What causes "failed to convert content for file %q: %s" in gohugoio/hugo?

Check the wrapped error and open the named file to locate the problematic Liquid construct.

failed to convert content for file %q: %s

Error message

failed to convert content for file %q: %s

What it means

Emitted in `convertJekyllPost` when `convertJekyllContent` fails while rewriting a post's body from Jekyll conventions to Hugo. The converter translates Liquid constructs such as `{% highlight %}` / `{% raw %}` tags and rendering hints derived from the metadata; a failure there aborts conversion of that file.

Source

Thrown at commands/import.go:332

	os.MkdirAll(targetParentDir, 0o777)

	contentBytes, err := os.ReadFile(path)
	if err != nil {
		c.r.logger.Errorln("Read file error:", path)
		return err
	}
	pf, err := pageparser.ParseFrontMatterAndContent(bytes.NewReader(contentBytes))
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse file %q: %s", filename, err)
	}
	newmetadata, err := c.convertJekyllMetaData(pf.FrontMatter, postName, postDate, draft)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to convert metadata for file %q: %s", filename, err)
	}

	content, err := c.convertJekyllContent(newmetadata, string(pf.Content))
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to convert content for file %q: %s", filename, err)
	}

	fs := hugofs.Os
	if err := helpers.WriteToDisk(targetFile, strings.NewReader(content), fs); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to save file %q: %s", filename, err)
	}
	return nil
}

func (c *importCommand) copyJekyllFilesAndFolders(jekyllRoot, dest string, jekyllPostDirs map[string]bool) (err error) {
	fs := hugofs.Os

	fi, err := fs.Stat(jekyllRoot)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if !fi.IsDir() {
		return errors.New(jekyllRoot + " is not a directory")

View on GitHub ↗ (pinned to 8a468df065)

Solutions

Check the wrapped error and open the named file to locate the problematic Liquid construct.
Simplify or remove unsupported/unbalanced Liquid tags (e.g. fix `{% highlight %}` blocks) and re-run the import.
Convert the problematic post manually: strip Liquid tags and use Hugo's `highlight` shortcode or fenced code blocks.

Example fix

<!-- before -->
{% highlight ruby %}
puts 'hi'
<!-- missing endhighlight -->
<!-- after -->
```ruby
puts 'hi'
```

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Check the file is readable and has a front-matter delimiter
b, err := os.ReadFile(path)
if err != nil || !bytes.HasPrefix(b, []byte("---")) {
    log.Printf("skip %s: no front matter", path)
}

Try / catch

if err := importer.Convert(f); err != nil {
    var pe *fs.PathError
    if errors.As(err, &pe) {
        // filesystem-level cause; report path and continue
    }
    log.Printf("content conversion failed for %s: %v", f.Name(), err)
}

Prevention

Ensure posts are UTF-8 encoded before import
Remove Liquid tags Hugo cannot translate, or expect manual fixup
Iterate file-by-file and collect errors instead of aborting the whole batch

When it happens

Trigger: `hugo import jekyll` processing a post whose body contains Liquid tags or content the regex-based converters cannot transform, or metadata-driven templating of the new front matter failing for that content.

Common situations: Jekyll posts using plugin-specific or nested Liquid tags, unbalanced `{% highlight %}`/`{% endhighlight %}` blocks, or unusual template syntax accumulated over a long-lived blog.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@8a468df065 (2026-07-31). Data as JSON: /data/errors/a2697374f96b6c59.json. Report an issue: GitHub ↗.