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What is it
Markdown is a lightweight markup language that lets you write formatted documents using plain text syntax — headings with #, bold with **, links with [text](url). The writer's plain text. No toolbar, no proprietary format, no lock-in. It was designed by John Gruber and Aaron Swartz in 2004, and it quietly took over: GitHub READMEs, Reddit posts, Discord messages, Notion pages, Obsidian notes, Jekyll blogs, and most developer documentation are all Markdown. It converts to HTML with zero friction. The syntax is so intuitive that most people can read raw Markdown without knowing it is Markdown.
Technical details
Safety
What opens it
Any text editor
VS Code
Obsidian
Typora
FAQ
What's the difference between MD and TXT?
Both are plain text. Markdown adds lightweight formatting syntax (headings, bold, links, lists) that can be rendered as rich text. A .txt file is just raw text with no structure.
How do I open an MD file?
Any text editor opens it as plain text. For rendered preview, use VS Code (built-in preview), Obsidian, Typora, or paste it into a GitHub repo. Most Markdown editors show the formatted result in real time.
What is Markdown used for?
Documentation (GitHub READMEs), note-taking (Obsidian, Notion), blogging (Jekyll, Hugo), and writing for any platform that supports it (Reddit, Discord, Stack Overflow). It is the lingua franca of developer writing.
Related formats