Drop a Markdown file or paste the text — get a clean rendered preview instantly. Free md viewer, no install, no signup, nothing uploaded.
Need it as a shareable file? Convert the same Markdown to PDF, Word, or HTML in one click below.
descriptionsample.md
Welcome to the .md viewer
This is a Markdown file — plain text with light formatting that renders
the way you expect. Drop your own .md file above, or paste text here and
see it render live on the right.
What works out of the box
GitHub-Flavored Markdown (the dialect ChatGPT and Claude output)
Tables, task lists, fenced code blocks, autolinks
Inline code and bold / italic / strikethrough
Element
Markdown
Heading
# Heading
Bold
**bold**
Code
\code``
def hello():
print("Hello from a fenced code block.")
Blockquotes work too.
Render Markdown
Profit
The file stays in your browser — the viewer runs client-side, no upload, no server round-trip.
A .md file is a plain-text file written in Markdown — a lightweight markup format invented by John Gruber in 2004 that uses simple symbols (# for headings, ** for bold, ``` for code blocks) instead of hidden formatting bytes. Anything that opens a text file (Notepad, TextEdit, any IDE) can open a .md file — but it will show you the raw source, not the rendered version.
To see a .md file the way GitHub, Obsidian, ChatGPT, or a chat app would display it, you need an md reader or md file viewer — the one above is the simplest possible version of that. Drop the file, see the rendered output.
If you want a complete tour of Markdown syntax — headings, tables, code blocks, task lists — see the Markdown Guide.
How to open a .md file
The viewer above works on any device with a browser. If you'd rather open the file in a desktop app, here's where to start.
desktop_windows
Windows
Notepad and Notepad++ show the raw Markdown source. VS Code is the easiest free option for a rendered preview — open the file, then press Ctrl+Shift+V. For a polished reading experience, install Typora, Obsidian, or MarkText.
laptop_mac
macOS
Recent macOS versions render basic Markdown in Quick Look — select the file in Finder and press space. TextEdit shows raw source. For full rendering: VS Code (Cmd+Shift+V), Obsidian, Typora, or Bear.
terminal
Linux
Any text editor (gedit, nano, vim) opens the raw source. For rendering: VS Code, Obsidian, MarkText, Typora, or gnome-text-editor's built-in Markdown preview on newer GNOME versions.
smartphone
iOS & Android
Open this page in your phone browser and tap Open .md — the viewer works on touch screens. Native apps: Obsidian (both platforms), Working Copy and Textastic on iOS, Markor on Android.
Apps that natively read Markdown
If you work with .md files daily, install one of these instead of using a generic text editor.
Obsidian
Linked-note vault built on plain .md files. Free for personal use.
VS Code
Side-by-side preview via Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+V. Free, cross-platform.
Typora
Inline rendering — Markdown is replaced by the rendered version as you type.
MarkText
Open-source Typora-like editor with live rendering.
Logseq
Outliner-style PKM app, stores notes as .md files locally.