md2any

One markdown source → eight output formats. A single self-contained Rust binary that converts markdown into editable PowerPoint, OpenDocument Impress, PDF, Word, LibreOffice Writer, standalone HTML, and per-slide SVG/PNG files.

md2any talk.md                    # → talk.pptx     (PowerPoint)
md2any talk.md -o talk.odp        # → talk.odp      (LibreOffice Impress)
md2any talk.md -o talk.pdf        # → talk.pdf      (PDF 1.7)
md2any talk.md -o talk.docx       # → talk.docx     (Microsoft Word)
md2any talk.md -o talk.odt        # → talk.odt      (LibreOffice Writer)
md2any talk.md -o talk.html       # → talk.html     (browser deck)
md2any talk.md --format svg -o talk-svg/  # → slide-001.svg, slide-002.svg, ...
md2any talk.md --format png -o talk-png/  # → slide-001.png, slide-002.png, ...

No Office install. No headless Chromium. No LaTeX. No Node. No Python. One ~5 MB binary.

Why md2any

md2any is the only tool in this list that produces every common Office / OpenDocument format natively from a single small binary — no headless browser, no LaTeX stack, no language runtime.

Native math — no LaTeX, no KaTeX, no browser

A built-in layout engine renders display math (fractions, radicals, scripts, matrices, cases, accents, bold) as selectable text and vector geometry — not images, and without a TeX or JavaScript stack. Bring any math font with --pdf-font (here, STIX Two Math); metrics adapt to the face automatically.

It scales all the way up to the full Standard Model Lagrangian on a single A4 page (source):

Install

Prebuilt binaries

Grab the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases.

• macOS (Apple Silicon): md2any-vX.Y.Z-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
• macOS (Intel): md2any-vX.Y.Z-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
• Linux x86_64: md2any-vX.Y.Z-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
• Linux ARM64: md2any-vX.Y.Z-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
• Windows x86_64: md2any-vX.Y.Z-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip

From crates.io

cargo install md2any

Requires Rust 1.74+. Builds natively on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

From source

git clone https://github.com/javaperformance/md2any
cd md2any
cargo build --release
./target/release/md2any --help

For cross-compilation targets, the test suite, the opt-in integration tests, and the release workflow, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Hello deck

hello.md:

---
title: My Talk
author: Your Name
date: auto
theme: dark
---

# Welcome

A subtitle for the title slide.

# The pitch

- Markdown in
- Slides out
- One binary

# The features

| Feature | Status |
|---------|--------|
| Eight output formats | ✅ |
| Syntax-highlighted code | ✅ |
| Math, diagrams, footnotes | ✅ |

# Code

```rust
fn main() {
    println!("hello, md2any");
}

Code blocks longer than five lines get line numbers automatically. If a block splits across continuation slides, numbering continues from the original source line.

Q & A

Then:

```bash
md2any hello.md                 # → hello.pptx
md2any hello.md -o hello.pdf    # → hello.pdf
md2any hello.md --serve         # live preview at http://localhost:8421

Features

Full reference: md2any --help-md writes the embedded user manual to stdout, or md2any --help-pdf produces it as a dark-theme PDF.

Quickstart cheat-sheet

md2any <INPUT...> [OPTIONS]
md2any new <PATH>                           Write a starter deck

