Your files stay on your Mac.
Convertessa parses roff markup from Man Page files and emits valid JATS XML, mapping headings, synopsis blocks, and option lists to their JATS counterparts. The resulting XML is schema-conformant and ready for ingest into publishing pipelines or document repositories. All processing runs locally — no file ever leaves your Mac.
Drag one .man file or an entire folder of Man Pages into Convertessa. Batch mode processes every file in one pass, preserving each document's internal structure.
Pick JATS XML from the output format list. Convertessa targets the jats spec and writes conformant XML for each source file.
Click Convert. Convertessa writes one .xml file per source Man Page, strips embedded metadata, and leaves your originals untouched.
Images, audio, video, documents, archives and eBooks — all converted natively, right on your Mac.
Pick a format you have — see everything Convertessa can turn it into.
Convert hundreds of files at once with per-type group defaults and individual overrides.
First-class support for HEIC, AVIF and WebP — encode and decode, both ways. Read JPEG XL and a dozen more modern formats too.
Drop files anywhere on the window. Native, instant, and exactly what you’d expect on a Mac.
Dial in compression, resolution and bitrate. Keep originals pristine or shrink for sharing.
Never overwrite a file by accident. Convertessa appends safe suffixes automatically.
Every job is logged locally. Re-run a previous conversion or revisit recent outputs in a click.
Bundle your converted files straight into a single ZIP, TAR or 7z — packaged and ready to share the moment a job finishes.
Right-click any file in Finder and choose Convert. A Quick Action handles it on the spot — no need to open the app first.
Shrink Convertessa to a tidy mini window that tucks into a corner — just a drop zone and a format picker for quick, one-off conversions.
No cloud. No account. No upload. Every conversion happens entirely on-device, using the power already in your Mac. What you convert is nobody’s business but yours.
Script conversions, wire them into your build, or batch a folder from the terminal. The same engine, no GUI required.
Read the full CLI documentation →Shrink Convertessa down to a small, focused window — drop, convert, done, with your recent conversions one click away.
macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon & Intel
New formats, new features, and fixes — every release, on the record.
Yes. Standard roff sections such as NAME, SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, and OPTIONS are mapped to their JATS equivalents — <title>, <sec>, and <def-list> elements — so the document hierarchy is retained in the output.
Convertessa interprets roff macros (including the man and mdoc macro sets) and converts their semantic meaning into JATS markup. Raw troff escape sequences do not appear in the XML output.
Yes. Pass a folder path with the --to jats flag from the CLI, or drop the folder onto Convertessa's window. Every .man file inside is converted and written as a separate .xml file.