E-book formats: what they are and how they differ. Which e-book format is best to choose for a smartphone?

Electronic books (readers, readers) have long become common devices for a wide range of users. Their advantages: accessibility of content (you can download the necessary book from the Internet in a matter of minutes), an E-ink screen that does not damage your eyesight, the ability to have a collection of thousands of books in the reader, long work on one charge, settings for font type and size. Not long ago, e-books with backlit screens appeared - they allow you to read in complete darkness. In general, the advantages of readers can be listed for a very long time.

However, when getting acquainted with e-readers, users often have one problem. People who decide to purchase a reader for the first time, when faced with the concept of “e-book formats,” often do not understand what they are talking about we're talking about. The problem is especially relevant for beginners, to whom the abbreviations "FB2", "EPUB" or "MOBI" mean absolutely nothing.

The so-called formats are various types electronic text files that are supported (reproduced) by one or another. IN electronic libraries The Internet often offers a large set of file types: FB2, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, DOC, RTF, TXT and others. The choice is wide, and this poses certain challenges for beginners. We will describe the main formats of e-books, tell you how they differ from each other, which readers are supported, and which format is better to choose if you have a multi-format reader that reads all formats.

Varieties of formats

1. FB2 (FictionBook)- an e-book format that was created by a group of Russian developers. Books in this file type have a structured appearance (that is, they contain a breakdown by chapter, content, illustrations, cover). In addition, this standard stores information about the file (so-called tags: author, title, genre), which is read by the reader and allows the user to conveniently sort files on the device. This type of file takes up a small amount of space, can be archived, and is also easily converted into other formats. Among the features: due to the fact that the format was originally developed for the Cyrillic alphabet, texts in Russian in FB2 have word hyphens.

The format was originally designed for Russian users, and it is practically not used abroad. That is why FB2 is not supported by the world's popular e-reader manufacturers - Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But this is the main file format for e-readers popular in Russia from Pocketbook, Onyx and Wexler. In addition, Sony readers now support FB2 - after entering the Russian market, the company has developed official firmware for the reader, which allows you to read books in FB2.

2. EPUB (Electronic PUBlication)- the world's most popular electronic format for readers. Barnes & Noble and Sony readers work with it. In terms of layout structure, this type of file resembles an archived web page containing text, graphics, embedded fonts, and illustrations.

In addition to Western brands, the EPUB format is supported by models from manufacturers focused on Russian market(Pocketbook, Onyx, Wexler) due to the rapid growth of popularity in our country. In addition, this e-book standard is used by iPhone and . Apple's proprietary iBooks reader supports EPUB.

3. MOBI- format of e-book readers. Gaining popularity in Russian online libraries as Kindle becomes more popular in Russia. Other readers support this format “for show”. MOBI is similar in properties to EPUB. Amazon recently introduced another electronic text format, Kindle Format 8 or KF8 (it features richer formatting), with the clarification that Amazon readers new and old will continue to support MOBI.

4. TXT- format of simple text documents. You can convert text from another format to TXT with a simple copy-paste action. Despite the fact that this type of file is supported by almost all e-readers and takes up very little memory space, we would not recommend reading books in it on e-readers. TXT lacks formatting, markup, hyphenation, and alignment. It is suitable for short text notes, but not for full-fledged e-books.

5. PDF (Portable Document Format)- an electronic document format created by Adobe Systems. Inconvenient for use on readers for a number of reasons. Firstly, files in this format are very bulky, as they are designed for the power of a computer, and open quite slowly on e-readers. Secondly, if the file is not specifically designed for the screen of a 6-inch reader, which has a format similar to an A6 paper sheet, then reading an A4 PDF on it (and most PDF files are presented in the size of a standard paper sheet) will be very difficult. In PDF, you can only increase the scale, but not the font size, which means that only some part of the page will be able to fit on the screen. You will have to read the pages in parts, and this is very inconvenient.

PDFs are suitable for reading, the screen size of which allows you to reproduce the page on a scale large enough for comfortable reading.

6. DJVU- a format designed for storing scanned documents - books, articles, manuscripts. A book in DJVU is actually a collection of scanned pages. In terms of reading comfort on 6-inch readers, everything is similar to the story with PDF. You won't increase the font size, just the scale. When zooming, the page will extend beyond the screen, and you will have to constantly move the area of the enlarged text to read - there is no need to talk about comfortable reading. To read DJVU, choose readers with a 9-inch screen. However, even on 9-inch readers, the ability to conveniently read DJVU depends on how well the book presented in this format is scanned.

