Textile is a lightweight markup language from 2002 that powered Redmine, Textpattern and a decade of forums: h1. headings, *bold*, _italic_ and bq. quotes — readable as plain text, renderable to HTML.
Typical use: Convert Textile when migrating Redmine wikis or old CMS content into Markdown, Word or modern HTML.
About the Textile format
Textile, written by Dean Allen in 2002, is the lightweight markup that taught the web that plain text could become HTML. Its grammar is compact and humane: "h1." makes a heading, "*bold*" and "_italic_" style inline, "bq." quotes, "* " builds lists, and "!image.png!" embeds pictures. Textpattern and Redmine standardized it, and thousands of forum posts and issue trackers were written in it through the 2000s.
Reading Textile back into an editable format is the real migration problem: the content is fine, the syntax is just no longer what new tools accept. Pandoc parses the full grammar — tables, footnotes, definition lists — and re-emit it as Markdown, Word, HTML or anything modern. Structure survives; only the plumbing changes.
Strengths
- ✓ Human-readable plain text — diffs and version control work naturally
- ✓ Full-featured: tables, footnotes, definition lists, code blocks
- ✓ Still the native format of Redmine and Textpattern installs
Limitations
- ✗ Effectively frozen since the 2000s — few new tools accept it
- ✗ Smaller ecosystem than Markdown for converters and editors
- ✗ Flavors differ slightly between Textpattern and Redmine
- Structure
- Plain-text markup (h1., *b*, bq.)
- Types / schema
- UTF-8 text, no binary payload
- Compatibility
- Redmine, Textpattern, Pandoc
- Best for
- Legacy wiki and CMS migration
Convert Textile to…
10 direct directions plus 1 workflows, sorted A–Z; 🔥 marks popular targets.
Cross-engine workflows
Convert other files to Textile…
Frequently asked questions
What is a Textile file?
Textile is a lightweight markup language from 2002 that powered Redmine, Textpattern and a decade of forums: h1. headings, *bold*, _italic_ and bq. quotes — readable as plain text, renderable to HTML.
How do I convert Textile files online?
Pick a target format from the "Convert Textile to…" list below, drop your file and hit convert. Everything runs in your browser — no install, no upload, no watermark, no limits.
Is it safe to convert Textile files here?
Yes. Every conversion is performed by your own device inside the browser — files never leave for a server, and the page keeps working even offline.
Which formats can Textile convert to?
This page lists all 11 directions across documents, images, audio, video, spreadsheets and archives — each one is its own free converter page.