Strip HTML Tags

Turn HTML into readable plain text. The tool parses your markup with the browser's own HTML parser in an inert document, so scripts never run and images never load, then walks the content to keep paragraphs, headings, line breaks and list items on their own lines while dropping tags, comments, scripts and styles.

Text Cleanup Runs in your browser

Strip HTML Tags and Keep the Text

JavaScript is required. This tool runs in your browser, so please enable JavaScript to use it. The instructions below are still available.

HTML code

Keep line breaks for paragraphs, headings and list items

Start list items with “- ”

Show link addresses after the link text

Include image alt text

How to Use the Strip HTML Tags

Paste HTML, a whole page or just a fragment.
Choose whether block elements keep their line breaks, whether list items get a dash, and whether links and image alt text are included.
Copy or download the plain text.

About This Tool

Developers and content editors moving copy out of a web page or CMS, marketers turning an HTML email into a text version, and anyone who needs only the words from a block of HTML.

Input: HTML · Output: Plain text.

Features and Limitations

Features

Uses DOMParser: nothing in your HTML is executed or fetched.
Decodes entities such as &,   and é into real characters.
Removes script, style, template, noscript and head content entirely.
Optional link URLs in brackets and image alt text.

Limitations

Tables become one cell per line rather than aligned columns.
CSS is not applied, so text hidden with CSS is still included and visual order may differ from source order.
Whitespace follows HTML rules: runs of spaces collapse to one, except inside <pre> blocks.
Results are computed in your browser; nothing you enter is sent to a server.

Example

“<h1>Title</h1><p>Fish & chips</p>” becomes “Title” and “Fish & chips” on separate lines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to paste HTML containing scripts?

Yes. The HTML is parsed into a separate document that has no browsing context, so scripts are not run, event handlers do not fire and images are not loaded.

Are HTML entities converted?

Yes. Named and numeric entities are decoded, and non-breaking spaces are turned into normal spaces.

Why are there blank lines between paragraphs?

Paragraphs and headings are separated by a blank line so the structure stays readable. Untick the line-break option to get one continuous block.

Can I keep the links?

Tick Show link addresses and each link is written as “text (address)”.