diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/rich-text.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/rich-text.tsx
index 1246721..97e3c0d 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/components/rich-text.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/rich-text.tsx
@@ -1,59 +1,7 @@
-import { useState } from "react";
+import { type ReactNode, useState } from "react";
+import { parseRichTextMarkup, parseTextSegments, type RichTextNode } from "../lib/rich-text";
 import { ExternalLinkModal } from "./external-link-modal";
 
-type Segment =
-  | { id: string; type: "text"; value: string }
-  | { id: string; type: "url"; value: string }
-  | { id: string; type: "timecode"; value: string; seconds: number };
-
-function parseTimestampToSeconds(value: string): number | null {
-  const parts = value.split(":").map((part) => Number(part));
-  if (parts.some((part) => !Number.isFinite(part))) return null;
-  if (parts.length === 2) {
-    const [minutes, seconds] = parts;
-    return minutes * 60 + seconds;
-  }
-  if (parts.length === 3) {
-    const [hours, minutes, seconds] = parts;
-    return hours * 3600 + minutes * 60 + seconds;
-  }
-  return null;
-}
-
-function parseSegments(text: string): Segment[] {
-  const regex = /https?:\/\/[^\s\])"',;:!>]+|\b(?:\d{1,2}:)?[0-5]?\d:[0-5]\d\b/g;
-  const segments: Segment[] = [];
-  let lastIndex = 0;
-  let counter = 0;
-  let match = regex.exec(text);
-  while (match !== null) {
-    if (match.index > lastIndex) {
-      segments.push({
-        id: `t${counter++}`,
-        type: "text",
-        value: text.slice(lastIndex, match.index),
-      });
-    }
-    const value = match[0];
-    if (value.startsWith("http://") || value.startsWith("https://")) {
-      segments.push({ id: `u${counter++}`, type: "url", value });
-    } else {
-      const seconds = parseTimestampToSeconds(value);
-      if (seconds === null) {
-        segments.push({ id: `t${counter++}`, type: "text", value });
-      } else {
-        segments.push({ id: `c${counter++}`, type: "timecode", value, seconds });
-      }
-    }
-    lastIndex = match.index + match[0].length;
-    match = regex.exec(text);
-  }
-  if (lastIndex < text.length) {
-    segments.push({ id: `t${counter}`, type: "text", value: text.slice(lastIndex) });
-  }
-  return segments;
-}
-
 type RichTextProps = {
   text: string;
   onSeekTimestamp?: (seconds: number) => void;
@@ -61,38 +9,81 @@ type RichTextProps = {
 
 export function RichText({ text, onSeekTimestamp }: RichTextProps) {
   const [pendingUrl, setPendingUrl] = useState<string | null>(null);
-  const segments = parseSegments(text);
+  const nodes = parseRichTextMarkup(text);
 
-  return (
-    <span>
-      {segments.map((seg) =>
-        seg.type === "text" ? (
-          <span key={seg.id}>{seg.value}</span>
-        ) : seg.type === "url" ? (
+  function renderNodes(children: RichTextNode[], keyPrefix: string): ReactNode[] {
+    return children.flatMap((node, index) => renderNode(node, `${keyPrefix}-${index}`));
+  }
+
+  function renderNode(node: RichTextNode, key: string): ReactNode[] {
+    if (node.type === "text") {
+      return parseTextSegments(node.value, `${key}-`).map((segment) =>
+        segment.type === "text" ? (
+          <span key={segment.id}>{segment.value}</span>
+        ) : segment.type === "url" ? (
           <a
-            key={seg.id}
-            href={seg.value}
+            key={segment.id}
+            href={segment.value}
             onClick={(event) => {
               event.preventDefault();
-              setPendingUrl(seg.value);
+              setPendingUrl(segment.value);
             }}
             className="text-accent hover:text-accent-strong underline underline-offset-2 transition-colors break-all text-left align-baseline"
           >
-            {seg.value}
+            {segment.value}
           </a>
         ) : onSeekTimestamp ? (
           <button
-            key={seg.id}
+            key={segment.id}
             type="button"
-            onClick={() => onSeekTimestamp(seg.seconds)}