  -o, --output <PATH>      Output file, or directory for svg/png
      --format <NAME>      pptx | odp | pdf | docx | odt | html | svg | png
      --doc-style <STYLE>  plain | report | handout | speaker-notes
                           DOCX/ODT profile (default report)
      --theme <NAME>       light | dark
      --aspect <RATIO>     preset (16:9, 4:3, 9:16, a4[-landscape], a3, a5,
                           letter[-landscape], legal, tabloid) or custom WxH[unit]
      --layout <NAME>      clean | studio | frame | bold
      --break-mode <MODE>  smart | simple | off
      --break-fill <PCT>   Fill target before breaking, 50-120 (default 100)
      --table-fit <MODE>   auto | split | transpose | off
      --code-theme <MODE>  dark | light | match (default: dark)
      --code-columns <MODE>
                           single | auto | two-up (default: single)
      --math <MODE>        unicode | source | svg (default: unicode)
      --math-scale <N>     Scale generated display math, 0.35-3.0
      --math-block-align <ALIGN>
                           left | center | right for generated display math
      --math-max-height <PX>
                           Max generated display math height
      --theme-file <PATH>  YAML colour/font overrides
      --logo <PATH>        Footer logo image
      --remote-image-cache <PATH>
                           Cache directory for remote image downloads
      --no-remote-image-cache
                           Fetch remote images every time
      --handout <N>        2/4/6 slides per A4 portrait page (PDF only)
      --with-notes         Presenter notes PDF, one page per slide
      --notes-page-size <SIZE>
                           slide | a4 (default: slide)
      --notes-layout <LAYOUT>
                           auto | below | side-by-side (default: auto)
      --speaker-package <DIR>
                           deck + notes PDF + handout PDF + manifest
      --pdf-font <PATH>    PDF sans/body font (TTF/OTF)
      --pdf-mono-font <PATH>
                           PDF mono/code font (TTF/OTF)
      --font-fallback <PATH[,PATH...]>
                           PDF fallback fonts for missing glyphs
      --font-audit         Report PDF glyph coverage, no output file
      --watch              Rebuild on file change
      --serve [--port N]   Live preview HTTP server
      --serve-format <FMT> pdf | html | svg | png (default pdf)
      --check              Lint mode (warnings → exit 2)
      --emit-ir <PATH>     Post-pagination IR JSON
      --emit-plan <PATH>   Estimated render-plan JSON
      --trace-layout       Print render-plan summary to stderr
      --help-{pptx,odp,pdf,docx,odt,html,svg,png,md}
                           User manual in any format

Pagination rules

• First # H1 (or front-matter title) → title slide
• Subsequent # H1 → section divider
• ## H2 → content slide
• --- (horizontal rule) → explicit slide break
• ::: on its own line → side-by-side columns
• Lists with > 12 items → auto two-column layout
• Long content auto-paginates into (cont.) slides
• Default --break-mode smart splits overlong paragraphs, lists, code, tables, and columns at readable boundaries. Use simple for conservative block-level splitting, or off to disable automatic continuation splitting.
• --break-fill PCT controls density before a break: lower than 100 creates more, airier slides; higher values pack tighter.
• --table-fit auto reshapes wide tables before pagination: compact portrait tables transpose, very wide tables split into column groups, and split tables repeat the first column as the key column. Use split, transpose, or off to force a specific strategy.

Code fences can include source files while preserving real line numbers:

```rust file=src/main.rs#L20-L80 title="CLI parsing"
```

Landscape decks can flow a long code block left/right with --code-columns two-up, or one fence can opt in with columns=2:

```rust columns=2 title="one method"
fn parse(input: &str) {
    // line numbers continue in the right column
}
```

For DOCX/ODT output, pagination is replaced with flowing text. The default --doc-style report adds a title page, contents, native headers/footers, themed tables/code, captions, and section page breaks. Use plain for the older minimal flow, handout for slide labels, or speaker-notes to append slide speaker notes to the document.

Diagnostics

Use --emit-ir PATH to write the post-parse/post-pagination slide tree as JSON. Use --emit-plan PATH to write the estimated render plan: page geometry, content box, pagination budget, block weights, continuation flags, and line metadata. --trace-layout prints the same plan as a compact stderr summary. --check also reports deck-doctor issues such as missing image alt text, duplicated titles, dense slides, weak theme contrast, oversized tables, incomplete speaker notes, and math constructs that the default Unicode translator cannot render faithfully. Use --math svg for deterministic built-in display math layout, including stacked fractions, radical bars, positioned scripts, scalable \left...\right delimiters, multi-line blocks, and simple matrix/cases/array/aligned environments. Use --math-scale, --math-block-align, and --math-max-height to tune generated display math.

