Markdown to MediaWiki

Convert Markdown syntax to MediaWiki markup for Wikipedia and wiki platforms. Supports headings, lists, links, images, and code blocks.

Markdown

MediaWiki markup

= Welcome to the Wiki =

This is '''bold text''' and this is ''italic text''.

== Installation ==

# Install the package
# Configure settings
# Run the server

=== Features ===

* Fast performance
* Easy to use
* [https://example.com Documentation]

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
npm install my-package
</syntaxhighlight>

Inline <code>code</code> is also supported.

How Markdown to MediaWiki conversion works

MediaWiki uses a different markup syntax from Markdown. Headings use = Level 1 = instead of# Level 1, bold uses''' instead of**, and links use[url label] syntax.

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

What this tool is used for

Moving documentation from a Markdown repository into a MediaWiki instance.
Converting release notes for a wiki page.
Adapting a repository README for a project wiki that mirrors it.
Producing wiki markup from a source you maintain in Markdown.
Checking which constructs will need hand-editing after conversion.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do the heading syntaxes differ?: Markdown uses leading hashes; MediaWiki wraps the text in equals signs — `== Heading ==` for a second-level heading. MediaWiki's top level is `=` but Wikipedia reserves it for the page title, so article sections start at two.
What about bold and italic?: MediaWiki counts apostrophes: `''italic''` is two, `'''bold'''` is three, and `'''''both'''''` is five. They are single quotes, not double — pasting a typographic apostrophe there breaks the markup in a way that is very hard to spot.
How do links convert?: Internal links use `[[Page name]]` or `[[Page|label]]`; external ones use a single bracket with a space, `[https://example.com label]`. Markdown's single `[text](url)` form maps onto the external syntax, and a wiki-internal link has no Markdown equivalent at all.
Do the lists work the same way?: The markers differ — `*` for bullets and `#` for numbers — and nesting is by repeating the marker (`**` for a second level) rather than by indenting. That means a mixed nested list is written `*#`, which has no Markdown counterpart.
What has no equivalent?: Fenced code blocks become `<syntaxhighlight>` or `<pre>` tags, tables use a completely different `{|` syntax, and templates, categories and references are wiki-only. Expect to hand-edit anything structural after converting.
How do tables differ between the two?: Completely. MediaWiki uses `{|` and `|}` with `|-` row separators and no header/body alignment row, so a Markdown pipe table has to be rebuilt rather than adjusted. It is the largest single difference between the formats.

Common errors and gotchas

Expecting link syntax to be similar. MediaWiki uses double brackets for internal links and single for external.
Assuming heading syntax carries over, since MediaWiki uses equals signs rather than hashes.
Losing list nesting, where MediaWiki uses repeated markers rather than indentation.
Converting a table and finding MediaWiki's syntax needs far more scaffolding than a pipe table.
Leaving raw HTML in place, which a wiki may sanitise or render differently.