+            onClick={() => onSeekTimestamp(segment.seconds)}
             className="text-accent hover:text-accent-strong underline underline-offset-2 transition-colors"
           >
-            {seg.value}
+            {segment.value}
           </button>
         ) : (
-          <span key={seg.id}>{seg.value}</span>
+          <span key={segment.id}>{segment.value}</span>
         ),
-      )}
+      );
+    }
+    if (node.type === "break") return [<br key={key} />];
+    if (node.type === "link") {
+      return [
+        <a
+          key={key}
+          href={node.href}
+          onClick={(event) => {
+            event.preventDefault();
+            setPendingUrl(node.href);
+          }}
+          className="text-accent hover:text-accent-strong underline underline-offset-2 transition-colors break-all text-left align-baseline"
+        >
+          {renderNodes(node.children, key)}
+        </a>,
+      ];
+    }
+    const children = renderNodes(node.children, key);
+    switch (node.tag) {
+      case "strong":
+        return [<strong key={key}>{children}</strong>];
+      case "em":
+        return [<em key={key}>{children}</em>];
+      case "u":
+        return [<u key={key}>{children}</u>];
+      case "s":
+        return [<s key={key}>{children}</s>];
+      case "code":
+        return [<code key={key}>{children}</code>];
+      case "kbd":
+        return [<kbd key={key}>{children}</kbd>];
+      case "mark":
+        return [<mark key={key}>{children}</mark>];
+    }
+  }
+
+  return (
+    <span>
+      {renderNodes(nodes, "rich-text")}
       {pendingUrl && (
         <ExternalLinkModal
           url={pendingUrl}
diff --git a/apps/web/src/lib/rich-text.ts b/apps/web/src/lib/rich-text.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4795007
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/web/src/lib/rich-text.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+export type RichTextSegment =
+  | { id: string; type: "text"; value: string }
+  | { id: string; type: "url"; value: string }
+  | { id: string; type: "timecode"; value: string; seconds: number };
+
+type RichTextFormat = "strong" | "em" | "u" | "s" | "code" | "kbd" | "mark";
+
+export type RichTextNode =
+  | { type: "text"; value: string }
+  | { type: "break" }
+  | { type: "link"; href: string; children: RichTextNode[] }
+  | { type: "format"; tag: RichTextFormat; children: RichTextNode[] };
+
+const FORMAT_TAGS = new Set([
+  "b",
+  "strong",
+  "em",
+  "i",
+  "u",
+  "s",
+  "strike",
+  "del",
+  "code",
+  "kbd",
+  "mark",
+]);
+const BLOCK_TAGS = new Set(["address", "article", "aside", "blockquote", "div", "li", "p", "pre"]);
+const OMIT_TAGS = new Set([
+  "audio",
+  "base",
+  "embed",
+  "form",
+  "iframe",
+  "img",
+  "link",
+  "meta",
+  "object",
+  "script",
+  "style",
+  "svg",
+  "template",
+  "video",
+]);
+
+function isSafeHttpUrl(value: string): boolean {
+  try {
+    const protocol = new URL(value).protocol;
+    return protocol === "http:" || protocol === "https:";
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+function appendBreak(nodes: RichTextNode[]): void {
+  if (nodes.length > 0 && nodes.at(-1)?.type !== "break") nodes.push({ type: "break" });
+}
+
+function formatTag(tag: string): RichTextFormat | null {
+  if (tag === "b") return "strong";
+  if (tag === "i") return "em";
+  if (tag === "strike" || tag === "del") return "s";
+  return FORMAT_TAGS.has(tag) ? (tag as RichTextFormat) : null;
+}
+
+function parseChildNodes(nodes: NodeListOf<ChildNode>): RichTextNode[] {
+  const result: RichTextNode[] = [];
+
+  for (const node of nodes) {
+    if (node.nodeType === 3) {
+      if (node.nodeValue) result.push({ type: "text", value: node.nodeValue });
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (node.nodeType !== 1) continue;
+
+    const element = node as Element;
+    const tag = element.tagName.toLowerCase();
+    if (OMIT_TAGS.has(tag)) continue;
+    if (tag === "br") {
+      result.push({ type: "break" });
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    const children = parseChildNodes(element.childNodes);
