No browsers currently have the code necessary to render Word Documents, and as far as I know, there are no client-side libraries that currently exist for rendering them either.

However, if you only need to display the Word Document, but don't need to edit it, you can use Google Documents' Viewer via an <iframe> to display a remotely hosted .doc/.docx.

<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://remote.url.tld/path/to/document.doc&embedded=true"></iframe>

Solution adapted from "How to display a word document using fancybox".

Example:

JSFiddle

However, if you'd rather have native support, in most, if not all browsers, I'd recommend resaving the .doc/.docx as a PDF file Those can also be independently rendered using PDF.js by Mozilla.

Edit:

Huge thanks to cubeguerrero for posting the Microsoft Office 365 viewer in the comments.

<iframe src='https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/embed.aspx?src=http://remote.url.tld/path/to/document.doc' width='1366px' height='623px' frameborder='0'>This is an embedded <a target='_blank' href='http://office.com'>Microsoft Office</a> document, powered by <a target='_blank' href='http://office.com/webapps'>Office Online</a>.</iframe>

One more important caveat to keep in mind, as pointed out by lightswitch05, is that this will upload your document to a third-party server. If this is unacceptable, then this method of display isn't the proper course of action.

Live Examples:

Google Docs Viewer

Microsoft Office Viewer

Answer from Brandon Anzaldi on Stack Overflow
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GitHub
github.com › idrsolutions › idrviewer
GitHub - idrsolutions/idrviewer: The IDRViewer is a pure HTML/JavaScript/CSS viewer designed to display PDF and Office documents in the browser. It works alongside BuildVu which converts PDF documents to HTML5 or SVG pages.
The IDRViewer is a pure HTML/JavaScript/CSS viewer designed to display PDF and Office documents in the browser. It works alongside BuildVu which converts PDF documents to HTML5 or SVG pages. - idrsolutions/idrviewer
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GitHub
github.com › topics › document-viewer
document-viewer · GitHub Topics · GitHub
The IDRViewer is a pure HTML/JavaScript/CSS viewer designed to display PDF and Office documents in the browser.
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Viewerjs
viewerjs.org
ViewerJS Home
WebODF is a JavaScript library that shows office documents created by KO GmbH. It was started by Jos van den Oever at KO and is now developed by a growing team including external collaborators. It makes it easy to add Open Document Format (ODF) support to your website and to your mobile or ...
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GitHub
github.com › Atalasoft › web-document-viewer
GitHub - Atalasoft/web-document-viewer: Atalasoft Web Document Viewer repository for redistribution of client-side JS packages · GitHub
Atalasoft Web Document Viewer repository for redistribution of client-side JS packages - Atalasoft/web-document-viewer
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GitHub
gist.github.com › theel0ja › b9e44a961f892ccf43e217ab74b9417b
Google Docs Viewer and Office Web Apps Viewer · GitHub
<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https://github.com/mozilla/pdf.js/raw/master/examples/helloworld/helloworld.pdf&embedded=true" width="600" height="780" style="border: none;"></iframe> Only Office documents (.doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx) Demo ·
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GitHub
github.com › webodf › ViewerJS
GitHub - webodf/ViewerJS: ViewerJS: Document Reader in JavaScript
ViewerJS: Document Reader in JavaScript. Contribute to webodf/ViewerJS development by creating an account on GitHub.
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Top answer
1 of 11
376

No browsers currently have the code necessary to render Word Documents, and as far as I know, there are no client-side libraries that currently exist for rendering them either.

However, if you only need to display the Word Document, but don't need to edit it, you can use Google Documents' Viewer via an <iframe> to display a remotely hosted .doc/.docx.

<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://remote.url.tld/path/to/document.doc&embedded=true"></iframe>

Solution adapted from "How to display a word document using fancybox".

Example:

JSFiddle

However, if you'd rather have native support, in most, if not all browsers, I'd recommend resaving the .doc/.docx as a PDF file Those can also be independently rendered using PDF.js by Mozilla.

Edit:

Huge thanks to cubeguerrero for posting the Microsoft Office 365 viewer in the comments.

<iframe src='https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/embed.aspx?src=http://remote.url.tld/path/to/document.doc' width='1366px' height='623px' frameborder='0'>This is an embedded <a target='_blank' href='http://office.com'>Microsoft Office</a> document, powered by <a target='_blank' href='http://office.com/webapps'>Office Online</a>.</iframe>

One more important caveat to keep in mind, as pointed out by lightswitch05, is that this will upload your document to a third-party server. If this is unacceptable, then this method of display isn't the proper course of action.

Live Examples:

Google Docs Viewer

Microsoft Office Viewer

2 of 11
51

The answers by Brandon and fatbotdesigns are both correct, but having implemented the Google docs preview, we found multiple .docx files that couldn't be handled by Google. Switched to the MS Office Online preview and works likes a charm.

