Announcing MDZip (.mdz) — a portable Markdown bundle format
Hi everyone,
I'm sharing the first draft of a new open file format spec: MDZip (.mdz).
The problem it solves: Markdown is great for writing, but sharing a document with images and multiple files means sending a folder, a repo link, zip or a tarball — none of which are friendly to non-technical recipients. .mdz is simply a standard ZIP archive with a (loosly) defined structure — Markdown content, assets, and optional metadata bundled into one portable file. Rename it to .zip and extract, and it works with any existing tool, no special software needed. With appropriate ecosystem support, it becomes useful without renaming/unzipping/zipping.
What's here now:
- A full draft spec (v1.0.0-draft) — format structure, manifest schema, conformance requirements, implementation guidance, AI agent prompting tips
- A companion site at MDZip.org with use cases, a future projects wishlist, and developer resources
What I'm looking for:
- Feedback on the spec itself — anything unclear, missing, or wrong
- Interest in building tools — VS Code extension, Obsidian plugin, CLI, Pandoc reader/writer, native OS preview handlers, and more are all on the wishlist
- Real-world use cases I haven't thought of
The spec is CC BY 4.0. Everything is open. If you build something, please share it here.
This post renders from 2026-03-09-announcing-mdzip-mdz-a-portable-markdown-bundle.mdz (MDZip, ~1 KB) — one self-contained file. Download it, open it in the web editor, or read how these pages are made.