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Pandoc

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by John MacFarlane · CLI tool

Universal document converter that translates between Markdown, LaTeX, HTML, DOCX, EPUB, Typst, Jupyter and dozens of other formats, with citeproc and Lua filters

GPL-2.0-or-later licenseFreeOpen sourceLocalSelf-hostable
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Link verified Nov 2, 2026

Overview

Pandoc is a command-line document converter written in Haskell by John MacFarlane. It parses an input format into an internal abstract syntax tree and writes that tree out in another format, which is what lets it move between lightweight markup (its own extended Markdown, CommonMark, GitHub-flavored Markdown, reStructuredText, AsciiDoc, Org, djot), HTML and ebooks (HTML5, EPUB), TeX and XML (LaTeX, ConTeXt, DocBook, JATS), word processors (DOCX, ODT, RTF), Typst, Jupyter notebooks, wiki markups and slide formats. PDF output is produced through an external engine such as pdflatex, xelatex, lualatex, Typst or weasyprint.

Two features make it central to academic tooling. Built-in citation processing (citeproc) reads BibTeX, BibLaTeX, CSL JSON and other bibliography formats and renders citations in any of the thousands of CSL styles, so a Markdown manuscript can be rendered to a journal's Word template and to LaTeX from one source. Templates and filters customize everything else: Lua filters manipulate the document tree without external dependencies, and custom readers and writers can be written in Lua. Pandoc is the conversion engine underneath Quarto and R Markdown and is embedded in many static-site generators and editors.

Pandoc is released under the GPL version 2 or later and distributed as single binaries for macOS, Linux and Windows, as well as through Homebrew and most package managers. Its limits are those of lossy conversion: complex layouts, tracked changes and format-specific features do not round-trip perfectly, PDF output requires a separately installed engine, and large or deeply customized documents often need filters or template work to look right.

Capabilities

  • Conversion among dozens of markup, office and ebook formats
  • Citation rendering with citeproc and CSL styles
  • Lua filters and custom readers/writers
  • Templates for every output format
  • PDF via LaTeX, Typst, ConTeXt or HTML engines
  • Jupyter notebook and Typst read/write support
  • Haskell library API
  • Single-binary distribution for all major platforms

Typical workflows

  1. Markdown manuscript rendered to DOCX for a journal and to LaTeX for arXiv
  2. Converting a Word draft into Markdown for version control
  3. Generating HTML documentation from reStructuredText or Org
  4. Post-processing document trees with Lua filters in a build pipeline

Strengths

  • One tool covers most conversion needs
  • Robust citation support independent of LaTeX
  • Scriptable and dependency-light
  • GPL-licensed with a long maintenance history

Limitations

  • Conversion is lossy for complex layouts and tracked changes
  • PDF output requires an external engine
  • Custom appearance often needs templates or filters
  • Markdown dialect differences can surprise users

Prerequisites

  • Pandoc binary; a TeX distribution or Typst for PDF

Who it is for

  • Academic authors writing in Markdown
  • Technical writers and documentation engineers
  • Developers of publishing pipelines

Alternatives & comparison

Quarto and R Markdown are authoring systems that execute code and then call Pandoc for rendering; Typst is a complete typesetting system rather than a converter, though Pandoc can write Typst. TeX Live provides the LaTeX engines Pandoc uses for PDF.

  • biblatex

    LaTeX bibliography package that reimplements BibTeX formatting in LaTeX macros, with the Biber backend, Unicode sorting and multiple bibliographies

    Open sourceFree
  • Quarto

    Open-source scientific publishing system from Posit that renders Markdown with executable Python, R, Julia or Observable code to HTML, PDF, Word, slides, websites and books via Pandoc

    Open sourceFree
  • R Markdown

    R package that turns Markdown documents with embedded R (and Python or SQL) chunks into HTML, PDF, Word, slides, books and dashboards through knitr and Pandoc

    Open sourceFree
  • TeX Live

    The comprehensive free TeX distribution for Linux, macOS and Windows, released yearly with the tlmgr package manager and all major engines, packages and fonts

    Open sourceFree
  • Typst

    Markup-based typesetting system with an Apache-2.0 compiler written in Rust and a collaborative web app, positioned as a faster, simpler alternative to LaTeX

    MixedFree
Compare Pandoc with its alternatives →

Sources & verification

Primary sources consulted for this record. Claims are tied to the fields each source supports; the automated link checker re-verifies every URL on a schedule.

  • License
    jgm/pandoc COPYRIGHT

    https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/blob/main/COPYRIGHT

    Supports: license_spdx, source_model

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Official documentation
    Pandoc User's Guide

    https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html

    Supports: capabilities, interfaces

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Official site
    Pandoc - index

    https://pandoc.org/

    Supports: name, summary, data_formats, vendor

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Repository
    jgm/pandoc

    https://github.com/jgm/pandoc

    Supports: repo_url, languages

    checked Nov 1, 2026
Confidence
High
Reviewed
Nov 1, 2026
Links
Verified · Nov 2, 2026

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