Are there any risks of information loss when converting formats?

elPedr0 · 11-08-2022, 01:58 AM

Is there any risk associated with converting a book from say epub -> AZW3, or AZW3 -> EPUB?

And specifically in the case of epubs, are there formats which are closer in file structure, therefore safer or 'better' to convert to?

Context: I'm a calibre-web user and I am finding that the 'send to ereader' button does not appear for some of my epubs until I convert them from epub to another format and then back to epub.

ownedbycats · 11-08-2022, 02:02 AM

There's always some—for example, the new file could end up written to a bad disk sector and you fail to notice before deleting the original.

That said, I've never noticed any actual loss. Sometimes CSS gets changed or the file structure. Personally, if I'm going to be doing any heavy modifications, I like to copy the original ePub to a backup folder.

In the Calibre GUI at least, you can do an ePub > ePub conversion and skip the intermediary; in this case it'll also produce an ORIGINAL_EPUB and a option to compare them. I'm not sure if web has the same.

elPedr0 · 11-08-2022, 02:09 AM

Thanks ownedbycats.
useful to learn that Calibre GUI can do epub to epub. It doesn't appear to be an option using calibre-web.

When you say CSS gets changed or file structure - how might that appear to the reader (i..e the person reading the book)?

(I'm relatively new to managing my ebooks. Previously I simply downloaded straight from Amazon to the kindle and read it on that one device, which always uses the same font, etc. So I don't have the wider understanding of how CSS or filestructure comes into play).

ownedbycats · 11-08-2022, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elPedr0

When you say CSS gets changed or file structure - how might that appear to the reader?

CSS I didn't really notice any visual differences, at least when I looked in ebook-viewer.

For file structure, in one specific case I had an AZW3 book where the author had just one single HTML file. AZW3 > ePub with structure detection and 'insert page breaks' found the chapter headings and split the file. This was actually a good thing, because Kobo devices don't really like trying to open super-long files.

11-08-2022, 01:58 AM	#1
elPedr0 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2022 Device: none	Are there any risks of information loss when converting formats? Is there any risk associated with converting a book from say epub -> AZW3, or AZW3 -> EPUB? And specifically in the case of epubs, are there formats which are closer in file structure, therefore safer or 'better' to convert to? Context: I'm a calibre-web user and I am finding that the 'send to ereader' button does not appear for some of my epubs until I convert them from epub to another format and then back to epub.

11-08-2022, 02:02 AM	#2
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,974 Karma: 75337983 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	There's always some—for example, the new file could end up written to a bad disk sector and you fail to notice before deleting the original. That said, I've never noticed any actual loss. Sometimes CSS gets changed or the file structure. Personally, if I'm going to be doing any heavy modifications, I like to copy the original ePub to a backup folder. In the Calibre GUI at least, you can do an ePub > ePub conversion and skip the intermediary; in this case it'll also produce an ORIGINAL_EPUB and a option to compare them. I'm not sure if web has the same. Last edited by ownedbycats; 11-08-2022 at 02:05 AM.

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11-08-2022, 02:09 AM	#3
elPedr0 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2022 Device: none	Thanks ownedbycats. useful to learn that Calibre GUI can do epub to epub. It doesn't appear to be an option using calibre-web. When you say CSS gets changed or file structure - how might that appear to the reader (i..e the person reading the book)? (I'm relatively new to managing my ebooks. Previously I simply downloaded straight from Amazon to the kindle and read it on that one device, which always uses the same font, etc. So I don't have the wider understanding of how CSS or filestructure comes into play).

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