7. LRF- formerly a proprietary format of Sony readers. On new models (starting with PRS-T1) it is no longer used, as it has given way to EPUB. Converts very poorly to other file types. Despite the fact that it is still presented in some libraries, it is recommended to use it exclusively for owners of older Sony models.

8. RTF (Rich Text Format)- format for storing text documents. Belongs to the category of “computer”, not “book”. Reading in RTF on readers is not very convenient - these are large files, and the speed of the reader is reduced by an order of magnitude.

9. DOC(and also DOCX) - text documents Microsoft Office. These formats are supported by quite a lot of readers, but specifically for reading documents, not books. Large files in this format can be large in size and difficult to work with on readers. It is better to convert multi-page books in DOC to FB2 or EPUB.

We have listed the main formats of e-books. We will not consider the completely exotic types of files that are sometimes found on the Internet, but rather decide which of the above formats is most convenient for reading books on electronic readers.

Which e-book format to choose

If you have an e-reader that supports all formats, then you can choose a specific file type based on a number of factors. Let's say you buy your first e-book, and you don't have a pre-collected collection of books, for example, in FB2. In this case, choose the file format that is best reproduced by your reader. Traditional “book” formats EPUB or FB2 are more preferable and convenient for the reader (and for the user) than “computer” PDF, TXT, DOC, DOCX and RTF.

In the case of 9-inch readers and the need to read DJVU and PDF, all other things being equal, we advise you to give preference to the latter, since PDF is a more modern format, and books in DJVU are often of poor quality.

From the point of view of ease of use, the advantages of “book” formats are obvious: EPUB, FB2 or MOBI visually look better in the menu of your reader (book covers are displayed), they are more convenient to sort (there are tags: author, title, genre), they take up much less memory space and speed of the reader with such formats will be significantly higher.

Do I need support for all formats?

In our opinion, it is not at all necessary to choose an all-format reader. Many users who have ereaders that support all formats download books in one or two file types. All e-readers (including multi-format ones), one way or another, have a main format, and in the end you won’t exchange for others. For Pocketbook, Onyx and Wexler the main formats are FB2 or EPUB, for Barnes & Noble () and Sony - EPUB, for Kindle - MOBI.

In the case of Amazon and Barnes & Noble readers, if the book you need is in a format that these readers do not support, you can use a converter (for example, Caliber). This is a program that is installed on your computer and allows you to convert the same FB2 to MOBI or EPUB in a matter of minutes.

Reading books in the reader’s native format is better than using those installed on the reader additional programs. Our advice: take a few minutes to convert a book, for example, from RTF to EPUB using the Caliber converter. This is more convenient than reading it “in the original” using additional installed program(on Sony PRS-T1 or Kindle) or experience slower operation of the device (for example, on Pocketbook readers).

Remember that the main thing is the ease of use of an e-book, and not the number of formats stated in its parameters.

Happy reading!

Literature lovers often encounter a problem when a downloaded file cannot be opened because its encoding is not supported by the device. To avoid this, let's figure out which format of books for Android will be suitable and most convenient in the reading process.

What book formats exist for Android?

Let's look at what e-book formats each Android device supports. Here is a list of the most popular extensions:

epub,
tiff,
djvu.

Each format actually has its own advantages and disadvantages, which we will touch on below.

This extension is based on XML technology and was developed by domestic programmers. The format is extremely popular in Russia and the CIS countries, but few people have actually heard about it in more distant countries. Readers choose FB2 due to the following advantages:

This type of text document is easy to structure (add data about the author, table of contents, abstract and table of contents);

Support for illustrations and images. Editions in FB2 format have a cover and pictures along the narrative (if any);

This book will not take up much space. At the same time, the only format that can compete with FB2 in this indicator is txt;
Easy navigation and quick movement through pages;
There are preset design options.

Files with the FB2 extension are often distributed as ZIP archives. This way they take up less space on the device. Most readers open books directly from the archived source, which is also an advantage of Friction Book.

Epub

Friction Book's main competitor in the domestic market is EPUB. The functionality is slightly different from the format described above. There is also support for illustrations, text structuring, quick page navigation and other essential qualities of a good e-book. EPUB is rarely distributed in ZIP files because... the extension itself is an archive containing text with various markup. This significantly saves space in online storage and user devices.

