Can I convert scanned PDFs?

Not reliably. mdstill extracts text from the PDF's embedded text layer. Scanned PDFs without selectable text will return empty or minimal output — run them through an OCR tool first, then convert the OCR output.

No. Files are processed in volatile memory and deleted immediately after the Markdown output is generated. We never store or train on your data.

Does it handle mathematical formulas?

Math-heavy papers are not mdstill's strongest use case. Formulas are extracted as plain text where possible, but complex notation may not render as proper LaTeX. For equation-heavy academic work, consider a dedicated math-aware tool.

Is there a batch conversion limit?

The free web tool allows one file at a time. For high-volume needs, check our API documentation.

Can it extract images?

By default, images are not extracted — the output is pure text Markdown. Image extraction is available as an opt-in advanced feature when enabled on your instance.

Will I get a .md file when I convert a PDF file?

Yes. The download is a standard `.md` file — that's the conventional file extension for Markdown. You can open it in any text editor, drop it into Obsidian, paste it into ChatGPT or Claude, or feed it to a RAG pipeline. If your tool prefers `.markdown` or `.txt`, just rename the file — the contents are identical.

Is .md the same as Markdown?

Yes. `.md` is the file extension; "Markdown" (sometimes "MD") is the lightweight markup language inside it. mdstill outputs GitHub-Flavored Markdown (GFM), which is the dialect ChatGPT, Claude, and Obsidian understand natively.

Convert PDF to Markdown (.md)

.pdf → .md

Convert PDF to clean Markdown for ChatGPT, Claude, and RAG. Text, tables, and headings preserved as GitHub-flavored Markdown. Free, no signup.

Output is a standard .md file (Markdown / MD), ready for ChatGPT, Claude, Obsidian, and any LLM workflow.

picture_as_pdf

Drop your PDF file here

…or paste a file from clipboard ⌘/Ctrl V

PDF

Max file size: 20MB ·

Precision Extraction

Engineered for clean output.

table_chart

Tables to GFM

Tables with clear row and column structure are converted to GitHub-flavored Markdown with proper pipes and alignment.

format_list_bulleted

Headings Preserved

Common heading patterns from the PDF are mapped to Markdown H1–H6 so your document hierarchy stays intact.

speed

Instant Conversion

Most PDFs convert in under a second. Drop your file, get clean Markdown immediately — no queue, no waiting.

Why use mdstill?

Feature	mdstill	Standard Tools
Privacy	Files deleted after processing	Server-side storage
Table Fidelity	High-precision GFM	Broken text blocks
Output Quality	Semantic Markdown	Raw text dumps
Max File Size	10 MB free, up to 50 MB on Pro	Usually 5-10 MB

Frequently Asked Questions

Feed PDF to

Converting PDF is step one — the output is tuned for LLM prompts, RAG pipelines, and knowledge bases.

chatChatGPT psychologyClaude diamondGemini smart_toyAny LLM hubRAG note_stackObsidian

Related formats

People converting PDF often work with these too.

descriptionWord htmlHTML auto_storiesEPUB

Other Formats

descriptionWord htmlHTML table_chartExcel present_to_allPowerPoint auto_storiesEPUB csvCSV articleApple Pages present_to_allApple Keynote grid_onApple Numbers descriptionDOCX table_chartXLSX table_chartXLS data_objectJSON descriptionDOC text_fieldsRTF codeXML articleODT folder_zipZIP