Can I open an Obsidian vault in another app?

Yes. A vault is an ordinary folder of .md files on your disk, with no database and no proprietary container, so any app that opens Markdown can read it. Obsidian documents five syntax extensions of its own on top of CommonMark, GitHub Flavored Markdown, and LaTeX: internal links [[Link]], embeds ![[Link]], block references ![[Link#^id]], block definitions ^id, and callouts > [!note]. Those five are what varies between apps. The rest of your notes travel unchanged.

What do [[wikilinks]] look like in an app that does not support them?

They stay on the page as literal text, brackets and all. Nothing is deleted and nothing is corrupted, so the link still tells you which note it pointed at, but it is not clickable and there is no backlinks panel. The same applies to embeds: ![[Diagram.png]] shows as that string instead of the image. Callouts degrade more gently, since > [!note] is a valid blockquote in standard Markdown, so you get a normal quote block with [!note] sitting on its first line.

Will another app damage my vault if I edit notes in it?

Usually not, but check two things before you trust it. First, whether the app rewrites YAML frontmatter when it saves, because reordering or requoting properties is the most common silent change. Second, whether it reformats Markdown on save, since some editors normalise list markers, emphasis characters, or line wrapping across the whole file. An editor that writes back only what you typed leaves the rest of the file byte for byte the same.

Does Logseq open an Obsidian vault?

It depends which Logseq. Logseq 2.0 split into two products. Logseq OG keeps Markdown files as the canonical data, so it can open a folder of notes directly. The newer database version makes its own database canonical and exports to Markdown rather than reading your files as the source of truth, so it is an import rather than a shared folder. In either version, [[links]] are native, while Obsidian embeds and callouts use different syntax and do not render as-is.

What in a vault is not Markdown at all?

Three things. The .obsidian folder holds your settings, themes, hotkeys, and community plugins, and it is configuration rather than notes. Canvas boards are .canvas files in the JSON Canvas format, and Bases are .base files. Neither is Markdown, so a Markdown app will either ignore them or show them as raw text. Your images, PDFs, and audio sit in the folder as ordinary files and travel fine.

Which app should I open my vault in?

If you can install software and want the plugin ecosystem, canvas, and mobile apps, stay on Obsidian. If you cannot install anything on the machine you are using, a Chromium browser can open the folder directly through the File System Access API. If you want an outliner and block-level structure, look at Logseq. If you mainly need to read or grep the notes alongside code, VS Code is already there. For a quick look at one file, any text editor shows you everything, just without the rendering.

Obsidian · Comparison

Which apps can open an Obsidian vault, and what breaks

An Obsidian vault is an ordinary folder of .md files. There is no database, no proprietary container, and nothing to export, so plenty of apps can open it today. What differs between them is what happens to the parts of your notes that are not plain Markdown.

Obsidian names those parts itself. Its documentation lists five extensions it adds on top of CommonMark, GitHub Flavored Markdown, and LaTeX: internal links, embeds, block references, block definitions, and callouts. So the useful question is which of those five another app understands, and what it puts on screen when it does not.

The short answer

Here is the list, in Obsidian's own words, with the syntax each one uses:

Internal links, written [[Link]]
Embed files, written ![[Link]]
Block references, written ![[Link#^id]]
Defining a block, written ^id at the end of a paragraph
Callouts, written > [!note] on the first line of a blockquote

Everything else is standard. Headings, lists, tables, code fences, footnotes, and LaTeX math are CommonMark, GFM, or KaTeX, and they render the same anywhere that supports them.

When an app does not know one of the five, it does not usually corrupt anything. It shows you the raw text. A [[Meeting notes]] link sits on the page as those exact characters, unclickable. An ![[Diagram.png]] embed shows as that string rather than the image. Callouts fare best of the group, because > [!note] is a legal blockquote in plain Markdown, so you get a normal quote block with [!note] on its first line. Block definitions are the ugliest, since a stray ^a1b2c3 hangs off the end of a paragraph with no explanation.

The real risk is not rendering. It is writing. An editor that reformats Markdown when it saves, or that reorders and requotes your YAML frontmatter, changes files you did not mean to change, and you may not notice for weeks.

How they compare

App	How you open the vault	`[[links]]`	`![[embeds]]`	Block refs `^id`	Callouts
Obsidian	Install the desktop or mobile app	Yes, native	Yes, native	Yes, native	Yes, native
NoteLoom	Open the folder in a Chromium desktop browser	Yes, with backlinks	Yes	Yes, both [[N#^id]] and [[N^id]]	Yes, all 13 types
Logseq OG (file version)	Install, then open the folder as a graph	Yes, native	No, uses its own embed syntax	Yes, its own block model	No, uses admonitions
Logseq (database version)	Install, then import; the database becomes canonical	Yes, inside the database	No, different syntax	Yes, its own block model	No, uses admonitions
VS Code and vscode.dev	Open the folder; Markdown preview is built in	No, needs an extension	No	No	No, renders as a blockquote
Typora	Install, then open the folder in the sidebar	No, needs a community plugin	No	No	No, renders as a blockquote
A plain text editor	Open one file at a time	No, raw text	No, raw text	No, raw text	No, raw text

Checked against each app's own site and documentation in August 2026. Apps change, so verify the current version before you move a vault you care about.

