MD to PDF

Markdown to PDF,
properly typeset

A free MD to PDF converter with a print-accurate live preview. Drop a .md file or paste Markdown, and download a clean PDF — tables, code, Mermaid diagrams and LaTeX maths all come through, with no watermark and no sign-up.

document.md
Source
77 lines · 308 wordsLn 1, Col 1

How to convert Markdown to PDF

  1. Paste or open your Markdown

    Type, paste from ChatGPT, Claude or Obsidian, or drag a .md file onto the page. Nothing is uploaded until you ask for a PDF.

  2. Check the preview

    Same width, same margins, same point size. A line that wraps on screen wraps in the PDF, so there are no surprises after export.

  3. Download the PDF

    One click. No account, no watermark, no waiting on an ad. The file is produced and sent straight back to your browser.

What Markdown it supports

GitHub-flavoured Markdown
Headings, lists, tables, task lists, footnotes, strikethrough and autolinks.
Syntax-highlighted code
Around 200 languages, highlighted server-side so nothing depends on a stylesheet loading.
Mermaid diagrams
Flowcharts, sequence, class, state, ER, Gantt and pie charts, drawn as vector art.
LaTeX maths
Inline and display maths through KaTeX, including matrices and large operators.
Inline HTML
Details, subscripts, keyboard keys, figures and alignment attributes, sanitised before rendering.
YAML front matter
Title, author and date become an optional title page.

Why the PDF comes out right

No watermark, ever

Free converters commonly stamp exports with tiled watermark text, which also lands in the PDF's text layer and wrecks copy-paste, search and screen readers. Nothing is stamped here.

Page breaks that behave

Headings are never stranded at the foot of a page, table header rows repeat when a table spans pages, and code blocks keep at least three lines together.

Real bookmarks and live links

Every heading becomes a PDF bookmark, so long documents are navigable in any reader. Links stay clickable and the file is tagged for accessibility.

Fonts embedded properly

Real bold and italic faces are embedded rather than synthesised, and Chinese, Japanese and Korean text falls back to fonts that survive the export.

What people use it for

  • Turning a ChatGPT or Claude answer into something you can send on
  • Exporting a README or specification for review
  • A Markdown résumé you can keep in version control
  • Meeting notes and status reports
  • Course notes and technical documentation
  • Anything you would rather not paste into a word processor

How the conversion actually works

The editor and the downloaded file are produced by one renderer, which is the reason the preview can be trusted. As you type, that renderer runs in your own browser and lays the document out at the real page width with the real margins. When you click Download PDF, the Markdown is sent to the server and the same renderer runs again inside a real browser engine, headless, which is what produces the file. The two stages differ in where they run, not in how they read the document — so a line that wraps on screen wraps in the PDF. It is also why nothing is stored: the document exists on the server for the second or two it takes to render and return the file, then it is discarded.

Markdown to PDF compared with the alternatives

Most people arrive here after trying something else first. What those other routes actually involve:

  • Exporting from Word or Google Docs works, but round-tripping through a word processor mangles what was written as Markdown — code blocks lose their formatting, tables need rebuilding, and headings often arrive as plain bold text rather than real heading styles
  • A generic online converter looks identical to this one until the watermark, page cap or forced sign-up appears at the download step
  • A VS Code extension converts locally, but most work by launching a headless Chromium of their own, which is a several-hundred-megabyte download on first use and a common failure on a locked-down or proxied network
  • Pandoc with a LaTeX distribution is the most capable option and the right one for an automated pipeline, but it is a large local install and Mermaid diagrams need a separate filter on top
  • This tool sits in the gap those leave: nothing to install, no account, and a real browser engine doing the rendering — at the cost of not being scriptable, which is a fair trade for a document converted by hand

Frequently asked questions

Is it really free, with no watermark?

Yes. Every PDF is watermark-free and there is no page limit, no account and no payment. The project is funded by advertising, and the download is never gated behind one.

Do I need to create an account?

No. Your document stays in your browser between visits using local storage, so there is nothing to sign up for and nothing to lose access to.

Is my document uploaded or stored anywhere?

It is sent to the server only at the moment you click Download, because the PDF is produced by a real browser engine. It is never written to disk or to a database, and it is discarded as soon as the file is returned.

Will the PDF look like the preview?

Yes, by construction. The preview and the PDF are produced by the same renderer, and the preview sheet is the real page width with the real margins at the real point size, so line breaks match.

Does it support Mermaid diagrams and LaTeX maths?

Both. Mermaid flowcharts, sequence, class, state, ER, Gantt and pie charts are drawn as vector graphics, and maths is typeset with KaTeX. Diagram labels are measured after the fonts load, so text is not clipped inside its box.

Can I change the fonts, colours and page size?

Yes. Ten typefaces, five layout themes, body and heading colours, A3 to A5 plus US Letter and Legal, margins, orientation, page numbers, an optional title page and an optional table of contents.

What happens to my headings in the PDF?

They become real PDF bookmarks, so a long document can be navigated from the sidebar of any PDF reader. The file is also tagged, which is what screen readers use.

Does the editor scroll with the preview?

Yes. Both panes stay on the same content as you scroll, matched through the source line each block came from rather than by scroll percentage. You can turn it off with the Scroll lock button.

Can I convert a .md file directly?

Drag the file onto the page, or use Open in the toolbar. Files up to 2 MB are accepted, which is far larger than most documents.

Does it work with Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Arabic text?

Yes. Non-Latin scripts fall back to fonts chosen specifically because they embed correctly in a PDF, which is a common failure point in other converters.

Is there a maximum file size?

Uploads are capped at 2 MB of Markdown, which in plain text is a great deal of document. A file hitting that limit almost always contains images embedded as data URIs; linking to hosted images instead brings the size back down.

Does it work on a phone?

It runs in a mobile browser, where the editor, preview and style panel become tabs rather than sitting side by side. Most people draft on a larger screen and use a phone mainly to check the finished PDF.

Is there an API, or can I script it?

Not at the moment — every conversion goes through the page itself, one document at a time. For an automated pipeline a local tool such as Pandoc is the better fit, even though it takes more setting up.

What happens to GitHub-flavoured formatting like task lists and tables?

It is supported rather than merely tolerated. The converter follows GitHub-flavoured Markdown rather than the stricter original specification, because that is what almost all Markdown written today actually uses.

Does the PDF get bookmarks I can navigate by?

Yes, always — every heading becomes a PDF bookmark in the reader's sidebar, with nothing to switch on. The separate Contents option is a different thing: it adds a visible, linked table of contents onto the page itself.