What You Need to Know About Ebook Format (ePUB)

Don't you want to enhance the overall learning experience by using ebooks? If yes then keep scrolling down and get the best knowledge about it.

Digital reading is big business, and with it comes several different formats.

While PDF, MOBI, and more are all choices, the ePUB format is a widely-supported open format for ebooks that is important to understand.

In this post, we explain the ePUB format in detail and show you how to open an ebook using the .epub extension.

What Is ePUB?

The “Electronic Publication” (ePUB) file format is an open process of building an ebook.

It’s been at the forefront of open standards for digital reading for more than a decade and is a vendor-independent standard for publishing digital books.

The format works XHTML and CSS within the file to render pages, which means it’s an honest format for producing content.

It combines with the Open Packing Format (OPF) to give aspects such as a table of contents, metadata, and other ebook features. Overall, it’s a flexible way to create an ebook, and it holds several advantages over other formats.

On techspunk, we provide a complete guide for how to open ePUB files on windows, mac, and android. Due to this, you can enjoy it anywhere.

Why Choose the ePUB Format Over Others?

When it comes to other ebook file formats, you’ll come up against MOBI, AZW, and PDF versions.

This is a bit of a maze, because some of these are proprietary formats, and others aren’t a strict way of creating an ebook.

Here’s a quick list of benefits of ePUB over other formats:

• It’s nearly guaranteed that you can read an ePUB format ebook on any device, except for Kindle. Amazon Kindle doesn’t support the format in any way, choosing to stick with its proprietary formats.

• ePUB formats support colors, video, and more. This is in contrast to formats such as MOBI, which are more limited.

• You’re not tied to a specific device with ePUB formats, as it’s an open standard. This gives you more choice of device and lets you steer clear of Amazon’s ecosystem if you wish.

These are all great advantages, but we have to restate that ePUB is open compared to almost all other ebook formats.

This means it’s supported by more writers and publishers and will be ready for almost every device.

Here’s a quick rundown of the different file formats compared to ePUB:

ePUB vs. PDF

The difference between ePUB and PDF is the contrasting flexibility of each format. PDF isn’t set up for the necessary adaptive elements of ebooks.

The format and layout of a PDF will be consistent regardless of where it’s viewed.

The positives of a PDF over an ePUB are that they can be more interactive and contain a wide variety of media (such as audio and video) as a result.

On the whole, though, an ePUB is much more suitable for ebooks, as it’s much less in file size and versatile concerning the interactivity it offers a reader.

ePUB vs. MOBI

The prime advantage for ePUB over MOBI is greater potential reach concerning marketplaces. An ePUB format is agreeable with all major ebook retailers.

In contrast, MOBI formats just cover two retailers: Amazon and Kobo.

Of course, it could be that while you’re satisfied with this coverage, you’re missing out on Google Play, Apple Books, and the Barnes & Noble Store.

An ePUB is the only format allowed there by those we mentioned. Because it’s an established format, you’ll find that few sites cater to MOBI files.

Given that Amazon uses AZW files now at a greater frequency, it could be that MOBI will collect dust on the virtual shelves.

When it comes to features and functionality, though, MOBI (and AZW) are just as capable as ePUB.

How to Read an ePUB Ebook

The great news is that you can read ePUB books in the greatest apps and tools. For example, you can import them to Kobo and Nook accessories.

Though many other apps cut the mustard, Apple gadget users can import into Apple Books and get a solid experience:

Android users can opt for some ePUB readers, such as Moon+, Lithium, and several more. Desktop users will do well to download Adobe Digital Editions.

This is an available ebook reader that supports the ePUB format. If you buy an ebook, many stores ask you to verify the Digital Rights Management (DRM) through this app.

Reading an ebook with this app is as simple as right-clicking and selecting “Read” from the context menu.

This will open the ebook in a native app reader. You’re even able to read ePUB files in the browser.

EPUBReader for Firefox is a wonderful add-on for the task. Simple EPUB Reader for Chrome is another good solution for that browser.

The Google Play store also lets you read ePUB format ebooks, which can do in a pinch (although we’d recommend a dedicated app).

How to Convert an Ebook to the ePUB Format

There is one app that we’ve left off the list because it’s more of a digital ebook library manager than a real reader.

Calibre is an open-source solution to achieve your digital library and is a cross-platform app, too.

This allows a flexible system for importing your ebooks and also converting them from one format to another. In this author’s constant use of the app, there have been no obvious quality issues from the change process.

What’s more, you can store multiple versions of your ebook under one entry.

This means you can convert a PDF to an ePUB, MOBI, and more without seeing duplicates within your library list. Follow the instructions below:

1. Open Calibre and right-click on the ebook you’d like to convert.

2. Click “Convert Books -> Convert Individually” (or one of the other options if you have more than one book in mind. This will bring up a dialog screen for the book.

3. Here, you’ll want to choose “EPUB” from the “Output format” drop-down menu. Bear in mind that this conversion process gives you flexibility in that you can convert a PDF to an ePUB or a MOBI and vice versa.

4. Once you click OK, Calibre will start a “job” for converting the book.

5. When finished, you can select the book and its versions from your library list.

It’s a quick and easy process means when it comes to digital book management, Calibre is one of the best.

Bottom Line

So as mentioned above epub is the best format for an ebook. Then improve the learning experience in ebooks by using epub.