HTML to BBCode

Convert HTML to BBCode forum markup. Transforms tags to their BBCode equivalents for forum posts.

HTML Input

BBCode Output

[b]Hello World![/b]

This is [i]italic[/i] and [u]underlined[/u] text.

[url=https://example.com]Visit Example[/url]

[quote]This is a quoted message.

[/quote]
[code]const x = 42;
console.log(x);[/code]
[list]

  [*]Item one

  [*]Item two

  [*]Item three

[/list]

HTML to BBCode conversion

Converting HTML to BBCode is useful when posting content from a CMS or rich-text editor to a forum like phpBB, vBulletin, or SMF. This converter handles the most common HTML tags: headings, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, links, images, blockquotes, code blocks, and lists. Remaining HTML tags are stripped, and common HTML entities are decoded. All processing runs entirely in your browser.

Built and maintained by Meet Shah · Last updated 19 July 2026

What this tool is used for

Posting formatted content to a forum that accepts BBCode rather than HTML.
Converting an article for a legacy forum thread.
Adapting content from a CMS for a community board.
Producing a signature or a template for forum software.
Migrating posts into a BBCode-based platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is BBCode and why does it still exist?: A markup language for forums, using square brackets — `[b]bold[/b]` — designed so users could format posts without the software accepting raw HTML. That is still its purpose: a fixed, safe tag vocabulary with no way to inject script or break the page layout.
Which HTML elements map cleanly?: `strong`/`b`, `em`/`i`, `u`, `a`, `img`, `blockquote`, `code`/`pre`, and `ul`/`ol`/`li`. Those cover the vocabulary most forums implement. Anything structural — divs, tables, spans with classes — has no counterpart and is flattened.
Is BBCode standardised?: No, and that is the practical difficulty. phpBB, vBulletin, XenForo and Discourse each support a slightly different tag set, so `[size]`, `[color]` and `[table]` may or may not work. The core dozen tags are safe everywhere; anything beyond them needs checking.
What happens to CSS styling?: It is lost. BBCode has no stylesheet concept, so a `<span style="color:red">` either becomes `[color=red]` where the forum supports it or disappears. That is by design — the forum controls presentation, which is why BBCode outlived allowing HTML.
Why not just allow HTML in a forum?: Because it is an XSS vector and a layout hazard in one. Sanitising HTML safely is genuinely hard and has to be maintained against new attacks; a closed BBCode vocabulary is safe by construction, which is why it survived long after HTML became universal.