Which of these two formats to download e-books for your Android device is entirely your choice. FB2 and EPUB are supported by any reader, and you are unlikely to see any differences between them during the reading process.

MOBI

The format was developed by the French company Mobipocket for Amazon. MOBI is used in all Amazon applications and software, so its use is very limited. However, the format is not inferior to EPUВ and FВ2 in functionality, therefore it is often offered as the only one available when downloading a book. Supported by almost all applications.

RTF, TXT, DJVU and other extensions

Such extensions are usually used for highly specialized literature or in cases where using other types of files is simply impossible. For example, DJVU is scanned or photographed pages of a book translated into accessible form using this encoding. Before downloading files with such extensions, make sure that your program can handle them. Due to their specificity, books of this type are not always supported by “readers” on phones.

Book reading apps

After you have figured out in what format you need to download e-books and text files on Android, it's time to choose a utility to launch. Here is a list of the most popular programs for reading:

CoolReader. Boasts the most wide range supported extensions (FB2, EPUB, txt, doc, rtf, html, chm, tcr, рdb, рrc, mobi, рml). The program is easy to use and extremely convenient for reading any text documents;

FBReader. Differs from CoolReader in design style and “lightweight” interface;

Common e-book formats

TXT- format of ordinary text documents. This format is supported by all e-books. The TXT format does not have any text formatting. Also, documents in this format cannot contain images or graphics.
It is not recommended to choose this format due to the lack of graphics and text formatting.

FB2- the format was developed for Russian users and “tailored” to the Cyrillic alphabet. Books in FB2 format support text formatting, chapter breakdown, books can contain graphics and illustrations. Also in this format, book parameters such as title, author, content, genre can be saved, which are read by electronic readers and allow the user to sort files on the device.
This format is recommended for devices sold in Russia. Devices brought from abroad will most likely not open files of this format.

EPUB- a modern format that is increasingly gaining popularity among users all over the world. Just like the FB2 format, it supports text formatting, chapter breakdown, books can contain graphics and illustrations. This e-book format is used in Apple technology.
This format is also recommended for selection.

MOBI- e-book format used in Kindle readers. It is gaining popularity due to the increasing appearance of Kindle readers in Russia. In terms of its characteristics, the MOBI format is similar to FB2 and EPUB.

These e-book formats are the most common and are supported by almost all modern e-books.

Other eBook formats

RTF- an electronic document format originally developed for Windows. Not very convenient for reading on e-readers due to large size file.

HTML or HTM- web document format. Sometimes used for e-books.
Books can be opened using a web browser on your computer.

LIT- e-book format developed by Microsoft. It is quite widespread, but it has some problems, since it is read mainly using special software - Microsoft Reader. Somewhat similar to the PDF format, can be scaled, supports bookmarks and annotations.

LRF- an e-book format developed by Sony for its readers. The LRF format is used only in Sony readers. If necessary, you can use a converter to convert this format to any other. The popularity of the LRF format is declining.

MBR- e-book format called MobiPocket. Developed by a French company of the same name. It is used in most cases for reading on communicators and PDAs.

AZW- commercial format of electronic books with protection from copying and conversion. Used only in readers from Amazon Kindle. Amazon monitors books on Kindle devices and can remove books from devices online en masse if copyright infringement occurs.

PDF- an electronic document format created by Adobe. It is inconvenient for use on a reader due to the fact that files in this format are very bulky, as they are designed for the power of a computer. If the file is not specifically designed for the screen of a 6-inch reader, which has a format similar to an A6 paper sheet, then reading an A4 PDF on it (and most PDF files are presented in the size of a standard paper sheet) will be very inconvenient. In PDF, you can only zoom in, but you cannot increase the font size, which means that on the reader’s screen you will see either very small text or only a fragment of the page. Therefore, this format is not recommended for reading e-books.

DJVU- a format designed for storing scanned documents. A book in DJVU format is actually a collection of scanned pages. As a rule, it is of low quality. Just like PDF, it is not recommended to choose e-books for reading.

DOC or DOCX- Microsoft Office electronic document formats. These formats are supported by quite a lot of readers, but specifically for reading documents, not books. Large files in this format can be large in size, and not all readers will be able to open such “heavy” files.

These e-book formats can be opened on a computer. But not all e-readers will be able to recognize them.

Which format should I choose for reading e-books?

Let's decide which format is best to use for reading e-books!

If you have a modern reader, a modern device for reading e-books, then most likely you will open all the above formats on it.

