Free Tool
Markdown Viewer
Drop a .md file and read it rendered instead of as raw punctuation. The file is opened in your browser and never uploaded. Print it to PDF, or flip to the source.
Stays on your device
The file is read in the tab. No upload, no account, no limit, and it keeps working offline.
Renders like GitHub
GitHub Flavored Markdown, with tables, task lists, and code blocks. A README looks the way it looks in the repo.
Read it or print it
Switch between the reading view and the raw source, or print the rendered page and save it as a PDF.
Viewer
An example file is loaded. Drop your own .md file on it to read that instead.
Drop a .md file here, or choose one
Read in this browser. Nothing is uploaded. 5 MB max.
README.md(example — drop your own file above)
Rendered in a sandboxed frame, so raw HTML inside the file cannot run scripts on this page.
What an .md file actually is
An .md file is a plain text file. That is the whole format. There is no binary container, no compression, and nothing that can be corrupted by opening it in the wrong program. Markdown just agrees that a handful of punctuation marks mean formatting: a line starting with # is a heading, text wrapped in ** is bold.
# Install
Run **npm install** first, then:
- [Read the docs](https://example.com)
- Open `config.json`
Open that in Notepad on an older Windows build, or in TextEdit, and you see exactly those characters. That is not a failure to open the file — it is the file. A viewer is the thing that turns those characters into a heading and a bold word. The beginner's guide to Markdown covers why anyone would store a document this way.
How to open a .md file on every platform
Most advice on this question is a list of apps to install, and most of it was written before Windows started rendering Markdown on its own. Here is the current state, including where you genuinely do still need something.
Windows 11
Built in, as of 2025Notepad renders Markdown now. Microsoft added lightweight formatting in 2025 (Notepad 11.2504.x, shipped through the Microsoft Store), covering headings, bold, italic, links, and lists, with strikethrough and nested lists following later. Windows does not always associate .md with Notepad, so you may need right-click > Open with > Notepad the first time. Once it is open, the file appears formatted rather than as raw syntax; use View > Show Markdown Source or the toggle in the status bar to see the source, and Settings > Preferences > Formatting to turn rendering off entirely.
macOS
Not built inTextEdit opens a .md file as plain text and Quick Look shows the raw source — macOS has no native Markdown rendering, which is the opposite of the Windows situation above and the reason so many paid Mac viewers exist. Use the viewer on this page, open the file in VS Code, or install a Quick Look extension if you want Finder previews.
VS Code
Built inOpen the file and press Ctrl+Shift+V (Cmd+Shift+V on a Mac) for a preview tab, or Ctrl+K then V (Cmd+K then V) to put the preview beside the source so both scroll together. No extension needed.
iPhone and Android
Depends on the appTapping a .md attachment usually opens it as plain text. This page works in a mobile browser: use your file manager to share the file into the browser, or open it from Files or Drive and choose to open with your browser.
GitHub
AutomaticAny .md file in a repository is rendered when you view it, and a README.md is rendered automatically on the folder it sits in. Press the raw button to see the source instead.
Obsidian and Notion
Native formatObsidian stores its notes as .md files, so opening one is just putting it in a vault. Notion imports Markdown but converts it into Notion blocks rather than keeping the file.
The short version: since 2025 Windows opens Markdown formatted out of the box and macOS still does not, which is the reverse of what most guides assume. If you are on a Mac and do not want to install anything, the viewer above is the whole answer.
Why this viewer renders single newlines as spaces
Markdown has two common behaviors for a single line break, and a viewer has to pick one. Chat apps like Discord and Slack treat every newline as a visible break. GitHub, rendering a .md file in a repository, does not: a single newline is just a space, and a real line break needs two trailing spaces or a backslash. This viewer follows GitHub, because a .md file you have been handed is almost always one written for a repository. The line breaks guide explains the rule and how to force a break when you want one.
Frequently asked questions
- What program opens an MD file?
- Any text editor opens one, because a .md file is plain text. The question is usually which program renders it. On Windows 11, Notepad now renders Markdown itself. On macOS, nothing built in does, so use this viewer or an editor like VS Code. Anything that shows you asterisks and hash marks is opening the file correctly and just not formatting it.
- What is an MD file and how do I open it?
- An MD file is a Markdown document: plain text where a few punctuation marks stand in for formatting, so # means a heading and **text** means bold. Open it by dropping it onto the viewer on this page, which renders it in your browser without uploading it anywhere.
- How do I open an MD file as a PDF?
- Open the file in the viewer above, then use the Print / PDF button. That opens your browser's print dialog, where every desktop browser offers Save as PDF as a destination. There is no conversion step and the file never leaves your machine.
- How do I open an MD file in Word?
- Microsoft Word will open a .md file as plain text, showing the raw syntax rather than formatting. To get a formatted document, open the file in the viewer above, use Print / PDF, and open the PDF in Word. For an editable document, convert the Markdown to HTML first and open that in Word instead.
- Does this Markdown viewer upload my file?
- No. The file is read in your browser with the standard File API and rendered on this page. It is not sent to a server, stored, or logged, and the viewer keeps working with your network disconnected.
- Why does my .md file look like punctuation in Notepad or TextEdit?
- Because that is the actual content of the file. Markdown stores formatting as characters, so a bold word is literally stored as **word**. A renderer turns those characters into formatting; a plain text editor shows them as written. Nothing is broken or corrupted.
- Which Markdown flavor does this viewer render?
- GitHub Flavored Markdown, including tables, task lists, strikethrough, and fenced code blocks. Single newlines are treated as spaces rather than line breaks, which is how GitHub renders a .md file in a repository, so a README looks here the way it looks there.