MarkItDown
Microsoft's Python tool and MCP server that converts PDFs, Office documents, images, audio and web pages to Markdown for LLM and agent pipelines.
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About MarkItDown
MarkItDown is listed in our memory & RAG category and is aimed at builders. Microsoft's Python tool and MCP server that converts PDFs, Office documents, images, audio and web pages to Markdown for LLM and agent pipelines. Pricing, as the maker states it: Open source. Maturity: Mature. We last checked the official link on 2026-10-18.
What is MarkItDown?
MarkItDown is Microsoft's lightweight Python utility for converting files to Markdown for use with LLMs and text-analysis pipelines. It keeps important document structure, such as headings, lists, tables and links, as Markdown.
It converts PDF, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, images (EXIF metadata and OCR), audio (metadata and speech transcription), HTML, CSV, JSON and XML, ZIP files, YouTube URLs and EPubs. The output is meant for machines to read rather than for high-fidelity documents for people.
Sources: the official README and our directory listing, checked 2026-10-18. Official site: github.com/microsoft/markitdown.
Who is MarkItDown for?
Developers building LLM, RAG or agent pipelines who need to turn Office files, PDFs and other documents into clean Markdown before sending them to a model.
MarkItDown at a glance
- Open source: Yes (MIT License)
- GitHub: microsoft/markitdown · 191,414 stars (as of Oct 21, 2026)
Key features
- Converts PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel files to Markdown
- Keeps headings, lists, tables and links
- OCR and EXIF metadata for images; transcription for audio
- Handles HTML, CSV, JSON, XML, ZIP archives, EPubs and YouTube URLs
- Python library and command-line tool
MarkItDown FAQ
What is MarkItDown?
MarkItDown is Microsoft's lightweight Python utility for converting files to Markdown for use with LLMs and text-analysis pipelines. It keeps important document structure, such as headings, lists, tables and links, as Markdown.
Who is MarkItDown for?
Developers building LLM, RAG or agent pipelines who need to turn Office files, PDFs and other documents into clean Markdown before sending them to a model.
Is MarkItDown free?
MarkItDown's pricing, as the maker states it: Open source. Open-source tools are free to use, though you may still pay for model API usage or a hosted plan. Check the official site for current plans.
Is MarkItDown open source?
Yes. MarkItDown is released under the MIT License, according to its GitHub repository.
Is MarkItDown safe to run on untrusted files?
Its README warns that MarkItDown performs I/O with the privileges of the current process, so you should sanitize inputs in untrusted environments and call the narrowest convert function you need.
What are alternatives to MarkItDown?
Similar tools include Headroom, Qdrant MCP Server, LlamaParse, Extend MCP, txtai and Pixeltable.
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