CDRN

Convert LaTeX to HTML

  • Dashboard
  • Documentation
  • API
converts your LaTeX source into HTML, perfect for publishing articles, equations and academic documents on the web

What is LaTeX?

LaTeX is a document typesetting system widely used in scientific, academic and technical environments. Invented by Leslie Lamport in the early 1980s, it relies on Donald Knuth's TeX typographic engine. Instead of writing a document with a WYSIWYG editor (like Word), the author describes the logical structure of the content via commands: \section{Introduction}, \textbf{important}, \begin{itemize}... The compiler then produces a PDF of remarkable typographic quality, particularly suited to mathematical formulas, scientific articles and long works.

While LaTeX is unbeatable for academic PDF production, it is not very compatible with the web: a browser does not read LaTeX, it reads HTML. Our LaTeX to HTML tool answers exactly that need: take a LaTeX source fragment and return HTML directly embeddable in a blog, a CMS, a website page or an email.

The inverse of our HTML to LaTeX

Our toolbox already offers an HTML to LaTeX converter that takes HTML and produces a PDF via pdflatex. This tool is the inverse operation: from LaTeX to HTML. Both tools can be used together in editorial pipelines:

  • You write a scientific article in LaTeX, you want to publish a web version: LaTeX to HTML.
  • You grab HTML text from a CMS, you want to make a clean academic PDF from it: HTML to LaTeX.
  • You want to maintain a single LaTeX source and derive PDF + web page from it: combine the two tools or use LaTeX to HTML to generate the web version.

LaTeX to HTML mapping

Our converter recognises the common LaTeX commands and applies the following mapping:

  • \section{Title} and \section*{Title} → <h1>Title</h1>
  • \subsection{Title} → <h2>Title</h2>
  • \subsubsection{Title} → <h3>Title</h3>
  • \paragraph{Title} → <h4>Title</h4>
  • \textbf{x} → <strong>x</strong>
  • \textit{x} and \emph{x} → <em>x</em>
  • \underline{x} → <u>x</u>
  • \texttt{x} → <code>x</code>
  • \begin{itemize} \item ... \end{itemize} → <ul><li>...</li></ul>
  • \begin{enumerate} \item ... \end{enumerate} → <ol><li>...</li></ol>
  • \begin{quote} ... \end{quote} → <blockquote>...</blockquote>
  • Empty lines separating paragraphs → <p>...</p>
  • \\ and \newline → <br>
  • Escapes \&, \%, \$, \#, \_, \{, \} → matching characters
  • Preamble (\documentclass, \usepackage, \begin{document}, \end{document}) → silently dropped

Usage example

LaTeX source:

\section*{Introduction}
Here is a \textbf{sample} document with a list:

\begin{itemize}
\item first point
\item second point
\end{itemize}

And an \textit{italic note} to finish.

HTML result:

<h1>Introduction</h1>
<p>Here is a <strong>sample</strong> document with a list:</p>
<ul><li>first point</li><li>second point</li></ul>
<p>And an <em>italic note</em> to finish.</p>

Use cases

  • Migrating a thesis to a blog: you wrote your thesis in LaTeX, you want to publish chapters on your blog or personal site. The converter does most of the heavy lifting, you just need to polish the final layout.
  • Extracting content from a scientific paper: take the introduction, abstract or conclusion of an existing LaTeX article to republish on the web (project page, lab communication).
  • Preparing teaching material: a course written in LaTeX can be moved to HTML to feed a Moodle, a wiki or an e-learning platform.
  • Technical documentation: turn a LaTeX technical note into HTML to publish on Confluence, GitHub Pages or an intranet.
  • Quick preview: see what a LaTeX fragment would look like in HTML, without running a full pdflatex compilation.

Limitations

Our converter is intentionally pragmatic: it aims to cover 90% of common cases with a simple implementation, rather than to claim exhaustive coverage of all LaTeX syntax. Concretely:

  • No complex mathematical formulas. The expressions $x^2$ and \begin{equation}...\end{equation} are preserved as is. For web mathematical rendering, embed MathJax or KaTeX in your page.
  • No figures, tables or bibliographies. The commands \includegraphics, \begin{table}, \bibliography are not translated.
  • No custom macros. A \newcommand{\myfunction} is not interpreted: the converter only recognises standard LaTeX commands.
  • Minimal style. The output is semantic HTML without embedded CSS: feel free to add your own stylesheet.

For more advanced conversions, tools like Pandoc cover more of the LaTeX surface. Our tool targets the common need: quickly get clean HTML from a LaTeX fragment, without installing any software.

How to use the converter

  1. Paste your LaTeX source into the text field (a fragment or a complete document, the preamble will be ignored).
  2. Click convert.
  3. You get the corresponding HTML: copy it into your editor, your CMS or your static file.
  4. For the reverse operation, use our HTML to LaTeX converter.

Frequently asked questions

Does the converter handle mathematical formulas?

Mathematical LaTeX ($x^2 + y^2$, \begin{equation}) is kept as is in the HTML output. For visual rendering, add MathJax or KaTeX to your web page: these libraries render mathematical LaTeX in the browser.

My custom commands (\newcommand) are not translated, why?

The converter does not run the TeX engine, it does a syntactic mapping. A macro defined by \newcommand is not expanded. Before conversion, replace your macros by their explicit definition, or use Pandoc which has a more complete parser.

Is the LaTeX preamble required in the input?

No. You can paste a fragment without \documentclass or \begin{document}. If your source contains a complete preamble, it is still ignored: only the useful content is converted.

Are accented characters handled correctly?

Yes, provided your LaTeX source is in UTF-8 (with or without \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}). Old LaTeX notations like \'e for é are not explicitly translated, prefer direct UTF-8.

Is my data sent and stored?

The LaTeX is processed server-side during the conversion, then the result is returned to your browser. No data is stored, indexed or shared.

Why get HTML rather than a PDF?

HTML is the native web format: pages, blogs, emails, CMS. If your final need is a PDF, use our HTML to LaTeX converter instead, which produces a PDF via pdflatex.

Example request

curl -X POST https://cdrn.fr/api/v1/tools/latex-to-html-converter/execute \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"latex":"..."}'

Input schema

Field Type Required Default
latex text ✓ –

Endpoints

  • GET https://cdrn.fr/api/v1/tools - lists every available tool
  • GET https://cdrn.fr/api/v1/tools/latex-to-html-converter - returns the schema for this tool
  • POST https://cdrn.fr/api/v1/tools/latex-to-html-converter/execute - runs this tool with a JSON payload