But from the point of view of convenience, we recommend that you opt for FB2 or EPUB formats. The FB2 and EPUB formats, as well as MOBI, were originally created for electronic books. They take up a small amount of memory and are supported by all e-book reading devices.

What other formats do you know? Write in the comments to the article and also ask your questions.

Almost all people who ask me for advice on choosing a particular reading device also ask questions about e-book formats - which is better and why. In this article I will answer these questions in great detail; I will consider them as reading formats fiction, and formats for reading technical, scientific and educational literature.

Fiction

There are the following formats in which you can find fiction on the Internet: TXT, RTF, FB2, EPUB, MOBI, DOC, PDF, DJVU. I’ll say right away that it’s better to buy/download books in EPUB, FB2 or MOBI. It is these formats that are most suitable for reading fiction.

PDF and DJVU formats are too heavy and inconvenient; Often the text in them is actually a picture, that is, you can only scale the entire page, but not the size of the font itself. On reading devices (readers), books in PDF and DJVU are sometimes not displayed very well: the letters can be very small; The text is inconvenient to read.

The TXT and RTF formats are free of such disadvantages, but have other disadvantages: the text in TXT cannot be formatted at all, that is, headings, epigraphs, quotes will not stand out in any way; Moreover, TXT does not support covers, pictures and tables. This is a very poor, simple format. In RTF, of course, formatting options are richer, but there are also drawbacks: the automatically collected table of contents and footnotes are not supported. In addition, RTF files are usually quite large, and some reading devices do not always display them correctly.

The DOC format (and its variant DOCX) is great for complex documents, but is not suitable for fiction: it is too bulky and complex; DOC documents often display differently on different devices.

A completely different matter is the three specialized formats tailored specifically for fiction: EPUB, MOBI, FB2 (and its variant FB2.ZIP). These formats are based on the so-called “floating layout”, which allows you to change the size, font typeface, line spacing and margin width. Moreover, these formats support pictures, tables, an auto-assembled table of contents, footnotes and many other things. Reading books in FB2/FB2.ZIP, EPUB, MOBI is really pleasant and comfortable.

Of course, there are certain differences between these formats, but for beginners they are not significant. Although it is worth noting that on the Russian-language Internet the most books are in FB2, in EPUB there are already fewer, and in MOBI there are even fewer.

The final choice of format also depends on your reading device: it may work better with some formats, and worse with others. This is where you need to experiment. In addition, there are devices that support only one of the specified three formats. For example, the Amazon Kindle only reads MOBI, and the B&N Nook only reads EPUB.

You can read more about the FB2 format, about EPUB-, about MOBI-.

Scientific, technical and educational literature

Here everything is more complicated: this kind of literature is usually distributed in PDF, DJVU, DOC (DOCX) formats, each of which, as I noted earlier, has certain disadvantages. Sometimes it is still complicated by the fact that some books are available in only one format, and sometimes only in one version.

The DOC format, in principle, is not so bad - compared to PDF/DJVU. Reading books on a computer is more or less comfortable. The situation is worse with reading devices: some readers display it almost as bare text, excluding a number of illustrations, tables, formulas, etc. Others display it more like a picture: design elements are shown, but you cannot change the font size and typeface, which sometimes turns into a disaster on a small screen.

PDF. There are three variants of this format: text, graphic (“picture”) and graphical (“picture”) with an OCR layer. The first option is the most preferable: it can contain all the formatting elements, and the text remains scalable. In the case of graphic PDF, the text is just a picture that can only be enlarged in its entirety; The font size cannot be changed. Graphical PDFs are therefore very difficult to read on devices with small screens.

Sometimes an OCR layer is applied to graphic PDF pages using OCR software. In a PDF book with an OCR layer, you can search and use a dictionary. This is a good option. But, again, not all reading devices “see” this OCR layer. And it does not allow you to increase the font size. Therefore, the OCR layer often turns out to be useless.

The DJVU format generally resembles a graphical PDF: it is usually just a collection of scans or photographs paper book. The quality of these scans/photos can be absolutely terrible, or it can be quite decent. Sometimes an OCR layer is applied to scans/photos using a text recognition program. In the DJVU book with an OCR layer, you can search and use a dictionary. This is a good option. But, again, not all reading devices “see” this OCR layer, and it will not allow you to increase the font size. Therefore, the OCR layer is often practically useless.

