WaywardTools

Document conversion that stays on your machine

EPUB Markdown Swap

EPUB to Markdown

Your file never leaves this device. Conversion runs in your browser. The document itself is not uploaded.

1 · Choose a EPUB file

…or drop a EPUB file here

.epub · stays in this tab

2 · Convert

3 · Download

Choose a file to convert. It is not uploaded.

FAQ and format details
Why convert EPUB to Markdown?

Commonplace books, course notes, public-domain etexts you want to quote with diffs. Markdown is searchable and linkable. This is not a way to launder a store-bought novel into a free file you redistribute — keep your licenses.

How this conversion runs

EPUB spine → concatenated sanitized HTML → Turndown. Tables and emphasis survive better than publisher-specific classes. Images inlined as data URLs make enormous Markdown; replace them with files if you keep the note.

Keep in mind for EPUB → Markdown

Publisher EPUBs are full of spans and page-break markup that become noise. Footnotes may not map to Markdown footnotes. You will edit. Fixed-layout books should not take this path.

After you have a Markdown file

Split the .md on headings if you want one file per chapter. Link it in your vault. Do not upload copyrighted Markdown to a public repo.

Can I convert just one chapter?

Not as a picker yet. Unzip the EPUB yourself, drop that XHTML on the HTML→Markdown page, or flatten and delete the rest.

Will the EPUB TOC become a Markdown TOC?

nav.xhtml is not specially treated as a TOC list in the Markdown. Chapter headings in the bodies are what you get. Rebuild a TOC in the .md if you want one.

This pair at a glance
Accepts
.epub
Writes
.md · text/markdown
Read fidelity
high (EPUB → HTML)
Write fidelity
high (HTML → Markdown)
Source size
Plan for files under 38 MB

The file is read in this tab. It is not uploaded.

Something off with this pair? Send feedback.

About EPUB and Markdown

Source file

EPUB

The open ebook format: a ZIP of XHTML chapters, CSS, and a package manifest. What Apple Books, Google Play Books, and most non-Kindle readers consume.

EPUB 3 is HTML in a spine. That makes the HTML hub almost native: we concatenate or split XHTML documents and rewrite the OPF package. Kindle’s AZW/MOBI family is a different type and is not in this matrix.

Extensions
.epub
MIME types
application/epub+zip
Kind
zip · binary
Category
ebook
Standard
Open format · since 2007
Comfortable size
Up to about 38 MB in this browser converter
Read into HTML
high fidelity · implemented — Spine XHTML documents are concatenated in reading order.

What this format can hold

  • headings
  • paragraphs
  • lists
  • links
  • images
  • inline formatting
  • chapters
  • table of contents

Usually dropped on the way in

  • per chapter css
  • fixed layout pages
  • media overlays
  • encryption

Apps that consume EPUB

  • Apple Books (Apple) — opens on macOS, iOS
  • Google Play Books (Google) — opens on Web, Android, iOS
  • Calibre — creates and opens on Windows, macOS, Linux
  • Thorium Reader — opens on Windows, macOS, Linux
  • Foliate — opens on Linux
  • Kindle (via conversion) (Amazon) — opens on e-ink, iOS, Android
  • Sigil — creates on Windows, macOS, Linux

Catalog notes

  • DRM-encumbered EPUBs are rejected.
  • Kindle AZW3/MOBI is a later type, not an alias of EPUB.

Destination file

Markdown

A lightweight plain-text syntax for structured writing that compiles to HTML. The lingua franca of README files, wikis, and note apps.

Markdown stores documents as readable plain text with a small set of punctuation conventions for headings, emphasis, lists, links, and code. GitHub-Flavored Markdown (GFM) adds tables, strikethrough, task lists, and fenced code blocks. Conversion through HTML is a natural fit because Markdown was designed as an HTML shorthand.

Extensions
.md, .markdown, .mdown, .mkd
MIME types
text/markdown, text/x-markdown
Kind
text · utf-8
Category
markup
Standard
Open format · since 2004
Comfortable size
Up to about 3.8 MB in this browser converter
Written from HTML
high fidelity · implemented — HTML is walked into GFM with Turndown.

What this format can hold

  • headings
  • paragraphs
  • lists
  • tables
  • links
  • images
  • inline formatting
  • code blocks
  • blockquotes

Usually dropped on the way out

  • complex css layout
  • nested tables
  • custom classes

Apps that consume Markdown

  • GitHub (GitHub) — creates and opens on Web
  • Obsidian (Dynalist) — creates and opens on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android
  • VS Code (Microsoft) — creates on Windows, macOS, Linux
  • Typora — creates and opens on Windows, macOS, Linux
  • Notion — creates and opens on Web, Windows, macOS
  • Jupyter — creates and opens on Web
  • Discord — opens on Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

Catalog notes

  • Front matter (YAML between --- lines) is preserved as a prefix when converting from Markdown, and ignored when converting to Markdown.
  • Obsidian wikilinks and footnotes have no lossless HTML equivalent yet.
Other conversions

Other conversions from EPUB: HTMLWordRTFOpenDocumentPDF

Other ways to get Markdown: HTMLWordRTFOpenDocumentPDF