TGA to Markdown Converter: Free, Private, No Upload
Convert TGA files to Markdown in your browser. Smaller output file, batch up to 20 files at once, no upload, no account, no watermark. Your files never leave your device.
- TGA to Markdown
- Batch up to 20 files
- No upload, no account
- Metadata stripped
- 1Add up to 20 images
- 2Pick from 18 formats
- 3Download or copy the code
Processed on your device. Your images are never uploaded, and metadata is stripped. How we keep it private
How do I convert TGA to Markdown for free?
Drop your TGA files into the tool above, choose Markdown as output, and download the result. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded and there is no limit or watermark. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS and Android — anywhere you have a modern browser.
- Price
- Free, no credits and no daily cap
- Account required
- No
- File uploaded to server
- No, processed locally in your browser
- Batch limit
- Up to 20 files at once
- Input format
- TGA
- Output format
- Markdown
- Best for
- Markdown workflows, smaller files, faster sharing
- Works on
- Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, iOS and Android browsers
- Privacy
- No upload, no tracking, metadata stripped
- Output quality
- Adjustable 1-100, defaults to 90
How to convert TGA to Markdown
- 1
Drop your TGA files
Drag up to 20 TGA files onto the page or click to choose them. Everything runs in your browser.
- 2
Markdown is preselected
Output is already set to Markdown. Adjust quality, resize or batch if you want.
- 3
Download
Save each Markdown, or download all of them together as a ZIP.
TGA to Markdown: what changes and when it makes sense
TGA is a Truevision TGA (Targa) format. It is best known for a simple, fast-to-read layout with a clean alpha channel, established in game textures and video work. The main drawbacks are large files and no browser or social platform support.
Markdown is not an image format. It is a Markdown image reference that wraps the image data as text. Its main appeal is keeping a document and its image together in a single .md file. The main drawbacks are unreliable rendering across platforms and very long lines that make the file hard to edit.
TGA vs Markdown at a glance
| Property | TGA | Markdown |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Raster image | Text encoding of an image |
| Compression | Uncompressed or run-length encoded (RLE) | The image bytes are written out as Base64 text, which adds about 33 percent to the size |
| Transparency | Full alpha channel with soft edges | Same as the embedded image |
| Animation | No | Same as the embedded image |
| Colour depth | 8, 16, 24 or 32 bits per pixel, including an 8-bit alpha channel | Same as the embedded image |
| Support | Supported by game engines and 3D tools, but not displayed by browsers | Depends on the Markdown renderer, because some block data URIs in images |
| History | Created by Truevision in 1984 for the TARGA and VISTA graphics cards. It became a standard for video editing (Windows and Mac) and later game texture pipelines. Still widely used in Unity, Unreal and 3D tools. | Markdown image syntax  has been standard since 2004. Data URI support depends on the renderer — GitHub sanitises them, VS Code preview shows them, Obsidian shows them. |
What actually changes in this conversion
- Markdown is an encoding of the image data, not a new compression scheme. The text is about a third larger than the binary file, so what you gain is portability rather than a smaller size.
- Transparency follows the image data being encoded. Markdown itself is only a text wrapper.
- EXIF, GPS and camera data are stripped on every conversion. That is good for privacy, but you lose capture dates.
About TGA: history and technical details
Created by Truevision in 1984 for the TARGA and VISTA graphics cards. It became a standard for video editing (Windows and Mac) and later game texture pipelines. Still widely used in Unity, Unreal and 3D tools.
Technical: 18-byte header with image type, colour map, width, height, bit depth. Types 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11 for uncompressed and RLE variants. Supports 8-bit indexed, 15/16-bit high colour, 24-bit truecolour, 32-bit with alpha. Bottom-left origin by default.
Real-world size: A 1024x1024 32-bit TGA is 4 MB uncompressed, 1-3 MB with RLE. A 2048x2048 texture is 16 MB uncompressed. Game engines prefer DDS or KTX2 for shipping but TGA for authoring.
Popular tools: Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender, GIMP, Adobe Photoshop, ImageMagick, NVIDIA Texture Tools.
Alternatives: DDS (better for games), KTX2 (modern GPU texture), PNG (universal), WebP (web).
About Markdown: what you get
Markdown image syntax  has been standard since 2004. Data URI support depends on the renderer — GitHub sanitises them, VS Code preview shows them, Obsidian shows them.
Technical: . The line becomes extremely long and hard to edit. Some parsers cap line length or data URI size.
Real-world size: A 5 KB icon embedded in a README.md becomes a single ~7 KB line. GitHub renders it as broken. VS Code and Obsidian render it fine. Blog platforms vary.
Popular tools: VS Code, Obsidian, Typora, Marktext, GitHub (blocks), GitLab (blocks).
Alternatives: Relative path to image file, Hosted image URL, Markdown with reference links.
Browser and software compatibility
TGA: Supported by game engines and 3D tools, but not displayed by browsers. Markdown: Depends on the Markdown renderer, because some block data URIs in images.
Markdown with an embedded image is not rendered everywhere. GitHub sanitises them.
Why people move away from TGA
- Browsers and most messaging apps cannot display TGA, so sharing it is awkward.
- TGA files are large because compression is minimal.
Why people choose Markdown
- Markdown with an embedded image keeps a document self-contained in a single .md file.
- It is useful for note-taking tools and offline documents where linked files tend to go missing.
Common mistakes with TGA
- Uploading TGA to a website — browsers will not display it
- Forgetting alpha channel in TGA exports — some tools drop it
- Assuming RLE TGA is fast — it is slower to decode than uncompressed
Best practices for keeping quality
- A TGA from a game pipeline may use a bottom-left origin or channel-packed data. Compare against the original before relying on it.
- Some renderers, GitHub among them, do not display data URI images in Markdown. Check your target before relying on it.
- For documentation, a relative path to an image file is usually more portable and easier to maintain.
- Resize before converting if the image will be shown small. A 4000 pixel photo displayed at 800 pixels wastes bytes in any format.
- Check the result at 100 percent zoom, especially around text, edges and gradients, before you replace any originals.
- Keep your original files. Conversions to a lossy format cannot be undone.
- When you convert a set of images, use the same quality setting for the whole batch. The converter handles up to 20 files at once.
TGA to Markdown questions
Quick answers about privacy, quality, supported formats, file limits and how Markdown works.
Why convert TGA to Markdown?
Markdown files are typically smaller than TGA, which makes them faster to share, send and load. The trade-off is a small amount of image detail at low quality settings.
Will converting TGA to Markdown lose quality?
At 90% quality, most people cannot tell the difference. Use 85-95% for photos and you are fine.
Does Markdown keep transparency?
Markdown is only a text wrapper around the image data, so transparency depends on the image format inside it.
Are my files uploaded?
Never. Everything runs in your browser. Your files never leave your device. Open DevTools Network tab while processing — you will see no upload request.
Can I convert many files at once?
Yes, up to 20 files at once. Download them individually or all together as a ZIP.
Does the converter strip metadata?
Yes. Browsers do not pass EXIF data through a canvas, so GPS, camera model and dates are removed on every conversion. That is good for privacy.
Is it free?
Yes. No credits, no daily cap, no account, no watermark. The practical limit is your device memory.
Does GitHub support data URI images in Markdown?
No. GitHub strips data URIs for security. Use a relative image path or a hosted URL instead. GitLab has similar restrictions.
Your files never leave your device
No upload, no account, no tracking. Everything happens in your browser using the Canvas API and WebAssembly. You can confirm this in your browser's DevTools Network tab while the tool runs — no request carries your file. See why ToolDeck is different.