Markdown Viewer: Open and Read .md Files Online
A free online Markdown viewer. Open a .md file, drag it in, paste text or load a URL and read it rendered, with an outline, print support and nothing uploaded.
A Markdown viewer that opens .md files in your browser
Use this page when you have a Markdown file and just want to read it. Open a .md file from your computer, drag it onto the page, paste the text, or load a raw file from a URL. The viewer shows the rendered document in a reading layout with an outline you can click to jump between headings. It is a viewer, not an editor, so there is nothing to save and no way to change the file by accident. If you want to edit as well, use the Markdown editor.
Everything runs in your browser. Files you open are not uploaded to a server. Loading a URL is a direct request from your browser to that site.
What it renders
- GitHub Flavored Markdown: tables, task lists, strikethrough, autolinks and fenced code blocks
- Syntax highlighting for fenced code blocks
- YAML front matter is hidden from the rendered page (Jekyll, Hugo and Docusaurus style files)
- Raw HTML in the file is sanitized with DOMPurify before it is shown, so scripts in an untrusted file do not run
Not rendered: Mermaid diagrams and LaTeX math appear as code or plain text. Relative image paths such as ./images/logo.png cannot load because the browser has no access to the folder the file came from. Images with full https:// addresses work.
Other ways to view a Markdown file
| Option | Good for | Catch |
|---|---|---|
| This page | Any device with a browser, one-off reading, files from email or chat, no install | No relative images, no Mermaid or math |
| VS Code preview | Files already in a project. Press Ctrl+Shift+V (Cmd+Shift+V on Mac) to open the preview | Needs VS Code installed |
| GitHub or GitLab | Files in a repository, including relative images and Mermaid | The file has to be in a repo you can open |
| Glow | Reading Markdown in a terminal over SSH | Command line only |
| A note app | A folder of notes you read every day. See notes apps that keep Markdown files | Import step for a single file |
Tips
- Open a file from a URL to read a README without cloning the repository. Paste a GitHub
bloblink and it is converted for you. - Use Print / PDF to save the rendered page as a PDF from the browser print dialog. For more control over page styling, use Markdown to PDF.
- Share a view with a link: add
?url=followed by the address of a raw Markdown file to this page's address and it loads automatically. - An AI chat gave you a Markdown answer you want as plain text? Use Markdown to Plain Text.
Related tools
- Markdown Editor: write with a live preview and export HTML
- Markdown Linter: check a file for style problems
- Markdown Table of Contents: generate a contents list for a long file
- Markdown editors and apps: desktop and mobile apps for reading and writing Markdown