App by app

Obsidian

The baseline, and worth stating plainly: nothing else matches it for depth. Plugins, canvas, graph, mobile apps, and Bases all live here, and the five extensions above are its own, so they all work. If you can install software and you are happy with the app, there is no portability problem to solve. The reason people look elsewhere is usually a locked-down work computer, a Chromebook, a borrowed machine, or wanting a second tool that reads the same folder without a second copy of the notes.

NoteLoom

NoteLoom opens the vault folder in a Chromium desktop browser through the File System Access API and reads and writes the real .md files, with no upload and no account. It handles all five extensions: [[wikilinks]] with autocomplete and a backlinks panel, ![[embeds]], block references in both the [[Note#^id]] form Obsidian writes and the shorter [[Note^id]], and callouts across all 13 types with their aliases, folding, and custom titles. Trailing ^id markers stay hidden while you read and edit. There are three views on the same note: source, live, and reading. On top of the folder it adds full-text search, tags, and a graph.

The limits are real and worth knowing before you try it. It runs in the desktop versions of Chrome, Edge, and Arc, because the File System Access API is where it is available. There is no plugin ecosystem. The file tree lists .md and .markdown only, so your .canvas boards and .base files stay on disk untouched but do not appear, and neither does the .obsidian folder. This is the site's own tool, so read this paragraph as the maker's description and check the others on their own terms.

Logseq

Ask which Logseq first. In 2.0 the project split in two. Logseq OG is the file version, where Markdown files stay canonical, so it opens a folder of notes and you can still edit those files in other apps. The database version makes its own database canonical and exports to Markdown instead of treating your files as the source of truth, which turns opening a vault into an import rather than a shared folder. Logseq is an outliner either way, so your notes become blocks, and long prose written in Obsidian can feel oddly chopped up.

[[links]] are native to both apps and carry over. Embeds and callouts do not: Logseq uses its own embed syntax and calls callouts admonitions, which is why conversion tools exist that rewrite wikilinks, embeds, and callouts from one dialect to the other. Good fit if you want block-level structure and daily-notes-first workflow, less good as a drop-in reader for an Obsidian vault.

VS Code and vscode.dev

Already installed on a lot of machines, and vscode.dev opens a local folder in a Chromium browser with no install. Its Markdown preview is built on CommonMark, so it renders your headings, tables, and code fences correctly and none of the Obsidian five. Wikilinks and YAML frontmatter both need extensions before they show as anything but raw text, which is exactly why those extensions exist. What you get instead is multi-file search, Git, and every text-wrangling tool you already know. A reasonable choice when the vault sits next to code, or when you want to grep 2,000 notes rather than read them.

Typora

Typora is a pleasant single-window Markdown writer with a folder sidebar, and it renders standard Markdown as you type. It has no native support for [[wikilinks]]. Its documentation covers standard [label](src) links only, the feature request has been open on its issue tracker for years, and the workaround is a community plugin. For writing a document it is lovely. For navigating a linked vault it is not the tool.

A plain text editor

Notepad, TextEdit, nano, whatever is on the machine. Nothing renders, so you see # before headings and ** around bold, and every one of the five extensions shows as the characters you typed. That is not a failure, it is the proof: your notes really are plain text, and you can always read them with the most basic tool available. Good for confirming a file's contents on a machine where you can install nothing at all.

The parts of a vault that are not Markdown

A vault usually holds more than notes, and this is where portability actually stops. Obsidian lists .md, .base, and .canvas as its own file types, alongside images, audio, video, and PDF.

The .obsidian folder holds settings, themes, hotkeys, workspace layout, and community plugins. It is configuration, not content. Most other apps skip hidden folders entirely, which means they leave it alone rather than break it.
.canvas boards use the JSON Canvas format. The file is readable JSON, which is more than most proprietary whiteboards give you, but a Markdown app will not draw the board.
.base files are Bases, Obsidian's database views. They are not Markdown and do not render elsewhere.
Attachments are just files. Images, PDFs, and audio sit in the folder and open in whatever the operating system uses.

If a canvas or a base is load-bearing in your workflow, no amount of Markdown compatibility will carry it across. Worth knowing before you plan a move rather than after.

How to choose

You can install software and want the deepest tool: Obsidian. Nothing here is a reason to leave it.
You cannot install anything on this machine: open the folder in a Chromium browser.
You want an outliner and block-first structure: Logseq, and decide OG or database before you start.
The vault lives next to code: VS Code, or vscode.dev if you cannot install it.
You just need to check what is in one file: any text editor on the machine.

If the browser option is the one worth testing, mounting the vault folder and opening a note with a few [[links]] in it tells you most of what you need in about a minute.

Open your vault folder in the browser

Works in the desktop version of Chrome, Edge, or Arc.