Instant Markdown Viewer
Paste, Drop, or Link to See It Live
View markdown files beautifully rendered. A lightweight, privacy-focused viewer for local files and URLs. Enjoy beautiful syntax highlighting and instant rendering without the privacy risks.
Instant Markdown Viewer
Error message
Load a markdown file to preview
Paste, upload, or fetch from URL above
Common Use Cases
README Files
Preview GitHub README.md files before committing. See exactly how your project documentation will look when rendered.
Documentation
View technical documentation, API guides, and wikis written in markdown with proper formatting and syntax highlighting.
Blog Posts
Preview blog posts and articles written in markdown before publishing to platforms like Jekyll, Hugo, or Gatsby.
Meeting Notes
Render meeting notes, project plans, and task lists with checkboxes and proper formatting for easy reading.
Course Materials
View educational content, tutorials, and course materials with properly rendered code examples and diagrams.
Export to PDF
Convert markdown files to PDF for sharing with team members who don't use markdown or for offline reading.
Frequently Asked Questions
Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber in 2004. It allows you to write formatted text using simple syntax like # for headings, ** for bold, and * for italics. It's widely used for documentation, README files, and content management systems.
GitHub Flavored Markdown extends standard Markdown with features like tables, task lists (checkboxes), strikethrough text, and fenced code blocks with syntax highlighting. This viewer fully supports GFM, so your GitHub README files will render exactly as they appear on GitHub.
No. All processing happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. No data is ever transmitted to any server (except when fetching a URL, which uses our CORS proxy). Your markdown content remains completely private. The tool works fully offline once loaded.
On GitHub, navigate to the .md file, click the "Raw" button, and copy the URL. It will look like: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/user/repo/branch/file.md. Paste this URL into the fetch field and click the download button.
Yes! Code blocks with language specifiers (like ```javascript or ```python) are automatically syntax highlighted using highlight.js. We support 30+ popular programming languages including JavaScript, Python, Java, Go, Rust, SQL, and more.
The Table of Contents is automatically generated from all headings (# H1, ## H2, etc.) in your markdown. Click any heading in the TOC to jump directly to that section. This makes navigating long documents much easier.
Yes! You can export your rendered markdown as an HTML file (complete with styling) or as a PDF document. Both exports preserve the formatting, syntax highlighting, and overall appearance of the preview.
You can upload files with .md, .markdown, or .txt extensions. The viewer will attempt to render any text file as markdown. Files without these extensions can be pasted directly into the paste textarea.
There's no strict file size limit. Since all processing happens in your browser, very large files (over 1MB) may take longer to render. For best performance, we recommend files under 500KB.
This tool is designed as a view-only utility for quick markdown previewing. It's optimized for speed and simplicity. If you need to edit markdown with a live preview, check out our Markdown Editor tool (coming soon) which offers a full split-pane editing experience.
Why We Built Instant Markdown Preview
Developers frequently need to preview markdown files - README files, documentation, notes, and more. Most markdown viewers are either bloated editors with features you don't need, or online tools that require uploading your files to unknown servers.
We built Instant Markdown Viewer as a simple, fast, view-only utility. Upload a file, drag and drop, paste content, or fetch from a URL - and instantly see it rendered beautifully with GitHub Flavored Markdown support, syntax highlighting, and automatic Table of Contents generation.
Unlike online tools that send your data to external servers, Instant Markdown Viewer processes everything locally using JavaScript. This means your sensitive documentation never leaves your computer. The tool works completely offline once loaded, making it safe for enterprise environments and confidential content.
Instant Markdown Viewer is part of RJL.io's collection of free developer tools - each designed to do one thing exceptionally well, with no accounts, no tracking, and no data collection. Check out our other tools: Diff Checker, Pretty Print, Base64 Encoder, and more. Every tool is 100% client-side, works offline, and respects your privacy.