Does Obsidian use standard Markdown?

Mostly. A vault is a folder of ordinary .md files, which is the main reason people choose it. On top of CommonMark it adds wikilinks, embeds, callouts, highlights, tags and block references — all of which are its own conventions rather than standard Markdown.

Will my notes open in other apps?

The files will open anywhere, because they are plain text. The links may not resolve: [[wikilinks]] render as literal brackets outside Obsidian and a handful of compatible tools. Everything else — headings, lists, code, tables — is standard and travels fine.

What is the difference between [[wikilinks]] and Markdown links?

A wikilink names the note; a Markdown link names the file path. Obsidian resolves [[Meeting notes]] wherever that note lives, and updates it when you move the file. A standard [text](path.md) link is portable but breaks when the file moves unless the tool rewrites it.

How do I turn off wikilinks?

Settings, Files and links, and switch "Use [[Wikilinks]]" off. New links are then written as standard Markdown. Existing ones are not converted, so it is worth deciding early if portability matters to you.

How do I export an Obsidian note to PDF?

Obsidian has its own export, which renders its extensions correctly. If you want a PDF from a machine without Obsidian, or a note that has already left the vault, paste the Markdown into this site — the conversion runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.

Are callouts standard Markdown?

No, though they look familiar. Obsidian callouts are written > [!note], which is the same shape as GitHub alerts and mostly the same keywords — but Obsidian supports many more types and allows folding. Elsewhere both render as an ordinary blockquote with a bracketed word at the top.

Obsidian Markdown

An Obsidian vault is a folder of ordinary .md files on your disk, which is most of the reason to use it. On top of standard Markdown it adds six things of its own — wikilinks, embeds, callouts, highlights, tags and block references — and knowing which is which is the difference between notes you can leave with and notes you cannot.

Edit this — the preview is standard Markdown, so what breaks is what is Obsidian-only

Markdown

Result

Open the full editor Runs in this tab — nothing is uploaded.

The preview renders standard Markdown. Everything below the halfway mark comes out as literal characters, and that is precisely the list of things that will not travel.

What is standard, and what is Obsidian's

Feature	Syntax	Portable?
Headings, lists, code, tables	standard	Yes — CommonMark
Task lists, strikethrough	`- [x]`, `~~struck~~`	Yes — GitHub Flavored
Front matter	YAML between three dashes	Yes, widely understood
Wikilink	`[[Note name]]`	No — Obsidian and a few compatible tools
Embed	`![[Note name]]`	No
Highlight	`==text==`	No — a few renderers only
Callout	`> [!note]`	Degrades to a blockquote
Tag	`#tag`	Renders as text
Block reference	`^abc123`	Renders as text

Wikilinks are the decision that matters

A wikilink names a note; a Markdown link names a path:

[[Meeting notes]]                     Obsidian
[Meeting notes](notes/meeting.md)     everywhere

Obsidian resolves the first wherever that note lives in the vault, and rewrites it when you move the file. That is genuinely useful and it is the single biggest obstacle to taking your notes elsewhere: outside Obsidian a wikilink is four literal brackets.

Settings → Files and links → Use [[Wikilinks]] turns it off, and new links are written as standard Markdown. It does not convert what already exists, so this is worth deciding in the first week rather than the third year.

There is a middle position, and it is a reasonable one: use wikilinks inside the vault because that is where the value is, and accept that leaving means a conversion pass. Just make it a decision rather than a discovery.

Callouts

> [!note] Optional title
> The body of the callout.

> [!warning]- Starts folded
> A trailing minus makes it collapsed by default.

Same shape as GitHub's alerts and mostly the same keywords, so note, tip, warning and a few others survive a move to GitHub as real callouts. Obsidian supports far more types than GitHub does — abstract, question, failure, quote and others — and those land as ordinary blockquotes elsewhere.

Nothing breaks either way. A callout that degrades is still a readable quote, which is more than can be said for a wikilink.

Front matter and properties

Obsidian's Properties panel is a YAML front matter block with an editor on top of it. What gets written to the file is ordinary front matter:

---
tags: [meeting, q3]
date: 2026-08-04
status: draft
---

That means it is understood by every static site generator, so a vault publishes to Hugo, Jekyll or Docusaurus with the metadata intact. Details on the front matter page.

Getting notes out

The files are already yours — they are on your disk in a folder. What needs doing is the Obsidian-only syntax:

Wikilinks and embeds need converting to standard links, or accepting as literal text. Several community plugins do the conversion across a whole vault.
Highlights — ==text== — become <mark>text</mark>, which renders on GitHub and here.
Callouts and tags need nothing. They degrade to readable text.

For a single note, paste it into the editor and export to PDF, Word or HTML. That runs in your browser, so a private journal entry does not go to a conversion service to become a PDF.

Common questions

Does Obsidian use standard Markdown?: Mostly. A vault is a folder of ordinary .md files, which is the main reason people choose it. On top of CommonMark it adds wikilinks, embeds, callouts, highlights, tags and block references — all of which are its own conventions rather than standard Markdown.
Will my notes open in other apps?: The files will open anywhere, because they are plain text. The links may not resolve: [[wikilinks]] render as literal brackets outside Obsidian and a handful of compatible tools. Everything else — headings, lists, code, tables — is standard and travels fine.
What is the difference between [[wikilinks]] and Markdown links?: A wikilink names the note; a Markdown link names the file path. Obsidian resolves [[Meeting notes]] wherever that note lives, and updates it when you move the file. A standard [text](path.md) link is portable but breaks when the file moves unless the tool rewrites it.
How do I turn off wikilinks?: Settings, Files and links, and switch "Use [[Wikilinks]]" off. New links are then written as standard Markdown. Existing ones are not converted, so it is worth deciding early if portability matters to you.
How do I export an Obsidian note to PDF?: Obsidian has its own export, which renders its extensions correctly. If you want a PDF from a machine without Obsidian, or a note that has already left the vault, paste the Markdown into this site — the conversion runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
Are callouts standard Markdown?: No, though they look familiar. Obsidian callouts are written > [!note], which is the same shape as GitHub alerts and mostly the same keywords — but Obsidian supports many more types and allows folding. Elsewhere both render as an ordinary blockquote with a bracketed word at the top.