diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 2a4e203..61965a8 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -46,6 +46,13 @@ dependencies = [
   "azure-identity"
 ]
 
+[tool.uv]
+dev-dependencies = [
+    "pytest>=7.0",
+    "pytest-asyncio>=0.23.0",
+    "black>=23.7.0",
+]
+
 [project.urls]
 Documentation = "https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown#readme"
 Issues = "https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown/issues"
diff --git a/src/markitdown/__init__.py b/src/markitdown/__init__.py
index 482f428..94b0c0a 100644
--- a/src/markitdown/__init__.py
+++ b/src/markitdown/__init__.py
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 
 from ._markitdown import MarkItDown, FileConversionException, UnsupportedFormatException
+from ._async_wrapper import AsyncMarkItDown
 
 __all__ = [
     "MarkItDown",
+    "AsyncMarkItDown",
     "FileConversionException",
     "UnsupportedFormatException",
 ]
diff --git a/src/markitdown/_async_wrapper.py b/src/markitdown/_async_wrapper.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5efc9ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/markitdown/_async_wrapper.py
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+"""Async wrapper for MarkItDown."""
+
+import asyncio
+from functools import partial
+from typing import Optional, Union
+
+from ._markitdown import MarkItDown, DocumentConverterResult
+
+
+class AsyncMarkItDown:
+    """Async wrapper for MarkItDown that runs operations in a thread pool."""
+
+    def __init__(self, markitdown: Optional[MarkItDown] = None):
+        """Initialize the async wrapper.
+
+        Args:
+            markitdown: Optional MarkItDown instance to wrap. If not provided,
+                       a new instance will be created.
+        """
+        self._markitdown = markitdown or MarkItDown()
+        self._loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
+
+    async def __aenter__(self):
+        """Async context manager entry."""
+        return self
+
+    async def __aexit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb):
+        """Async context manager exit."""
+        pass
+
+    async def convert(self, file_path: str, **kwargs) -> DocumentConverterResult:
+        """Convert a file to markdown asynchronously.
+
+        This runs the synchronous convert operation in a thread pool to avoid
+        blocking the event loop.
+
+        Args:
+            file_path: Path to the file to convert
+            **kwargs: Additional arguments to pass to the converter
+
+        Returns:
+            DocumentConverterResult containing the converted markdown
+        """
+        # Run the synchronous convert in a thread pool
+        func = partial(self._markitdown.convert, file_path, **kwargs)
+        return await self._loop.run_in_executor(None, func)
diff --git a/tests/test_async_markitdown.py b/tests/test_async_markitdown.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d804ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_async_markitdown.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3 -m pytest
+import os
+import pytest
+
+from markitdown import AsyncMarkItDown
+
+TEST_FILES_DIR = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "test_files")
+
+DOCX_TEST_STRINGS = [
+    "314b0a30-5b04-470b-b9f7-eed2c2bec74a",
+    "49e168b7-d2ae-407f-a055-2167576f39a1",
+    "## d666f1f7-46cb-42bd-9a39-9a39cf2a509f",
+    "# Abstract",
+    "# Introduction",
+]
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_async_markitdown_basic():
+    """Test basic async functionality with a local file."""
+    async with AsyncMarkItDown() as markitdown:
+        result = await markitdown.convert(os.path.join(TEST_FILES_DIR, "test.docx"))
+        
+        # Verify the conversion worked as expected
+        for test_string in DOCX_TEST_STRINGS:
+            text_content = result.text_content.replace("\\", "")
+            assert test_string in text_content
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    pytest.main([__file__])
\ No newline at end of file