Convert Markdown to PDF
Turn your Markdown into a PDF. PDF is the usual choice for contracts, invoices and anything that must print exactly as designed. The practical difference is that the result opens anywhere, which Markdown files do not. Your file never leaves your computer.
Need the other direction? Convert PDF to Markdown
How to convert Markdown to PDF
- 1 Drop your Markdown .md or .markdown or .mdown file onto the page, or click to browse for it.
- 2 Set the quality, or leave the default, which keeps the file small without anything showing.
- 3 Convert. The work happens on your own machine, so how long it takes depends on your computer and the file.
- 4 Download the PDF, or add more files and do the whole set in one go.
Why convert Markdown to PDF
- A Markdown will not open in a browser, so anything going onto a web page, into a document or into a message has to become a PDF first.
- Layout, fonts and colour are fixed, so the file looks the same everywhere.
- Every browser and operating system opens it without extra software.
- Print production, where PDF/X is the delivery standard.
- Markdown: anything beyond basic structure means falling back to raw HTML.
Markdown compared with PDF
How the two formats differ on the things that decide whether a conversion is worth making.
| Property | Markdown | |
|---|---|---|
| File extension | .md | |
| Compression | Uncompressed | Lossy or lossless |
| Multiple pages | No | Yes |
| Colour depth | UTF-8 plain text, parsed to an HTML document tree | RGB, CMYK, greyscale and spot colour with ICC profiles |
| Typical file size | Largest | Depends on mode |
| Browser support | No browser support | Every browser |
| Introduced | 2004 | 1993 |
| Developed by | John Gruber and Aaron Swartz | Adobe, now ISO 32000 |
Quality and what changes
PDF stores the same content under a different set of rules, so what matters here is compatibility rather than picture quality. Convert once from the best source you have rather than through a chain of intermediate files.
- One PDF limitation to keep in mind: reflowing text for a small screen works poorly and often fails entirely.
Questions about Markdown to PDF
Is my Markdown file uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs inside the browser tab you already have open. Your Markdown is read straight from your own disk, converted on your machine and handed back as a PDF. Nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is stored and there is no account.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no server-side limit because no server sees the file. The real ceiling is your device memory, since the input and the output both have to fit in the tab. A few hundred megabytes is usually fine on a desktop machine and considerably less on a phone.
Can I convert several Markdown files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they are processed one after another, then offered as separate PDF downloads or as a single ZIP. Speed depends on your own processor rather than on a queue.
Does the converter work offline?
Yes, after the page has loaded once. The engine is cached by the browser, so you can disconnect, reload and keep converting. That falls out of doing the work locally rather than being a separate mode you switch on.