Strip Markdown
Paste Markdown and get clean plain text back — headings, bold/italic, links, images, code, blockquotes, list markers, and tables are all stripped, keeping just the readable words.
Runs entirely in your browser — files never leave your device.
How it works
- 01Paste or upload your Markdown, or click Sample to try a realistic status report.
- 02Plain text updates automatically as you type, with all Markdown syntax removed.
- 03Copy the result or download it as output.txt.
- 04Link text is kept (the URL is dropped); images are removed entirely since there's no text left to keep.
Frequently asked questions
Is this strip Markdown tool free?
Yes, with no account or limits. The transform is a small regex-based text processor built for this site, running entirely client-side.
Does my Markdown get uploaded anywhere?
No. Stripping happens entirely in your browser's JavaScript engine — the text you paste never leaves your device, and nothing is sent to a server (unless you use "Open from URL" to fetch a remote file, which is a direct browser request, not a server relay).
What counts as 'removing Markdown' here?
Headings (# through ######), bold/italic/strikethrough markers, link and image syntax, inline code and fenced code blocks, blockquote markers (>), bullet/numbered list markers, table pipes and separator rows, and horizontal rules. Link text is kept; image alt text is dropped along with the image since there's nothing left to point it at.
What happens to code blocks?
The triple-backtick fences (or ~~~ fences) are removed, but the code itself is left completely untouched — even if it contains characters that look like Markdown syntax (a # comment, a ** in code, a leading -), so code samples never get mangled by the stripping logic.
Is this the same as 'remove markdown' or 'markdown to plain text'?
Yes — strip Markdown, remove Markdown formatting, and convert Markdown to plain text all describe the same operation: this tool turns formatted Markdown into clean, unformatted text.
Related tools
Strip Markdown, remove Markdown formatting
Whether you call it stripping Markdown, removing Markdown, or converting Markdown to plain text, the goal is the same: take a formatted .md document and get back only the words, with no #, **, [](), >, or table pipes left behind. That's useful for pasting Markdown source into a plain-text field (a form, an SMS, a plain email), feeding a document into a word-count or readability tool, or generating a preview snippet where formatting characters would otherwise show up literally.
Known limitations
This is a lightweight regex-based stripper, not a full Markdown parser, so a few edge cases are handled simply rather than perfectly: GitHub task-list checkboxes (- [ ] / - [x]) keep their bracket marker text rather than being converted to a symbol, and literal * or _ characters used outside of real emphasis (for example in math like 2*3) can occasionally be removed as if they were formatting. Code blocks and inline code are the one exception — their contents are always preserved exactly as written, never altered by the stripping logic above.