What program opens a .md file?

Any text editor, because Markdown is plain text. To see it rendered with headings and links, use VS Code with Ctrl+Shift+V, or a dedicated app such as Obsidian.

How do I convert Markdown to PDF or Word?

Open the file in Obsidian or VS Code and use their export function. Both produce PDF directly, and pandoc handles Word output from the command line if you need it repeatedly.

File extensions

How to open a .md file

Markdown document · Text

A .md file is plain text with light formatting marks. Any text editor opens it, but to see it rendered with real headings and links you want a Markdown editor such as Obsidian or VS Code.

What a .md file actually is

Markdown was created by John Gruber in 2004 so that formatted text stays readable in its raw form. Hashes make headings, asterisks make emphasis, and the source is still perfectly legible without any software.

It became the default for README files, documentation, static site content and note-taking apps, which is why .md files now turn up in front of people who have never heard of the format.

Why it will not open

Windows has no association for .md, so double-clicking opens the "choose an app" dialog. The file is not broken and nothing is missing: it is text, and any editor will show it.

Renaming it to an extension you can open will not help: changing the extension does not convert the file, it only changes what Windows tries to open it with.

Step by step

Windows

01For a quick look, right-click, choose "Open with", then Notepad. You will see the text with its formatting marks.
02For a rendered view, install VS Code, open the file, and press Ctrl+Shift+V for a side-by-side preview.
03For notes and long documents, Obsidian is built entirely around Markdown files in a plain folder.
04To convert to Word or PDF, open the file in Obsidian or VS Code and export from there.

macOS

01TextEdit opens it as text. Set Format to Plain Text so it does not try to style anything.
02Install Obsidian or VS Code for a rendered preview.
03In Terminal, "cat file.md" prints it immediately.

Programs that open .md

Our pick, in order. Every one links to the publisher's official download URL and the SHA-256 hash of the installer. Once you have downloaded it, you can check the file against our index before you run it.

If you end up downloading one of these from somewhere other than the publisher, what you can and cannot verify about that is worth two minutes.

Also registers .md in its manifest

Taken straight from publisher manifests. Some of these handle the format for a narrow purpose rather than as their main job.

Common questions

What program opens a .md file?: Any text editor, because Markdown is plain text. To see it rendered with headings and links, use VS Code with Ctrl+Shift+V, or a dedicated app such as Obsidian.
How do I convert Markdown to PDF or Word?: Open the file in Obsidian or VS Code and use their export function. Both produce PDF directly, and pandoc handles Word output from the command line if you need it repeatedly.