eBook formats and reading devices

Digital version of a printed book which also consisting of text, images and can be read on a laptop, computer or a specifically designed handheld device. Now interactive e-books can be designed and produced for better user experience.

“As most of the e-book readers are younger, so our responsibility is to provide digital content on such media devices which they like...”

These are the formats used on the majority of eBook devices and sold by the major retailers

Kindle Format:

Amazon KF8 eBooks can be read on any of the Kindle devices and Kindle Apps. Kindle file extensions: .mobi, and .azw

ePub

The ePub standard is maintained by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), a non-profit organization. ePub files are natively reflowable. Amazon updated its KindleGen tool to better handle the automated conversion of ePub files. ePub file extension: .epub

ePub3 is the latest version of the ePub format, and support HTML 5, CSS 3 and javascript for interactivity.

Apple's Multi-Touch Book

Multi-Touch books are created using the iBooks Author application created by Apple and suitable for complex non-fiction eBooks like magazines, cookbooks, etc. iBooks Author files are inherently fixed layout and is a proprietary eBook format of Apple inc. Extension of this file is .ibooks.

PDF

PDF is very common document format, but text in PDF files cannot reflow to fit small screens. When a PDF file is loaded on a device (e-readers, mobile) it usually needs to be zoomed or scroll left and right to read all of the text. while eBooks formats like ePub and Kindle are reflowable.

e-Book reader softwares/devices:

An e-Book can be read in variety of ways depend on its formats.

for ePub files: Adobe Digital Editions, AZARDI Desktop reader, MS Edge web browser, Calibre,

for kindle files: Kindle Desktop reader, Kindle previewer

e-Book reading Device:

for epub files: iBook, ipad, iphone, Kobo Aura, NOOK reader and android apps

for kindle files: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, kindle fire, kindle fire HD

iBooks supports two book types: Multi-Touch (.ibooks) and EPUB (.epub)