To summarize: the most preferred format for reading scientific/technical/educational literature is text PDF, I would put DOC in second place, and graphic PDF and DJVU with an OCR layer in third place. The last place is occupied by image PDFs and DJVUs without an OCR layer.

Documents, spreadsheets and presentations

Most of the documents, tables and presentations are distributed in MS Office formats: DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX, PPT/PPTX. These formats are very functional, but, unfortunately, quite “cumbersome” and very “closed” (in other words, it is quite difficult for third-party developers to create a program for reading files in these formats). Therefore, some devices do not support them. We have to convert documents to PDF.

Converting a document/table/presentation to PDF is very easy: any decent text/spreadsheet editor can do this. In addition, you can use some converter: you can find a list of them.

If the document is simple, and the main thing in it is text, then it is better to convert it not to PDF, but to FB2 - this way it will be read on the reader with greater comfort. See the list of relevant converters.

Happy reading!

Sometimes it seems that deciding on a format is quite difficult, there are so many of them and each has its own advantages. Many authors ask the question: “How to choose a format for an e-book?” We carried out our analysis of formats and found out what exactly is best format for regular books. We carefully studied many formats, and considered them both from the point of view of the convenience of the reader and from the point of view of the convenience of the author. Let's dive into the details a little and see what influenced our choice.

Why is ePub the best format?

During the development of our services, we studied some technical nuances that affect the appearance and operation of an e-book.

Let's start with the simplest thing - managing the display of the book. Those. the ability for the reader to change the font size and page orientation. EPUB adapts perfectly to changes in device screen size or font size. I would like to note that the specification states that in fact the format supports 2 layout modes - the first (reflowable), when you can change these parameters, and the second (fixed-layout), when you can clearly indicate what is where.

Let's look at the layout modes in a little more detail.

Reflowable markup

It can be translated into Russian as fluid, adaptive or floating. Allows you to fit the contents of the book to the device screen, change the color and font size. Ideal for regular books with in plain text- novels, poems, technical literature. Those. anything where clear image linking or complex visual representation is not required.

This markup is not suitable for visual interactive books and children's books with many illustrations, that is, those that require spatial reference of graphics, various kinds a combination of pictures and insets. The EPUB format itself allows you to create interactive books, but the adaptive design of such books is a real art.

This is what responsive markup looks like

Using this markup is ideal when you don't know exactly where and how your book will be reproduced. Due to the flexibility of the layout, the book will be displayed correctly on almost any device, from a computer to some kind of smart watch. Plus, this markup is perfect for people with disabilities.

Fixed layout - fixed-layout

This type of markup implies that all elements have a clearly defined position on the page with a clearly indicated size. This markup is in a format that most closely resembles a physical medium, such as the page of a regular paper book. Everything is in its place and there is no adaptation. On devices, adaptation most often takes the form of scaling with all the ensuing consequences. What looks acceptable on a computer screen is already too small on a tablet, and cannot be seen at all on a smartphone screen. Well, the game of zooming in and out turns into torture for the reader.

Example of displaying fixed layout

This format is suitable when you know for sure that your work will be read on a medium with a specific size for which your work will be laid out. Initially, it is assumed that this markup is designed for further printing of the work, so it indicates the size and format of the future media. We Not We recommend using this markup for e-books, as it limits the reading area of books to devices with a certain screen size.

The most common digital representative of this markup is the PDF format, but EPUB also supports it.

We decided to summarize popular formats in a table and show support for various markup inside them

We sorted out the layout. Now let's look at the most worrying moment for authors - copyright.

Support for copyright protection at the level of e-book formats

As a rule, authors insist on supporting DRM (Digital Rights Management) or technical means copyright protection in e-books. This is one of the most unpleasant topics, both for authors and readers, but also affects the interests of publishers. And the main problem is that there is no reliable method of copy protection, because... The book is a source of predominantly textual information presented in graphic form. Can be created exclusively reliable way delivery of content by encrypted file transfer to a special separate application or even a special separate device for reading books, but all this will be bypassed by a simple camera with subsequent text recognition. So all the most complex and unpleasant procedures for everyone will be leveled out by the most primitive copying method, which is already more than two centuries old. Everything that the human eye sees, the camera will also see. And then it’s a matter of technology.

So, what is the situation with DRM support in various formats? We collected information and placed it in a table

The table shows that ePub, PDF and Mobipocket are formats that perfectly support copyright protection.

