Djot to ICML Converter
FileFlip converts Djot to ICML entirely inside your browser, using Pandoc compiled to WebAssembly. The file is never uploaded to a server: it is read off your disk, converted on your own machine, and saved back by the browser. That means no file-size limit, no queue and no account.
How do I convert a Djot file to ICML?#
- Drop your Djot file onto the converter at the top of this page, or click it to pick one from your computer. You can add as many as you like.
- Leave the target set to ICML and the conversion starts on its own. FileFlip downloads 65.8 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, then runs Pandoc on your own machine.
- Save the ICML file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting Djot to ICML lose quality?#
Not in the sense of pixels or samples. Converting Djot to ICML rebuilds the file in ICML's own model rather than re-encoding it, so everything ICML can represent comes through exactly and anything it cannot has to be dropped. Expect the words to come through exactly and the page breaks to move.
Is it safe to convert Djot files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts Djot files inside the browser tab you already have open, using WebAssembly builds of the same engines a desktop converter would install. Your file is read from your own disk into the page's memory, and no request carrying it is ever made.
You do not have to take that on trust. Open your browser's network panel, run a conversion, and you will see the engine come down and your file go nowhere. There is no upload, no server-side copy, no retention window, and no account tied to what you converted.
How FileFlip works lists every engine, its version and its download size, and shows how to check for yourself that nothing leaves your machine.
What Djot to ICML actually does to the file#
Converting Djot to ICML runs on Pandoc, downloads 65.8 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, rebuilds the file in the target's own model, keeps selectable text and page layout.
| Engine | Pandoc |
|---|---|
| Conversion path | One step: Djot → ICML |
| Downloaded to your browser | 65.8 MB, once, then cached by your browser |
| Quality | Rebuilt in the target's model |
| You get back | One file |
| Where it runs | In a background worker, so the page stays responsive |
What survives the conversion
| What is in the file | This conversion | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Selectable text | Kept | Carried through into the converted file. |
| Page layout | Kept | Carried through into the converted file. |
What is a Djot file?#
A DJ file holds a Djot document, a lightweight markup that reads like Markdown but is built on an unambiguous grammar, so it parses the same way in every implementation.
Write in Djot when Markdown's readability is wanted without its parsing ambiguities, and broad tool support isn't a requirement yet.
Convert Djot to another format when sharing with tools or people that only handle Markdown, HTML, or another mainstream format.
What is an ICML file?#
An ICML file is a single XML document holding one InDesign story's text and its paragraph and character style names, with no page geometry, meant to be opened in Adobe InCopy or imported into an existing InDesign layout rather than viewed on its own.
Use ICML to move styled text into an InDesign layout from a source that can generate structured XML, keeping paragraph and character styles intact instead of retyping the copy.
Convert content out of ICML once it leaves the InDesign workflow, since almost nothing outside Adobe's own applications reads it.
Djot to ICML questions people ask#
What is a .dj file?
A .dj file is a Djot document, a lightweight markup language that looks like Markdown but parses under a stricter, unambiguous grammar. It was designed in 2022 by John MacFarlane, who also created Pandoc and co-authored the CommonMark specification.
Who created Djot and why?
Djot was created by John MacFarlane, drawing on his essay 'Beyond Markdown' about the parsing problems built into Markdown and CommonMark. Djot keeps Markdown's familiar look while fixing the ambiguities that make CommonMark hard to parse efficiently, and adds features like footnotes and definition lists.
Is Djot the same as Markdown?
No, Djot only looks similar to Markdown. It derives most of its syntax from CommonMark but changes several rules to remove parsing ambiguities, so a document written for one won't reliably render correctly in the other.
What application opens an ICML file?
Adobe InDesign and Adobe InCopy are effectively the only applications that open ICML files, since the format exists specifically to move a story's styled text between the two. There is no independent viewer for it outside Adobe's publishing tools.