CHM files—compiled HTML help archives—are often used in legacy software documentation. However, their format is restrictive and not easily accessible across platforms. This tutorial explains how to render CHM as HTML using Python, allowing developers to extract and repurpose help content for modern web environments. By converting CHM to HTML, you can make technical documentation searchable, linkable, and compatible with any browser. This approach is especially useful for software vendors, support teams, and archivists updating older content for online delivery. Here are the detailed steps to convert CHM to HTML in Python

Steps to Render CHM as HTML using Python

1. Install GroupDocs.Viewer for Python via .NET using pip to prepare your development environment
2. Import the groupdocs.viewer and groupdocs.viewer.options modules to access rendering features
3. Use the Viewer class inside a with block to load the CHM file and handle resources efficiently
4. Configure HtmlViewOptions with embedded resources and define a filename pattern for output pages
5. Call viewer.view(viewOptions) to generate HTML files from the CHM content

This method extracts each topic or page from the CHM archive and converts it into a standalone HTML file. The Python code to render CHM as HTML supports embedded resources, ensuring that images, styles, and internal links are preserved. You can also enable single-page rendering if you prefer consolidated output. This flexibility makes it easy to migrate help systems into web-based documentation portals or integrate legacy content into modern applications.

Code to Render CHM as HTML using Python

Exporting CHM files to HTML is a smart way to modernize documentation without losing structure or formatting. The resulting HTML pages are lightweight, searchable, and easy to host or embed. This makes export CHM as HTML Python functionality ideal for teams transitioning away from proprietary formats or building unified knowledge bases. This concludes our tutorial on rendering CHM files to HTML using Python—ready to be applied in your next documentation upgrade.

If you’re looking to expand your document conversion options, we recommend exploring our tutorial on render HTML to JPG using Python. This guide explains how to turn HTML files into high-quality JPEG images, making it easier to share web layouts as static visuals, embed styled content into reports, or generate consistent snapshots for archiving.