500 KB Markdown sample

A Markdown file of exactly 512,000 bytes. It is a valid Markdown file, generated by this site. Compare its checksum and test it with the parser used by your application. Use it wherever you need a 500 KB sample, test or dummy Markdown file.

sample-md-500kb.md

500 KB512,000 bytes

Download 500 KB Markdown

Created in your browser in a few seconds, then checked against the SHA-256 checksum. The file is not uploaded anywhere. No sign-up.

Type: text/markdown
SHA-256: 8fa40254f972993d9ab86d976e078318b3749632c0e5645f4231371c0922bc61
Delivery: Created in your browser from static generator assets (how it works).

What is in this file

1,312 sections with headings, paragraphs, bulleted and numbered lists, block quotes, fenced code blocks and tables. An HTML comment at the end brings the file to the exact size.

Sections	1,312
Flavour	CommonMark, with GitHub-style tables
Elements	Headings, emphasis, lists, links, quotes, code blocks, tables
Encoding	UTF-8 (ASCII characters only)
Line endings	LF

How the file begins

The opening lines of sample-md-500kb.md, exactly as they appear in the file.

00000000  23 20 53 61 6d 70 6c 65  20 4d 61 72 6b 64 6f 77 |# Sample Markdow|
00000010  6e 20 66 69 6c 65 20 28  35 30 30 20 4b 42 29 0a |n file (500 KB).|
00000020  0a 41 20 43 6f 6d 6d 6f  6e 4d 61 72 6b 20 64 6f |.A CommonMark do|
00000030  63 75 6d 65 6e 74 20 66  6f 72 20 74 65 73 74 69 |cument for testi|

Preview

Creates the file in your browser and shows the first 64 KB of it.

Where 500 KB matters

A 512,000-byte file: larger than most API body limits, smaller than most upload limits. These are the default limits a file of this size is useful for testing:

System	Limit	Note
Amazon DynamoDB items	400 KB per item	500 KB cannot be stored as a single item.
Express body parsers	100 KB by default	Rejected unless the limit is raised.
nginx request body	1 MB by default (client_max_body_size)	Accepted with room to spare.

All 500 KB sample files

Use this file for

Checking email size handling
Testing documentation pipelines
Testing Markdown renderers and editors

Testing notes for Markdown

Tables are an extension rather than part of CommonMark, so renderers differ on whether they appear.
Markdown may contain raw HTML, so anything that renders user-supplied Markdown needs an HTML sanitiser.

Markdown format reference

Technical details

File name	sample-md-500kb.md
Format	Markdown (Markdown)
Extension	.md
MIME type	text/markdown
Size	512,000 bytes (500 KB)
Kind	Text
SHA-256	8fa40254f972993d9ab86d976e078318b3749632c0e5645f4231371c0922bc61
Created	2026-10-23
Validation	See the listed size and SHA-256. Small downloads are checked in the browser; verify streamed downloads manually. A hash match does not prove parser compatibility.
Preview	Available on this page
Source	Generated in your browser by this site's generator; not copied from elsewhere
Licence	Free to use, modify and redistribute (terms)
Category	Documents

Check the stated structure and checksum against your application requirements. As with any download, scan the file with your own security tools before opening it. How files are made and checked

Verify your copy

This file is created in your browser, so it has no direct URL for curl or wget. The generator is designed to produce reproducible bytes. After saving, compare the checksum with the SHA-256 value above.

sha256sum sample-md-500kb.md     # Linux
shasum -a 256 sample-md-500kb.md # macOS

On Windows, run Get-FileHash sample-md-500kb.md -Algorithm SHA256 in PowerShell. For scripts and pipelines, save the file once and keep your own copy.

Related files

Questions about this file

Is this file exactly 500 KB?: Yes. It is 512,000 bytes, which is 500 KB in the binary units that operating systems and server limits use (1 KB = 1,024 bytes).
What is inside the 500 KB Markdown file?: 1,312 sections with headings, paragraphs, bulleted and numbered lists, block quotes, fenced code blocks and tables. An HTML comment at the end brings the file to the exact size.
Which Markdown features do the samples use?: Headings, emphasis, ordered and unordered lists, links, a pipe table, a fenced code block and a block quote.

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