Free online MD to TEXT converter

Some applications, scripts, e-readers, and archival systems accept only plain .txt files, while Markdown syntax may display incorrectly in those environments. Converting an .md file produces an unformatted copy for editing, sharing, importing, or storage.

What the MD format is

MD usually denotes a Markdown document with the .md extension. Markdown is ordinary text containing lightweight markup for headings, lists, emphasis, links, code blocks, tables, and images; common markers include #, *, backticks, and brackets.

Developers and writers use Markdown for README files, software documentation, issue descriptions, notes, blog source files, and static-site content. Editors include Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, Notepad++, Obsidian, Typora, and GitHub's web editor.

What the TEXT format is

TEXT generally means unformatted plain text, normally saved with the .txt extension. A plain-text file contains characters and line breaks without Markdown markup, fonts, colors, embedded images, or page layout.

Plain text works with basic editors, command-line tools, import scripts, older devices, and systems that reject formatted documents. It is small, searchable, broadly compatible, and not tied to a particular authoring application.

How to convert MD to TEXT

Using 101convert:

1. Open the MD-to-TEXT converter on 101convert.com.
2. Upload the .md file or select it with the file picker.
3. Start the conversion and download the resulting .txt file.
4. Open the output in a plain-text editor and check headings, lists, links, tables, and code blocks.

This option requires no installation and is suitable for occasional conversions. Do not upload confidential files unless the service's privacy terms meet your requirements.

Using Pandoc: Pandoc provides repeatable command-line conversion for local or batch processing. From the folder containing the source file, run:

pandoc input.md --from markdown --to plain --output output.txt

On Windows, run the command in PowerShell or Command Prompt; use full paths if the files are in another folder. Pandoc normally expects UTF-8 input. If the source uses a legacy encoding, convert it to UTF-8 before processing or use an editor that can open and resave it with the correct encoding.

Using an editor: Renaming input.md to input.txt, or using File → Save as with a .txt extension, changes the filename but does not remove Markdown markers. For a simple document, open the rendered Markdown preview, copy its readable content into a plain-text editor, and save it as .txt using UTF-8 when available. Copying the preview can change list structure, omit link URLs, flatten tables, or alter code formatting, so it is less reliable than a converter.

Quality and compatibility

Conversion removes presentation rather than reproducing it. Headings become ordinary lines, emphasis markers are removed, and images cannot be embedded in a plain-text file; an image may become its alternative text or source path depending on the converter.

Links may become their visible labels, their URLs, or both. Tables can lose column alignment, particularly when cells contain long text. Fenced code blocks usually remain as code lines while their backtick fences are removed. Lists may retain simple text bullets or indentation because those characters can still describe the list without Markdown syntax.

Inspect the output when it contains accented characters, non-Latin scripts, emoji, or other symbols. UTF-8 is the safest general encoding, but a legacy application or device may require a different character set. Plain-text conversion also discards Markdown-specific metadata, raw HTML, styling, and document layout unless the selected tool explicitly writes an equivalent text representation.