However, as we noted above, DRM no longer creates anything but inconvenience for the user. Many have been in a situation where they urgently need a book, but it is not in a format available for your device. As a rule, such a situation often takes a person by surprise or at the most inopportune moment. Usually people decide this in different ways, in most cases they are simply looking for another book on the same topic, but in an accessible format. As a result, the author loses readers and, of course, money.

The main problem of protecting the field of rights lies in the area of educating people and their attitude towards copyright protection. For example, it never occurs to anyone to steal directly from a store, although everything is there, just stretch out your hand. The same goes for digital content. There is simply an awareness that the work belongs to the author and is the result of his work, which must be paid. The more people realize this, the fewer books will be stolen.

Providing legal access to books is one of the missions of our library.

Summarizing the above, we again come to the conclusion that ePub is an excellent choice from the point of view of copyright protection.

What's wrong with the EXE format?

Surely many have heard about this format. This format is called - operating room application Windows systems. That's right, this is not an e-book format, it is a regular program for Windows that needs to be installed and which only works on a very limited range of devices - computers and tablets with Windows. You won’t be able to open such a “book” on an iPad, Kindle, Nook, or Android tablet, not to mention other systems such as OS X or Linux. Moreover, because Since the format is an executable file, viruses very often attach to it, which makes it extremely unsafe. It’s that simple: I downloaded the book in exe and got a virus. Attackers often post viruses in the spirit of “All books by Dontsova.exe,” but instead of books, people receive a pack of viruses.

There is a similar format called JAVA that was popular on older smartphones for a while. The essence is the same - the program, but only for a smartphone. Similar virus camouflage for smartphones.

About the FictionBook format

Popular under the name FB2. It is popular mainly in Russia and the post-Soviet space, so we can safely call it a national format.

However, this format contains logical layout, the book is divided into sections, which can be poems or prose. However, the format itself is very limited, because Not only is there no support for complex layout and formulas, but also banal things like bulleted lists.

There is an idea for the FB3 format, an improved FB2, which, judging by the description, is a clone of the ePub format. It uses a similar zip archive and separates files into descriptions, text and pictures. Dmitry Gribov is working intensively on a new format and we hope that it will delight authors with new opportunities.

This format is well suited for simple fiction written in Russian.

About the TXT format

About the MOBI format

The MOBI format has several varieties in the form of the AZW family of formats, characterized by a higher degree of data compression.

AZW1 is another name for the "topaz" format (also called .tpz). This version is designed for storing scanned documents and is similar to DJVU. TPZ format - used on the WhisperNet network. WhisperNet is a custom 3G cellular network created by Amazon to support Kindle books and sync books, bookmarks, etc.
AZW3 is another name for KF8. This format first appeared on the Kindle Fire. It is a combined ePub format with a Palm database, Amazon DRM protection, practically copying all the features of the ePub format and ensuring compatibility with older Kindle readers.
AZW4 is a special format for textbooks (similar to PDF).
AZK is a special iOS version of the MOBI format for Kindle Reader and other Apple products.
KFX is one of the relatively new formats from Amazon, which appeared simultaneously with the Kindle Paperwhite 3. It is the successor to AZK. Features such as playing sounds and videos, displaying tables on a separate screen, and adding a new font and JXR image format were added to it.
AZW8 is an extension to KFX, which is another dedicated format currently on Kindle paperwhite 3, Kindle Oasis and Kindle Voyage. Currently this is the most advanced format and is used in modern devices from Amazon.

About the PDF format

About the DJVU format

DJVU is a Lizardtech format that is increasingly used for scientific publications. The main purpose of this format is to store scanned images containing text and relatively simple graphics. Its main characteristics are that the compression ratio is approximately 10 times better than the .pdf format with the same quality. Nothing beats this nowadays for black and white text and images. Most likely you will find magazines such as Radio or Modelist-Konstruktor in it; their old versions are practically unavailable in other formats, because most old magazines are ordinary scanned images. In order for the search to work in it, a special invisible layer with text is added, obtained using text recognition systems (OCR). This format is completely unsuitable for e-books, since it cannot be adapted for devices with small screens, and many e-readers do not support it.

About the DOC, DOCX format

These are ordinary text documents created in the Word editor from Microsoft Office. They can be edited, fonts and design changed. This format is supported by a very narrow list of devices and programs due to the very high complexity and closedness of the format, plus very often it cannot be displayed correctly. The format is suitable as a draft for a book, but is not suitable for distribution.

