zenfmt — convert documents to Markdown in your browser
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zenfmt 0.3.5
Convert documents to Markdown.
Pandoc showed how useful a universal document converter can be. zenfmt is<br>a small attempt to explore that idea with an engine written in Zig.
This page converts locally in your browser. It does not upload the file.
1 · Source document
Drop a file here<br>or choose a file
Try a safe example
Advanced options<br>Loss policy
Convert and report loss<br>Refuse content loss<br>Refuse structural loss<br>Refuse any known loss
Preserve facet details
Format is detected from the file's contents, not its name.<br>19 formats are supported.
Loading the browser engine…
2 · Markdown output · read only
Copy<br>Download<br>Wrap lines<br>Cancel<br>Reset
Available in zenfmt 0.3.5
Use the same converter as a small HTTP service.
For workflows that need a shared endpoint, zenfmt serve<br>exposes conversion, health, and metrics from the same executable. Open<br>mode stays on loopback by default. Secure mode adds users, API keys, an<br>audit log, and a small administration interface.
zenfmt serve<br>curl -s -T report.docx "http://127.0.0.1:8998/api/v1/convert?to=markdown"<br>zenfmt serve --secure --data-dir ./zenfmt-data
Distribution1 file CLI, server, store migrations, and web assets
Interface3 themes System by default, with Light and Dark choices
Native releases7 targets Linux, macOS, and Windows archives
The release is intended to remain modest in its requirements. It does not<br>bundle Java, Python, OCR, VLM, or model assets.<br>Read the server guide or<br>choose a native archive.
Need help?
A first conversion
Supported formats and limits
Read the book
Why this works (design records)
A small reference benchmark
The conversion benchmark
The full release benchmark is incomplete. Earlier reference run. Ratios divide the comparison tool by zenfmt, so a value<br>above 1.0 means the comparison used more of that measure on shared files.
Native CLI
Geometric means over the 14 files converted by zenfmt and<br>AnyDoc.
Speed ratio6.9× AnyDoc wall time / zenfmt
CPU ratio7.9× AnyDoc CPU time / zenfmt
Peak memory ratio10.1× AnyDoc peak RSS / zenfmt
Long-running server, measured separately
Warm HTTP conversion against Apache Tika Server on the same host and<br>corpus. These values are not mixed into the native CLI ratios.
Warm latency ratio31.1× Tika / zenfmt over 16 shared files
Peak memory ratio34.2× Tika / zenfmt sampled RSS
Throughput at 1 client552.7 / 4.4 zenfmt / Tika documents per second
Explanation, method, and raw data
The converter needs JavaScript, because the conversion runs in your<br>browser rather than on a server. Everything else on this site — the book,<br>the design records, the benchmark method, and the downloads — works<br>without it.