HTML to Text Converter — Extract Plain Text from HTML Files

HTML files carry formatting, scripts, styles, and navigation elements that get in the way when you only need the words. Copying text from a browser loses structure; opening HTML in Notepad gives you a mess of tags. Total HTML Converter strips HTML markup and extracts clean, readable plain text from any number of files at once. Our HTML to Text converter:

• Strips all HTML tags, CSS, and JavaScript while keeping readable text
• Converts hundreds of HTML, HTM, and MHT files in one batch
• Controls text encoding output: ANSI, Unicode, or UTF-8
• Preserves table structure and list formatting in text output
• Works 100% offline — no files uploaded anywhere
• Includes a 30-day free trial with full functionality

Download Total HTML Converter and start extracting plain text from HTML files today.

 

HTML vs Plain Text: What Is the Difference?

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the standard format for web pages. An HTML file contains the visible text mixed with tags that define headings, paragraphs, links, images, tables, and styles. Browsers interpret these tags and render formatted pages; text editors show raw markup. HTML files may also include embedded CSS stylesheets and JavaScript code that add visual styling and interactivity.

Plain text (TXT) contains only characters — letters, digits, punctuation, and whitespace. No formatting, no tags, no embedded objects. Every text editor, search tool, database import utility, and scripting language reads plain text without any special parser. Text files are small, universally compatible, and easy to process.

The practical difference: HTML carries presentation; plain text carries information. When you need to index content, feed text to a script, import data into a database, or simply read an article without distractions, converting HTML to text removes the markup overhead and gives you exactly the words you need.

Feature	HTML	Plain Text
Formatting tags	Yes (headings, bold, links, tables)	None
Embedded scripts	JavaScript, CSS	None
File size	Larger (markup overhead)	Smallest possible
Readability in any editor	Tags clutter the view	Clean, readable immediately
Searchability	Tags interfere with search	Exact word matches
Database import	Requires parsing	Direct import

How to Convert HTML to Text

• Step 1. Launch Total HTML Converter. The left panel displays a folder tree for quick navigation.
• Step 2. Browse to the folder containing your HTML files. The file list in the center shows all supported web files: .html, .htm, .mht, .xhtml.
• Step 3. Check the HTML files you want to convert. Use Check All to select every file in the folder for batch conversion.
• Step 4. Click TXT in the format toolbar at the top of the window.
• Step 5. In the conversion wizard, choose the destination folder and set text encoding (ANSI, Unicode, or UTF-8). You can also enable or disable JavaScript rendering and image inclusion.
• Step 6. Press Start. The converter strips all HTML tags and saves clean text files to your chosen folder. Original files remain untouched.

Conversion is fast even for thousands of files. Each output text file keeps the readable content without any HTML markup.

Command-Line Conversion

Total HTML Converter includes a command-line interface for scripted and automated workflows. Example:

HTMLConverter.exe C:\Pages\report.html C:\Output\report.txt -cTXT

Process an entire folder of HTML files:

HTMLConverter.exe C:\Pages\*.html C:\Output\ -cTXT -Encoding:UTF8

Add this to a .bat file or a Windows Task Scheduler job to extract text from incoming HTML files automatically — useful for content pipelines, archiving web pages, and feeding data into text-processing tools.

Why Use Total HTML Converter?

Batch processing

Select hundreds or thousands of HTML, HTM, and MHT files and convert them all to plain text in one run. No manual file-by-file copying. The converter handles large queues without slowing down.

Encoding control

Choose between ANSI, Unicode, and UTF-8 output encoding. If your HTML files contain non-Latin characters — Cyrillic, Chinese, Arabic, accented European letters — UTF-8 output preserves every character correctly.

JavaScript and CSS handling

Some HTML pages generate content with JavaScript. Total HTML Converter can render JavaScript before extracting text, so dynamically generated content is captured. CSS-based formatting is stripped cleanly, leaving only the text.

MHT and MHTML support

Saved web pages in MHT format (single-file web archives) are converted just like regular HTML. No need to unpack them first — the converter reads the MHT container and extracts the text directly.

No cloud uploads

All processing happens on your local machine. Web pages often contain sensitive content: internal reports, customer data, legal documents. None of it leaves your PC during conversion.

15+ output formats

Besides TXT, Total HTML Converter supports PDF, DOC, RTF, XLS, TIFF, JPEG, ODT, and more. One tool handles all your HTML conversion needs.

Online Converters vs Desktop Converter

Feature	Online Tools	Total HTML Converter
File size limit	5–50 MB	No limit
Batch conversion	One file at a time	Unlimited
Privacy	Files uploaded to cloud	100% offline
Encoding options	Limited or none	ANSI, Unicode, UTF-8
JavaScript rendering	Rarely supported	Built-in
MHT support	Rarely supported	Full support
Automation	Manual or paid API	Built-in command line
Pricing	Subscription or ads	One-time $49.90

Windows 7/8/10/11 • 30-day free trial

Download Now!

(includes 30 day FREE trial)

Buy License

(only $49.90)

Total HTML Converter Customer Reviews 2026

Rate ItRated 4.7/5 based on customer reviews

"We archive thousands of web pages monthly for compliance. Total HTML Converter lets us batch-extract the text from all of them in minutes. The UTF-8 encoding option was critical for our multilingual content. Replaced a fragile Python script we had been maintaining for years."

Rachel Simmons Content Operations Manager

"I feed the text output directly into our NLP pipeline. The converter strips tags cleanly and handles MHT archives without any extra steps. The command line integration made it easy to add to our nightly batch job. Solid tool, no surprises."

Tomasz Wisniak Data Engineer

"I needed to pull article text from a set of saved HTML pages for a documentation project. The batch mode saved me hours of manual copy-paste. Table content came through as tab-separated text, which was a nice touch. Would love a line-width setting for the output, but overall very useful."

Linda Park Technical Writer

FAQ ▼