tidy the result by hand.

It's pattern-based, not a full HTML parser, so unusual or malformed markup may not convert cleanly. Simple, well-formed HTML gives the best results.

Attributes other than a link's destination are ignored, and nested structures are flattened rather than preserved.

For a faithful, structure-preserving conversion of complex HTML, a dedicated library such as Turndown is a better fit.

Real-World Use Cases

Markdown from a snippet

Pull clean Markdown out of HTML copied from a web page or email.

Content migration

Move HTML content into a Markdown-based CMS or notes app.

De-format rich text

Reduce styled HTML to portable plain-text Markdown.

Draft from a page

Start a Markdown draft from an existing HTML document.

When to use it — and when not to

Good for

  • Pulling common HTML into Markdown
  • De-formatting rich text to plain text
  • Quick migration drafts
  • Simple, well-formed HTML

Not the best choice for

  • Complex or deeply nested HTML
  • Tables and images
  • Faithful, lossless round trips

Complex HTML with tables and images? Use a full converter such as Turndown. Going the other way? Use Markdown to HTML. Just need the words? Strip the tags with a text cleaner.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which tags does it convert?
Heading tags, bold and italic, links, and list items. Block wrappers like paragraphs and divs become line breaks; everything else is stripped to its text.
Is the conversion lossy?
Yes, by design. It keeps the common structures and drops the rest, so tables, images, code blocks and styling won't survive. Plan to tidy the output.
Does it handle tables or images?
No. Table and image markup is removed along with other unsupported tags, leaving any text behind.
Is it a real HTML parser?
No — it's pattern-based. It rewrites recognised tags with text rules rather than building a full document model, which is fast but less robust on messy HTML.
What happens to CSS, classes and attributes?
They're ignored, except a link's destination. Styling and metadata aren't represented in Markdown, so they're dropped.
Can I download the Markdown?
Yes — copy it from the output, or use Download to save output.md.
Is my HTML uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing you paste is transmitted.
Why is my output missing parts of the page?
Because the tags for those parts aren't in the supported set and were stripped. Only headings, emphasis, links and list items are converted.
Does it keep nested lists?
No. Nested structures are flattened, so sub-items lose their indentation level.
How is this different from Markdown to HTML?
It runs in the opposite direction — HTML in, Markdown out. Use Markdown to HTML to go from Markdown source to rendered tags.
What kind of HTML works best?
Simple, well-formed HTML with the common tags. Hand-written or lightly-formatted content converts more cleanly than complex, generated markup.
What should I use for complex HTML?
A dedicated converter like Turndown, which parses the document properly and supports more structures.

References

Maps the common tags — headings, bold, italic, links and list items — and strips the rest to text, so it's a practical, deliberately lossy converter rather than a faithful HTML parser.

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