Markdown → BBCode

Convert Markdown to BBCode for forums and classic communities

Translate Markdown to BBCode for phpBB, vBulletin, MyBB, IPB, and other forum software. Headings, formatting, lists, code, links, images, quotes, and rules — all in your browser.

Open the editor Markdown → Confluence Typography cleaner

Converting Markdown → BBCode

Markdown input

BBCode output

[size=170][b]New release: v2.0[/b][/size]

[b]Big news[/b]: we shipped [i]v2.0[/i] today!

[size=150][b]Highlights[/b][/size]

[list]
[*]New dashboard
[*]Faster builds
[*][s]Old bug[/s]
[/list]
[code=js]
import { v2 } from "library";
[/code]

[quote]Quote from the team: "We are very happy."[/quote]

See the [url=https://example.com/v2]release notes[/url] and check out the ![url=https://example.com/logo.png]logo[/url].

Headings, inline formatting, fenced code (with language), links, images, lists, quotes, and HR. Markdown tables are not converted — most BBCode dialects don't support them natively.

When to use this tool

If you write in Markdown but post on classic forums (phpBB, vBulletin, MyBB, IPB, gaming community forums, retro tech communities) you need BBCode. This tool turns a Markdown draft — with all the live-preview affordances of a modern editor — into properly formatted BBCode ready to paste.

What gets converted

Markdown	BBCode
`# H1` … `###### H6`	`[size=170][b]…[/b][/size]` (scaled per level)
`bold`	`[b]bold[/b]`
`italic` / `_italic_`	`[i]italic[/i]`
`~~strikethrough~~`	`[s]strikethrough[/s]`
`\`inline``	`[c]inline[/c]`
```js code fence	`[code=js]…[/code]`
`[text](url)`	`[url=url]text[/url]`
`![alt](url)`	`[img]url[/img]`
`> quote`	`[quote]quote[/quote]`
Unordered list	`[list][*]…[/list]`
Ordered list	`[list=1][*]…[/list]`
`---` (HR)	`[hr]`

Tips

Forum-specific tags vary — [c] for inline code isn't universal; replace with [code] if your forum strips it.
Heading scale is opinionated — [size=170] for H1 down to [size=85] for H6. Adjust to your forum's defaults.
Strip Markdown tables before conversion — most forums don't render BBCode tables. Convert to a simple list.

Companion tools

Markdown to Confluence — Atlassian-flavored wiki markup.
Markdown Editor — draft posts with live preview.
Markdown Typography Cleaner — strip smart quotes before posting.

Privacy & data

The converter is a tiny client-side script. Nothing is uploaded.

Frequently asked questions

What is BBCode?

BBCode is the markup language used by classic web forums (phpBB, vBulletin, MyBB, IPB) before Markdown went mainstream. It uses square brackets around tags: `[b]bold[/b]`, `[url=...]text[/url]`, `[code]...[/code]`. Many forums still accept only BBCode.

Which Markdown features are supported?

Headings (mapped to bold + size), bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, fenced code (with optional language), links, images, blockquotes, ordered and unordered lists, and horizontal rules.

Why convert from Markdown?

Many writers draft in Markdown for the speed and live preview, then need to cross-post to a forum that only accepts BBCode. The converter turns a clean Markdown draft into ready-to-paste BBCode in one step.

Are tables supported?

Most forum BBCode flavors don't support tables natively, or use proprietary `[table]` syntax that varies by forum. Tables are left as plain text — copy them to a separate forum-specific tool or simplify into a list before converting.

What about images on private forums?

BBCode `[img]` tags reference image URLs. If your forum doesn't allow hot-linking, upload your images to the forum's attachment system first, then paste the resulting URLs into Markdown before conversion.

Is the input uploaded?

No. Conversion happens entirely in your browser.