My recommendation would be to use the MS Office Preview URL over Google's.

https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/embed.aspx?src=http://remote.url.tld/path/to/document.doc' 
Find elsewhere
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GitHub
github.com › Dynamsoft › document-viewer-javascript
GitHub - Dynamsoft/document-viewer-javascript
Dynamsoft Document Viewer (DDV) is a browser-based JavaScript SDK designed for viewing and editing images and PDFs. It provides a wide range of functionalities, including PDF annotation, page manipulation, image quality enhancement, and document ...
Author   Dynamsoft
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GitHub
gist.github.com › izazueta › 4961650
Google Docs Viewer & Office Web Apps Viewer · GitHub
When user will scroll down to bottom of the page then how do I give any alert message. Currently, I am using an iframe to show google docs viewer on my website, but I have to apply some javascript event after a complete reading of the document. ... I tried the pdf in my office unsuccessfully.
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GitHub
github.com › react-office-viewer › react-office-viewer
GitHub - react-office-viewer/react-office-viewer
<Viewer file={ fileObject }/> <input type='file' onChange={this.getFileObject} /> getFileObject = e => { this.setState({ fileObject: e.target.files[0] }); } //other optional params: let params = { fileName, //PropTypes.string locale: 'en', // PropTypes.oneOf(['zh','en']) width, //PropTypes.oneOfType([PropTypes.string, PropTypes.number]), height, //PropTypes.oneOfType([PropTypes.string, PropTypes.number]), timeout: 10000, //PropTypes.number. Timeout limit of url request, only works on sheet/docx previewer. } <Viewer file="http://xxxx" {...params} />
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GitHub
github.com › meshesha › officetohtml
GitHub - meshesha/officetohtml: Office To Html
jQuery plugin written in pure javascript for converting modern microsoft office files, pptx,docx,xlsx and pdf to html. The plugin integrates other libraries like PPTXjs, mammoth.js,SheetJs Combined with handsontable and PDF.js, designed to convert ...
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GitHub
github.com › naskio › docx-viewer
GitHub - naskio/docx-viewer: Live Preview the generated word document (docx) in your browser while using https://docx.js.org/ · GitHub
Live Preview the generated word document (docx) in your browser while using https://docx.js.org/ - naskio/docx-viewer
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GitHub
github.com › RobertHajbok › WebFormsDocumentViewer
GitHub - RobertHajbok/WebFormsDocumentViewer: WebForms custom control for embeding documents in HTML · GitHub
PdfRenderer: is used by documents converted to PDFs (see below) and you can choose between PDF.js and Adobe Reader. Adobe Reader is used by default now, but this requires Adobe to be installed client-side. PDF.js is relying only on JavaScript, but the library is still developing.
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Nutrient
nutrient.io › web › viewer › office documents
JavaScript Office document viewer | Nutrient
With our JavaScript Office document viewer, developers can quickly embed a customizable and responsive Office file viewer into any JavaScript-based web application, ensuring smooth integration and enhanced user experience.
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GitHub
github.com › aaronshaf › office-document-viewer
GitHub - aaronshaf/office-document-viewer: DOCX web viewer
DOCX web viewer. Contribute to aaronshaf/office-document-viewer development by creating an account on GitHub.
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npm
npmjs.com › package › docx-preview
docx-preview - npm
Docx rendering library · Demo - https://volodymyrbaydalka.github.io/docxjs/
      » npm install docx-preview
    
Published   Sep 30, 2025
Version   0.3.7
Author   Volodymyr Baydalka
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GitHub
github.com › topics › office-viewer
office-viewer · GitHub Topics · GitHub
May 12, 2023 - react pdf-viewer react-pdf webviewer pdf-editor react-pdf-viewer office-viewer webviewer-ui · Updated · Apr 5, 2025 · JavaScript · Star 59 · Filament SimpleLightbox is a PHP package that provides a simple and lightweight solution for implementing a lightbox feature in your Filament admin panel. It allows you to easily preview Image, PDF and Office documents within your Filament.
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Js
officetohtml.js.org › pages › docs.html
OfficeJs | Docs
<!--PDF--> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./include/pdf/pdf.viewer.css"> <script src="./include/pdf/pdf.js"></script> <!--Docs--> <script src="./include/docx/jszip-utils.js"></script> <script src="./include/docx/mammoth.browser.min.js"></script> <!--PPTX--> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./include/PPTXjs/css/pptxjs.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./include/PPTXjs/css/nv.d3.min.css"> <!-- optional if you want to use revealjs (v1.11.0) --> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./revealjs/reveal.css"> <script type="text/javascript" src="./include/PPTXjs/js/filereader.js"></script> <script type="text/javasc
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GitHub
github.com › documentcloud › document-viewer
GitHub - documentcloud/document-viewer: The NYTimes Document Viewer
Take a peek at the viewer.html template to see how to load in a Document.
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