diff --git a/README.rst b/README.md
similarity index 97%
rename from README.rst
rename to README.md
index fc774bf..7f17257 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,52 +1,35 @@
-======
-pg8000
-======
+# pg8000
 
-.. |ssl.SSLContext| replace:: ``ssl.SSLContext``
-.. _ssl.SSLContext: https://docs.python.org/3/library/ssl.html#ssl.SSLContext
-
-.. |ssl.create_default_context()| replace:: ``ssl.create_default_context()``
-.. _ssl.create_default_context(): https://docs.python.org/3/library/ssl.html#ssl.create_default_context
-
-pg8000 is a pure-`Python <https://www.python.org/>`_
-`PostgreSQL <http://www.postgresql.org/>`_ driver that complies with
-`DB-API 2.0 <http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0249/>`_. It is tested on Python
-versions 3.8+, on CPython and PyPy, and PostgreSQL versions 12+. pg8000's name comes
-from the belief that it is probably about the 8000th PostgreSQL interface for Python.
-pg8000 is distributed under the BSD 3-clause license.
+pg8000 is a pure-[Python](https://www.python.org/)
+[PostgreSQL](http://www.postgresql.org/) driver that complies with
+[DB-API 2.0](http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0249/). It is tested on Python versions
+3.8+, on CPython and PyPy, and PostgreSQL versions 12+. pg8000's name comes from the
+belief that it is probably about the 8000th PostgreSQL interface for Python. pg8000 is
+distributed under the BSD 3-clause license.
 
 All bug reports, feature requests and contributions are welcome at
-`http://github.com/tlocke/pg8000/ <http://github.com/tlocke/pg8000/>`_.
+[http://github.com/tlocke/pg8000/](http://github.com/tlocke/pg8000/).
 
-.. image:: https://github.com/tlocke/pg8000/workflows/pg8000/badge.svg
-   :alt: Build Status
+[![Workflow Status Badge](https://github.com/tlocke/pg8000/workflows/pg8000/badge.svg)](https://github.com/tlocke/pg8000/actions)
 
-.. contents:: Table of Contents
-   :depth: 2
-   :local:
-
-Installation
-------------
+## Installation
 
-To install pg8000 using `pip` type:
+To install pg8000 using `pip` type: `pip install pg8000`
 
-`pip install pg8000`
 
-
-Native API Interactive Examples
--------------------------------
+## Native API Interactive Examples
 
 pg8000 comes with two APIs, the native pg8000 API and the DB-API 2.0 standard
 API. These are the examples for the native API, and the DB-API 2.0 examples
 follow in the next section.
 
 
-Basic Example
-`````````````
+### Basic Example
 
 Import pg8000, connect to the database, create a table, add some rows and then
 query the table:
 
+```
 >>> import pg8000.native
 >>>
 >>> # Connect to the database with user name postgres
@@ -70,6 +53,7 @@ query the table:
 [2, 'The Magus']
 >>>
 >>> con.close()
+```
 
 
 Transactions
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 09e4aab..03fbf83 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 [project]
 name = "pg8000"
 description = "PostgreSQL interface library"
-readme = "README.rst"
+readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.8"
 keywords= ["postgresql", "dbapi"]
 license = {text = "BSD 3-Clause License"}