md2any talk.md --emit-ir /tmp/talk.ir.json --emit-plan /tmp/talk.plan.json
md2any talk.md --trace-layout --check

Front-matter

---
title: My Talk
subtitle: A subtitle for the title slide
author: Your Name
date: auto              # or 2026-05-23, or "today"
theme: light            # light | dark
aspect: 16:9            # see aspect ratios above
layout: clean           # clean | studio | frame | bold
math: unicode           # unicode | source | svg
math_scale: 1.0         # generated SVG display math scale
math_block_align: center # left | center | right
math_max_height: 180    # generated display math height cap
math_macros:
  '\RR': '\mathbb{R}'   # exact math substitutions before rendering
doc_style: report       # plain | report | handout | speaker-notes
break_mode: smart       # smart | simple | off
break_fill: 100         # 50-120; lower breaks earlier, higher packs tighter
table_fit: auto         # auto | split | transpose | off
code_theme: dark        # dark | light | match; code blocks default dark
code_columns: single    # single | auto | two-up
font: Inter             # any installed font (PPTX/ODP/DOCX/ODT)
logo: brand.png         # rendered in slide footer
toc: true               # inject a Contents slide after the title
transition: fade        # none | fade | push | wipe | cover | split
transition_duration: 0.6
direction: ltr          # ltr | rtl
---

Every key is optional. CLI flags override front-matter; front-matter overrides defaults.

Aspect ratios

Performance

Numbers from a commodity x86-64 machine. PDF is slower because of PNG decode and per-token text positioning.

Library use

The renderer is also a regular Rust crate. See docs.rs/md2any for the public API. Minimal embed:

let md = std::fs::read_to_string("talk.md")?;
let (front, body) = md2any::front_matter::extract(&md);
let theme = md2any::theme::Theme::resolve("light", "16:9", None)?;
let layout = md2any::layout::Layout::resolve("clean")?;
let slides = md2any::parser::parse(&body, &front, "talk");
let options = md2any::paginate::PaginationOptions {
    break_mode: md2any::paginate::BreakMode::Smart,
    fill: 0.9,
};
let slides = md2any::paginate::paginate_for_layout_with_options(
    slides, &theme, &layout, options,
);
let bytes = md2any::pdf::write(
    &slides, &theme, &layout, "talk", "Author",
    std::path::Path::new("."), None, None, None, 0.4, None, false,
    md2any::pdf::NotesPageSize::Slide, md2any::pdf::NotesLayout::Auto, None,
)?;
std::fs::write("talk.pdf", bytes)?;

Limitations

• PNG, JPEG, and SVG images are supported; GIF and WebP are not.
• Remote http(s) images are supported when the default remote-images feature is enabled, with successful downloads cached between renders.
• PDF uses embedded DejaVu Sans + DejaVu Sans Mono by default, and can use user-supplied TTF/OTF files via --pdf-font, --pdf-mono-font, and --font-fallback
• DejaVu does not include CJK glyphs; for PDF Chinese/Japanese/Korean decks, pass --cjk PATH or include a CJK face in --font-fallback
• direction: rtl right-aligns Arabic/Hebrew but does not yet perform full Unicode bidirectional reordering of mixed LTR/RTL runs
• GFM table column alignment (:---:, ---:) is applied in PDF / SVG / PNG / HTML; the editable Office/ODF outputs (pptx/odp/odt/docx) don't carry it yet
• Speaker notes attach natively in PPTX / ODP, can be emitted as a PDF companion with --with-notes, can be appended to DOCX/ODT via --doc-style speaker-notes, and can be bundled with deck + handout via --speaker-package DIR

See HELP.md for the embedded user manual, or run md2any --help-md to print it.

Contributing

Bug reports, feature suggestions, and pull requests welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

Dual-licensed under either of:

• MIT License (LICENSE-MIT)
• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE)

at your option.

Bundled DejaVu font files are redistributed under their own permissive font license; see assets/fonts/LICENSE.md. Release archives that include the standalone binary should include that notice because the font programs are embedded in the executable.

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in md2any by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.