HTML to Markdown — Convert HTML Code to Clean Markdown
You have HTML in hand — copied from a page, exported from a CMS, generated by an editor — and you need it as Markdown. Paste the HTML, click Convert, get clean Markdown back. Headings stay headings, lists stay lists, tables become GFM tables, links keep their hrefs, code blocks keep their language hints. Skip the npm install / pip install / "where do I host the converter" question entirely.
How "HTML to Markdown" actually works here
Paste raw HTML into the input box (or drop in an .html file). The converter parses the document, walks the DOM, and emits Markdown that round-trips the structure: <h1> → #, <ul> → - lists, <table> → GFM tables (with column alignment when present), <pre><code class="language-python"> → ```python fenced blocks. Inline styles, <script> tags, and CSS classes are dropped — they have no Markdown equivalent and would only add noise.
When this is the right tool vs URL to Markdown
"HTML to Markdown" is the right tool when you already have the HTML text — copy-pasted from a developer console, exported from a CMS, generated by an editor, or scraped by a script you wrote. "URL to Markdown" is the right tool when you have a live URL and want us to fetch + render + convert it. Same Markdown output style; different starting point.
If your source is a PDF instead of HTML
Different tool: see /convert/pdf-to-markdown. Our HTML converter expects HTML markup as input. PDFs need a different parser entirely — extracting text, recovering reading order, detecting tables — which our PDF tool handles end-to-end.
Frequently asked questions
What HTML elements survive the conversion?
Structural elements with Markdown equivalents: headings (h1–h6), paragraphs, lists (ordered and unordered, nested), tables (with GFM column alignment), links, images, code blocks (with language hints when present in class="language-X"), blockquotes, horizontal rules, inline emphasis (bold, italic, strikethrough, code). Elements with no Markdown equivalent (div, span, script, style, custom components) are stripped and their children flattened into the surrounding flow.
Can I paste HTML with <script> and <style> tags safely?
Yes — both are stripped during conversion. Nothing inside <script> or <style> reaches the output Markdown. The conversion happens server-side on the text you paste; we don't execute the JavaScript or apply the CSS. Safe to paste any HTML you have, including untrusted snippets.
How are tables handled?
HTML <table> elements convert to GitHub-Flavoured Markdown tables with the |---| separator row. Column alignment from <th align="..."> is preserved (left, center, right). Cell formatting (bold, italic, links inside cells) survives. Rowspan and colspan don't map to GFM and get flattened — for HTML with merged cells, the resulting Markdown is best-effort.
Will inline CSS or class attributes survive?
No — Markdown doesn't have a class attribute concept, and inline CSS would just be visual noise in plain text. Class attributes are stripped except where they signal semantic intent (e.g. class="language-python" on a code block is preserved as the fence info string). If you need styled output, convert to Markdown first, then render through a Markdown processor with your own CSS theme.
What's the difference between this and URL to Markdown?
HTML to Markdown takes raw HTML text you already have. URL to Markdown takes a live URL — we fetch it, render in a headless browser, then convert. Use HTML to Markdown when you've already extracted the HTML (developer console copy, CMS export, scraper output). Use URL to Markdown when you have a URL and want the whole fetch+render+convert pipeline in one step.
Your AI doesn't read PDFs directly. It first has to extract the text, decode the layout, ignore the metadata — before it can even start answering. A Markdown file removes all of those steps. Your AI reads it instantly. So you get faster responses, more accurate results, and zero information lost along the way.
Size-wise, it's 100 to 500 times lighter for the same content. A 15 MB PDF becomes a 30 KB .md file. So your AI knowledge base can hold hundreds of documents instead of a handful.
MDisBetter brings 19 free tools together for that — documents, videos, audio, web pages and prompts.
How does it work?
Drop a PDF, a video, an audio file or a URL. MDisBetter extracts the content and gives you a clean Markdown file. So you can send it to your AI, add it to your project files, or store it in your knowledge base — without losing anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert a PDF to Markdown for free?
Upload your PDF to MDisBetter, click Convert, and get structured Markdown in seconds. No signup, no installation — it works directly in your browser. The free plan includes 50 credits per month.
Why is Markdown better than PDF for AI?
Markdown reduces token usage by up to 95% compared to PDF. AI models like ChatGPT and Claude process Markdown far more efficiently because it contains only content structure — no fonts, no layout data, no binary overhead.
What file types can MDisBetter convert?
MDisBetter converts PDF, Word (.docx), plain text, YouTube videos (transcript), audio files (MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG, FLAC, WEBM), and any web page URL to clean Markdown.
Is MDisBetter free?
Yes, free to start. The free plan includes 50 credits per month. All processing happens securely — your files are never stored.
Can I extract a YouTube transcript as Markdown?
Yes. Paste the YouTube video URL, click Convert, and get the full transcript structured as Markdown with headings and timestamps. Perfect for feeding video content to AI tools.
PDF → Markdown
Faithful and structured conversion of your documents
Text to MD, EPUB to MD, MD to PDF, MD Cleaner, Merger, Chunker, Token Counter, Context Builder
Free
—
Word to MD
0.5 credit
per page
Excel to MD
0.5 credit
per conversion
Single URL Scrape
0.5 credit
per call
Site Crawl
1 credit
per page
Translate
1 credit
per 10 000 chars (min 1, free re-translation on cache hit)
Prompt Optimizer
1 credit
per call
System Prompt Generator
1 credit
per call
Audio to MD
2 credits
per minute
Video to MD
2 credits
per minute
YouTube to MD
2 credits
per minute
Image OCR
4 credits
per image (0 on cache hit)
PDF to MD
4 credits
per page
PPTX to MD
4 credits
per slide
Questions
Yes! You get 50 credits every month to use any tool. Basic tools like MD Cleaner or Token Counter cost just 0.5 credit per use. When you run out, credits reset the next month or you can upgrade for more.
Wait for your monthly reset or upgrade to a higher plan. Credits renew on your billing date each month.
Yes, cancel anytime with one click. No questions asked. You keep access until the end of your billing period.
Pro gives you 30,000 credits for $29 — that's 30x more credits than Starter for just 3x the price. Every credit costs less, so you get far more value per dollar.