A Fact question

jbcohen · 04-12-2012, 09:27 AM

I know that the kindle support AZW and Mobi format, can the kindle support any of the indistry standard formats such as epub and PDF?

avantman42 · 04-12-2012, 09:48 AM

It supports PDF (though PDFs don't look great on the 6" screen). It doesn't support ePub.

Edited to add: The Kindle page on Amazon lists the following formats:

Quote:

Content Formats Supported: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.

DiapDealer · 04-12-2012, 10:13 AM

It also (somewhat) supports html natively if you change the html file's extension to *.txt.

RainingLemur · 04-12-2012, 10:40 AM

PDFs can look pretty awful on the small screen. And, if you use Calibre, you could convert an ePub to mobi.

Shack70 · 04-12-2012, 10:57 AM

PDFs look ok on the Kindle if they are actual documents and not just scans (pictures of documents) put in a PDF file

jbcohen · 04-12-2012, 11:29 AM

Well PDF is industry standard. Ah, danger mouse I remember you well.

DiapDealer · 04-12-2012, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Well PDF is industry standard.

What industry? And when?

dwig · 04-12-2012, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Well PDF is industry standard. ...

Yes and no.

PDF is an "industry standard" document display format.

PDF is not and "industry standard" ebook format.

HarryT · 04-12-2012, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwig

Yes and no.

PDF is an "industry standard" document display format.

PDF is not and "industry standard" ebook format.

An extremely important distinction, and I completely agree with you.

tomsem · 04-12-2012, 07:18 PM

Now that KT has landscape, I'll probably never attempt conversion of PDF again. It's perfectly usable for the PDFs I want to read or have on my Kindle for reference, and as for the rest, I'll find some other device to read them on. Not ideal, but better than spending a couple of hours converting things that weren't meant to be converted in the first place.

And on screens bigger than 7" or so, one can start to appreciate how bad ebook typography still is by comparison, and how little text reflow adds to the reading experience (comparing well-formatted examples of each). What I've found lacking are mobile apps with full-featured PDF support, which makes it more frustrating than it should be. But apps will improve (the lastest release of Adobe Reader for iOS and Android now support much more of the functionality of the desktop counterparts).

Publishers frustrated by this have turned to fixed-layout variants of ePub and now KF8. It's pretty ironic, when PDF can accomplish most of the same functions with more interoperability, ease of creation, mature authoring tools, and infinite design options. Perhaps ideal would be an ebook format that can combine fixed-layout and reflowable sections, but that doesn't exist yet.

So I do consider PDF a sort of ebook format, or at least I appreciate it when the devices I use for reading to support it in some workable fashion. It's not going away any time soon, and serves many purposes that today's other digital formats cannot.

04-12-2012, 09:27 AM	#1
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,030 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	A Fact question I know that the kindle support AZW and Mobi format, can the kindle support any of the indistry standard formats such as epub and PDF?

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04-12-2012, 10:13 AM	#3
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,374 Karma: 203720150 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	It also (somewhat) supports html natively if you change the html file's extension to *.txt.

04-12-2012, 10:40 AM	#4
RainingLemur Spork Connoisseur Posts: 2,355 Karma: 16780603 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Color	PDFs can look pretty awful on the small screen. And, if you use Calibre, you could convert an ePub to mobi.

04-12-2012, 10:57 AM	#5
Shack70 Guru Posts: 777 Karma: 1043626 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: York, Pa Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11th Generation	PDFs look ok on the Kindle if they are actual documents and not just scans (pictures of documents) put in a PDF file

04-12-2012, 11:29 AM	#6
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,030 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	Well PDF is industry standard. Ah, danger mouse I remember you well.

04-12-2012, 07:18 PM	#10
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,905 Karma: 27013865 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	Now that KT has landscape, I'll probably never attempt conversion of PDF again. It's perfectly usable for the PDFs I want to read or have on my Kindle for reference, and as for the rest, I'll find some other device to read them on. Not ideal, but better than spending a couple of hours converting things that weren't meant to be converted in the first place. And on screens bigger than 7" or so, one can start to appreciate how bad ebook typography still is by comparison, and how little text reflow adds to the reading experience (comparing well-formatted examples of each). What I've found lacking are mobile apps with full-featured PDF support, which makes it more frustrating than it should be. But apps will improve (the lastest release of Adobe Reader for iOS and Android now support much more of the functionality of the desktop counterparts). Publishers frustrated by this have turned to fixed-layout variants of ePub and now KF8. It's pretty ironic, when PDF can accomplish most of the same functions with more interoperability, ease of creation, mature authoring tools, and infinite design options. Perhaps ideal would be an ebook format that can combine fixed-layout and reflowable sections, but that doesn't exist yet. So I do consider PDF a sort of ebook format, or at least I appreciate it when the devices I use for reading to support it in some workable fashion. It's not going away any time soon, and serves many purposes that today's other digital formats cannot.

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