The Difference Between ePub and MOBI/AZW3īut why does Amazon use its own file format? What’s the difference between ePub and MOBI/AZW3?įor one thing, Amazon owns the MOBI/AZW3 format. So you can make sure your book looks professional across every format of the Kindle app-including Kindle, Android, and iPhone/iPad- before you publish your book. So, why did I say that epub is the right choice for an ebook file?īecause Amazon provides a tool for working with epubs called Kindle Previewer. Kindle readers and apps read AZW3 files, as well as the earlier AZW format and even older MOBI files. The MOBI format is the old name for Amazon’s proprietary ebook file format. Each retailer adds its own standards on top of the universal epub book requirements, making it much harder to create a single file that looks great on every device. It’s a powerful platform, but it’s not a perfect system. There are an online validator tools you can use to make sure your book conforms to those standards.

Coders and retailers use those standards to make sure ebooks look good on any platform. Why? Because everyone has access to it, and it has published standards, developed and released by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It’s a free, open-source, open-standard system based on HTML and CSS (the standards used for web pages), and it’s used by almost every ebook retailer in the world, including iBooks, Kobo, Nook, and Google.

What is an ePub file?ĮPub is the standard file format for ebooks. This post lays out everything you need to know to make sure your Kindle ebook will look professional on any device, across every version of the Kindle app.

To make sure your epub looks professional on every reader, you’ll have to follow some extra steps.Įven if you only want to publish on Amazon, you’ll need to understand Amazon’s specific file standards and how to conform to those standards. If you don’t conform to those standards, retailers will not take your book.Įach retailer also has its own ebook readers and e-reader apps that display epub files in unique ways. If you want to know what file format to use for your ebook, epub vs mobi, I’ll tell you right now:Įpub is the right choice … but it isn’t quite that simple.Įbook retailers like Amazon, Nook, Kobo, and iBooks all have their own standards for epub formats.

Mobi file reader