About the EPUB format

The only e-book format officially recognized by the world community (International Digital Publishing Forum). Supports almost everything you can dream of: complex formatting, lists, tables, formulas, footnotes, raster and vector images, various layout modes and DRM copyright protection.

There are quite a few programs for creating e-books in the above formats, but we have developed a specialized solution specifically for authors.

Rare and outdated formats

We would also like to talk about some rare formats.

ABW is the file format used by AbiWord. If the file is compressed, it will be in ZABW format.
ACSM is a file format used to provide DRM protection in Adobe eBooks PDF and ePUB.
AEH is the file format used by eBooksWriter.
BBeB is Sony's own format. Stands for Broadband EBook, also known as LRF due to its file extension.
CBR/CBZ - Compressed container for images. R means that the images are compressed using the RAR archiver, and Z means that they are compressed using ZIP. The internal format can be any of several image formats, and CBR/CBZ readers display them as multiple pages of a book. The name means comic book reader, but is used for any books where the content contains mainly photographs.
CHM is compressed HTML, often used for Windows Help files. It has become very popular for distributing texts and other support materials over the Internet.
DNL is a digital web book format used by the Desktop author.
DTB - Digital Talking Books - books for people who are blind, visually impaired, physically disabled, students with disabilities, or other print-disabled readers. DTBook sets the specifications for digital talking books (DTB) as part of DAISY.
EBA is a proprietary e-book format. Chinese language eBook Readers are specifically supported.
EBAML same as EBA 2.0 - Used on Dr. Yi Reader and other Chinese products.
-ER.PDB - Palm database format for eReader. ER is used to differentiate this format.
FUB is Franklin's e-book format.
GPF - Ganaxa Publishing Format, allowing hot spots and embedded multimedia content.
GPX is a Ganaxa secure document.
IMP is an e-book format used by eBook Technologies ETI-1 (REB 1200 / Softbook Reader) or ETI-2 (EBookwise-1150 / Gemstar 1150). Some programs convert to it. It is considered a terminal format.
-IS.PDB - Palm database format for the ISilo reader. IS is used to distinguish this format.
KML - HieBook e-book format.
LIT is Microsoft's own format for Microsoft Reader.
LRC is a special accompanying format that should be a companion for audiobooks.
LRF - also: BBeB book. Sony's own format. Supported by Sony Librie and Sony Reader.
LRS - also: BBeB Xylog XML. Source code format for BBeB books, which is compiled into LRF for reading on the device.
LRX is a BBeB protected document. Sony Librie and Sony Reader use formats that are incompatible with each other.
MART is a proprietary format used only on the Martview website to distribute books consisting of images.
NP format is a newspaper download format used by NewspaperDirect for their PressDisplay product.
OEB - open book format. E-book format used by EBookwise-1150, MobiPocket and Microsoft Reader. This standard is an older version of ePUB.
ODT is an open standard document format used in OpenOffice.org, Star Office and many other text editors.
OSIS is an XML schema definition for the Bible and other biblical study texts.
PKG is the format used in Apple Newton.
PNPd - Format used by eReader. This is a popular format (also known as PML).
PS - Postscript is supported in several readers, but is intended for sending information to a printer.
RB - e-book format for Rocket eBook and Gemstar RCA REB 1100.
RTF - Rich Text Format is a document interchange format supported by some e-book readers, as well as many Word processing applications, including MS Word and OpenOffice. This is the preferred format for many users who create their own content for Sony Reader.
SGF is a native format for Sigil, a direct editor for ePUB. (No longer used)
STK is STAReBOOK's own format.
TCR - e-book for EPOC.
TeBR is a custom tiny ebook format from Fictionwise.
TR - Tome Raider format. Their latest format is called TR3. Tome Raider is an e-book format that supports very big books, such as reference books, encyclopedias and dictionaries.
VBK is a graphically-enabled e-book format from VitalSource. This format is commonly used in textbooks.
XEB is a format used by Apbi e-books primarily in Chinese.
XDXF is an XML-based dictionary exchange format.
WOLF - Proprietary format used by HanLin eBook in its V2B, V3 and V8 e-books. The extension is usually .wol. Also used by JCNIP on their reader Dr.Yi.
ZTXT is a format used by WeaselReader on Palm devices. Has the extension .pdb.
ZNO - proprietary format electronic magazines Zinio subscriptions. These magazines include multimedia materials such as photographs and videos. There are rumors that the format is based on DJVU.