E-books: Formats

Introduction

• source document: created/edited by author, e.g., Word, Pages, blog
• destination document: final content or eBook read by user, e.g., ePub, Mobi, .pdf
• for discussion / recommendations of editing and conversion tools, see Authors section
• Wikipedia: Comparison of e-book formats; EBook Readers: File Format Support
• Why eBook Conversion Practices Are Failing Readers 3/29/2012
• The difference between ebook conversion and ebook formatting cover; images; headers/footers; line/section/page breaks; spacing & characters; ... 10/20/2010
• How You?re Gonna Get Screwed By Ebook Formats DRM, PDA legacy, apps; 3/10/2010

ePub

• EPUB (.epub) from International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF);
  open format (except DRM); based on XML; extensible
• ePub can be incompatible across platforms when publishers add DRM (Digital Rights Management) or other extensions; see Apple (next)
• Wikipedia: ePub Editing Systems
• ePub standards body proposes new 'lightweight' DRM for ebook platform interoperability 5/19/2012
• International Digital Publishing Forum: ePub 3.0 10/11/2011
• How Can I Convert PDFs and Other Ebooks to the ePub Format? 4/5/2010

Apple

• Apple uses standard ePub -- except that it may add DRM for purchased books; its iBook Author tool may use extensions unrecognized by other readers; Apple-specific tools for iBooks: Pages, iBooks Author
• I?ma Set It Straight, This Watergate 1/24/2012
• How Apple is sabotaging an open standard for digital books 1/22/2012
• On the Proprietary Nature of the iBooks Author (iba) File Format (proprietary ePub extensions); 1/20/2012
• iPad and MORE ePub Best Practices 5/15/2010
• iPad eBook format; overview of the .epub file [video; 8:24]; 4/10/2010
• All about ePub, the ebook standard for Apple's iBookstore 1/31/2010

Amazon

• Kindle (.azw) from Amazon; proprietary format; based on Mobi
• Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP): create and submit Kindle compatible eBooks
• Kindle and ePub? "Kindle platform does not support the international ePub ebook standard. However, there is software available (e.g. Calibre) which can convert a non-DRM ePub file into the unprotected Mobipocket format that the Kindle can read. Additionally, Amazon offers a free program called KindleGen which converts ePub and several other formats."
• Amazon Throws A Minor Curveball With HTML5-Powered Kindle Format 8 (KF8; replacing Mobi7); 10/20/2011
• Web-based Kindle format good for comics, kids' books 10/21/2011

HTML

• Hypertext Markup Language (.htm,.html) (HTML; version 5); open format; used in web browsers
• source: for ePub converters, e.g., Calibre, Sigil, blog plugins, Newt's Cape
• destination: accessible on any device with a web browser
• this site is organized as a "book" (Drupal book module), i.e., Table of Contents (TOC), previous/next section, ...

PDF

• Portable Document Format (.pdf)
• public format (but controlled by Adobe)
• source issues: reflow text, extract images
• destination issues: fixed layout & page-size on smaller screens

Other Formats

• "app" (book embedded): flexibility vs. "standard" navigation (possibly different from eReader apps); less portable across models/devices/versions: developer/author may need to rewrite/retest
• Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx, .rtf): public format (but controlled by Microsoft); source: for ePub conversion; destination issues: file, user interface (& maybe font) incompatibilities across Word versions/installations; app large, complex & expensive, though free alternatives are available (Open Office, LibreOffice, Google Docs, ...); user ability to modify the "book" could be disadvantage
• Wolfram CDF: Wolfram launches its own interactive document format 7/21/2011