When is a text file not a text file?

[sebyte]

Hi all,

I often use the command 'html2text <htmlfile>' in a *shell* buffer to view html 
files, and nine times out of ten the file is displayed beautifully, (with all 
the html tags removed etc).  However, the command 'html2text -o <newfilename> 
<htmlfile>', writes a file to disk which when opened in an Emacs buffer, (or any 
text editor for that matter), displays more formatting tags than actual text! 
In fact, it appears as if only some of the text is to be found buried amongst 
all the tags!  Yet returning to the *shell* buffer and issuing the command 'cat 
<newfilename>' diplays the file as it is meant to be seen once more.

No doubt there is a simple explanation for this, but damned if I know where to 
even start!  I don't believe it as an html2text issue as I have observed similar 
behaviour before with html files I've downloaded.

TIA for any explanations of what's actually going on here.

sebyte

P.S. html2text is available through Fink, (for potentially interested OS X users 
out there).