What is a .md file?
Quick answer
A .md file is a plain text file written in Markdown, a simple way to format text with marks such as # before a heading and - before a list item. Any text editor opens it, but you see the marks. A Markdown editor such as MD Editor shows the same file as a clean page. README files, notes and AI answers are often written this way.
Step by step
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Get MD Editor
MD Editor is free and needs no account. It runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11, and on Android 8.0 or later.
- Coming to the Microsoft Store
- Coming to Google Play
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Open the .md file
On Windows, open it from File Explorer, drag it into the window, or choose Open… in the File menu. On Android, tap Open and pick it from your phone or a storage app.
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Read it as a page
On Windows, Ctrl+3 shows the Preview and Ctrl+2 the Split view, with the Markdown and the page side by side. On Android, the file opens as a page in Write. Either way, the file itself stays plain text.
What Markdown looks like
Markdown formats text with ordinary characters, so the file stays readable as plain text:
- # before a line makes a heading, and ## a smaller one.
- **Two asterisks** make text bold, and *one* makes it italic.
- - before a line makes a list item, and 1. a numbered one.
- [Words in brackets](https://example.com) followed by an address in parentheses make a link.
- Lines with | between cells make a table, and ``` above and below lines make a block of code.
Questions
Is a .md file the same as a Markdown file?
Yes. .md is the usual file extension for text written in Markdown; .markdown is used too. MD Editor opens both.
Can I open a .md file without a Markdown app?
Yes, as plain text: any text editor opens it, including Notepad on Windows, and recent versions of Notepad in Windows 11 also show some formatting. To read it as a clean page with tables, task lists and footnotes, use a Markdown editor such as MD Editor.
Who uses .md files?
Developers write README files in Markdown, and GitHub shows them as pages. Note apps such as Obsidian keep notes as .md files. ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini answer in Markdown, and AI coding agents read instruction files such as CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md.
Is MD Editor free?
Yes, it's free, with no ads and no in-app purchases. You don't need an account.
Free. No account, no tracking, no ads.
- Coming to the Microsoft Store
- Coming to Google Play