Softonic

Markdown to BBCode Converter

Step 1 / 2
Next

Markdown is everywhere now, but plenty of forums (phpBB, vBulletin, Invision, classic SMF boards) still only accept BBCode, the bracket-tag markup that predates Markdown by a decade. Paste Markdown and this converter rewrites headings, emphasis, lists, code blocks, tables, quotes and links into their BBCode equivalents so you can post drafts written in your favorite Markdown editor straight to a legacy board.

How the conversion works

  1. 1

    Paste Markdown

    Drop a full document or a snippet. GFM extensions (tables, strikethrough) are accepted.

  2. 2

    Pick forum dialect

    phpBB, vBulletin, Invision or generic. Each has slightly different tag sets.

  3. 3

    Convert

    Headings → `[size]` or `[b]`, emphasis → `[i]`/`[b]`, lists → `[list]`, code → `[code]`.

  4. 4

    Copy BBCode

    Output is ready to paste into any forum post editor.

Markdown → BBCode mapping

Markdown BBCode
# H1 [size=200][b]H1[/b][/size]
## H2 [size=150][b]H2[/b][/size]
*italic* [i]italic[/i]
**bold** [b]bold[/b]
~~strike~~ [s]strike[/s]
`inline code` [c]inline code[/c] or [icode]
Fenced code block [code]...[/code]
Bulleted list [list] + [*] items + [/list]
Numbered list [list=1] + [*] items
> quote [quote]quote[/quote]
[text](url) [url=...]text[/url]
![alt](img) [img]img[/img] (alt dropped)
Horizontal rule [hr] if supported, else blank
Table (GFM) [table][tr][td]...[/td][/tr][/table]

Dialect differences

Not every forum speaks the same BBCode. Common divergences:

  • Headings. phpBB doesn’t support [h1]–[h6]; the converter simulates them with [size] + [b]. vBulletin supports [size=5].
  • Color and font. [color=red] works everywhere but isn’t produced by Markdown (no source syntax for it).
  • Inline code. Some boards use [c], others [icode], most fall back to [code].
  • Images. BBCode has no alt attribute; alt text is discarded. Add it as adjacent plain text if you care about accessibility.

What survives the round trip

  • Bold, italic, strikethrough: perfect.
  • Inline code and code blocks: perfect.
  • Lists: perfect.
  • Links: perfect.
  • Tables: depends on whether the forum supports [table]. phpBB doesn’t natively, use a plugin or fall back to a plain-text grid.
  • Headings: approximate, BBCode doesn’t have semantic heading levels.

Legacy-board tips

  • Paste and preview. Every forum’s BBCode parser has quirks, and what works on one may render as literal text on another.
  • Prefer [code] blocks for indented content, Markdown’s four-space-indent code style sometimes gets eaten by BBCode parsers.
  • If the forum supports [html], you may get cleaner output converting Markdown → HTML first, then pasting.

Frequently Asked Questions

BBCode historically has no heading tags (no [h1]). Most forums simulate them with [size] and [b]. If your forum has a heading plugin, you can post-process the output by hand.

Only with a third-party [table] plugin. Vanilla phpBB doesn’t accept [table], the converter outputs it, but the forum will render it as literal text unless the plugin is installed.

BBCode’s [img] tag has no alt attribute, so the alt text is dropped. Add a caption in the surrounding text if accessibility matters.

Not this tool. There are separate BBCode-to-Markdown converters; watch for color and font tags that have no Markdown equivalent.

No. Conversion is entirely in-browser, so your draft never leaves your device.

Related Tools

ASCII Table Reference

Full ASCII table from 0 to 127 with decimal, hex, octal, binary, standard names and HTML numeric-reference notation, including NUL, LF and DEL.

Color Palette Generator

Generate monochromatic, analogous, complementary, triadic or tetradic color palettes from a base HEX color and export copy-ready CSS variables.

HTML Character Reference

Searchable list of HTML entities, their named and numeric codes, and a one-click copy for special characters and symbols.

FPS Counter

Measure browser FPS with requestAnimationFrame, smoothing, min/max frame rate, warnings and an optional graph. Runs locally with no upload or API.

HEX Color Picker

Pick or enter a HEX colour and get RGB, HSL, approximate CMYK, relative luminance and contrast ratios against white and black.

JSON Formatter

Paste JSON to pretty-print with 2 or 4 spaces, minify it to compact output, or run a quick syntax check before copying the result.

Tool available in other languages