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MD at a glance
MD
Markdown was created in 2004 by John Gruber with Aaron Swartz, but the later CommonMark effort became important because the original syntax description was too ambiguous to keep implementations aligned.
PBM at a glance
PBM
PBM, PGM, PPM, PNM, and later PAM come from the tool-centric tradition of keeping image interchange formats easy to parse, script, and transform.
Format comparison
| Feature | MD | PBM |
|---|---|---|
| File type | Document | Image |
| Extensions |
|
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| MIME type |
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| Created year | 2004 | 1988 |
| Inventor | John Gruber and Aaron Swartz | Jef Poskanzer / Netpbm lineage |
| Status | active | active |
| Primary use cases |
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| Vector scaling | Not supported | Not supported |
When to use each format
When to use MD
- Your source file is already in MD.
- Preserve source expectations before exporting to PBM.
- MD is commonly used in document workflows.
When to use PBM
- Your target workflow expects PBM.
- Improve delivery compatibility with PBM.
- PBM is commonly used in image workflows.
FAQs
Why convert MD to PBM?
Convert to PBM when you need a bare-bones monochrome raster for command-line tooling, research, or low-level graphics processing.
It is useful for simple binary image exchange and intermediate processing.
What changes when converting MD to PBM?
This conversion changes how the format behaves in downstream tools and delivery environments.
What should I review after converting MD to PBM?
Validate output quality on representative files and confirm the target format behaves correctly in the destination workflow.