+    if (tag === "a") {
+      const href = element.getAttribute("href");
+      if (href && isSafeHttpUrl(href)) result.push({ type: "link", href, children });
+      else result.push(...children);
+      continue;
+    }
+    const formattedTag = formatTag(tag);
+    if (formattedTag) {
+      result.push({ type: "format", tag: formattedTag, children });
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (BLOCK_TAGS.has(tag)) {
+      appendBreak(result);
+      result.push(...children);
+      appendBreak(result);
+      continue;
+    }
+    result.push(...children);
+  }
+
+  return result;
+}
+
+function parseDocument(source: string): HTMLElement | null {
+  if (typeof DOMParser === "undefined") return null;
+  return new DOMParser().parseFromString(source, "text/html").body;
+}
+
+export function parseRichTextMarkup(text: string): RichTextNode[] {
+  const body = parseDocument(text);
+  if (!body) return [{ type: "text", value: text }];
+
+  let nodes = parseChildNodes(body.childNodes);
+  if (body.children.length === 0 && /&lt;\s*(?:a|br|b|strong|em|i|u|s|p|div)\b/i.test(text)) {
+    const decoded = body.textContent ?? text;
+    const decodedBody = decoded === text ? null : parseDocument(decoded);
+    if (decodedBody) nodes = parseChildNodes(decodedBody.childNodes);
+  }
+  return nodes;
+}
+
+function parseTimestampToSeconds(value: string): number | null {
+  const parts = value.split(":").map((part) => Number(part));
+  if (parts.some((part) => !Number.isFinite(part))) return null;
+  if (parts.length === 2) {
+    const [minutes, seconds] = parts;
+    return minutes * 60 + seconds;
+  }
+  if (parts.length === 3) {
+    const [hours, minutes, seconds] = parts;
+    return hours * 3600 + minutes * 60 + seconds;
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
+export function parseTextSegments(text: string, idPrefix = ""): RichTextSegment[] {
+  const regex = /https?:\/\/[^\s\])"',;:!>]+|\b(?:\d{1,2}:)?[0-5]?\d:[0-5]\d\b/g;
+  const segments: RichTextSegment[] = [];
+  let lastIndex = 0;
+  let counter = 0;
+  let match = regex.exec(text);
+  while (match !== null) {
+    if (match.index > lastIndex) {
+      segments.push({
+        id: `${idPrefix}t${counter++}`,
+        type: "text",
+        value: text.slice(lastIndex, match.index),
+      });
+    }
+    const value = match[0];
+    if (value.startsWith("http://") || value.startsWith("https://")) {
+      segments.push({ id: `${idPrefix}u${counter++}`, type: "url", value });
+    } else {
+      const seconds = parseTimestampToSeconds(value);
+      if (seconds === null) segments.push({ id: `${idPrefix}t${counter++}`, type: "text", value });
+      else segments.push({ id: `${idPrefix}c${counter++}`, type: "timecode", value, seconds });
+    }
+    lastIndex = match.index + match[0].length;
+    match = regex.exec(text);
+  }
+  if (lastIndex < text.length) {
+    segments.push({ id: `${idPrefix}t${counter}`, type: "text", value: text.slice(lastIndex) });
+  }
+  return segments;
+}
diff --git a/apps/web/tests/rich-text.test.ts b/apps/web/tests/rich-text.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0601e95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/web/tests/rich-text.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
+import { parseTextSegments } from "../src/lib/rich-text";
+
+describe("rich text segments", () => {
+  test("keeps links, timecodes, and surrounding text interactive", () => {
+    expect(parseTextSegments("Watch 1:23 https://example.com/video")).toEqual([
+      { id: "t0", type: "text", value: "Watch " },
+      { id: "c1", type: "timecode", value: "1:23", seconds: 83 },
+      { id: "t2", type: "text", value: " " },
+      { id: "u3", type: "url", value: "https://example.com/video" },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  test("does not create empty segments", () => {
+    expect(parseTextSegments("")).toEqual([]);
+    expect(parseTextSegments("1:23")).toEqual([
+      { id: "c0", type: "timecode", value: "1:23", seconds: 83 },
+    ]);
+  });
+});