Who owns kepub's DRM?

Jane Eyre · 02-01-2026, 06:07 PM

Hi! I have..maybe a silly but a curiosity matter question that have been harassing me for a long time... surely you have already discussed about that.

Simply and directly: do purchased kobo epubs (official kepubs from kobo store) that we download on our device have Adobe Digital Editions DRM like standard epubs, or a sort of proprietary kobo DRM?

DNSB · 02-01-2026, 06:19 PM

Books purchased from Kobo and synced to their ereaders and apps use Kobo's own proprietary DRM. This is removable in some cases using the OBOK DeDRM plugin.

Jane Eyre · 02-01-2026, 06:53 PM

Woow at last! That's the answer I expected, thank you!
And do you also know where kobo writes its code in kepub files?

DNSB · 02-01-2026, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jane Eyre

Woow at last! That's the answer I expected, thank you!
And do you also know where kobo writes its code in kepub files?

Pretty much through all the text files for the spans and javascript code. For DRMmed files, you will find rights.xml in the root of the zip container. A kepub with DRM is encrypted for the device.

For Kobo ereaders, the decryption key is based on the serial number unlike Adobe ADEPT DRM where the decryption key is based on the user ID so two devices with the same user ID can share files. For Kobo ereaders, you have to download the ebook to the device it will be read on.

JSWolf · Yesterday, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jane Eyre

Woow at last! That's the answer I expected, thank you!
And do you also know where kobo writes its code in kepub files?

Once you've removed the DRM from a KePub eBook, you can use the Modify ePub plugin for calibre to remove the KePub code if you want.

02-01-2026, 06:07 PM	#1
Jane Eyre Zealot Posts: 129 Karma: 6368 Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Italy Device: Kindle P.white3/Kobo Clara 2E	Who owns kepub's DRM? Hi! I have..maybe a silly but a curiosity matter question that have been harassing me for a long time... surely you have already discussed about that. Simply and directly: do purchased kobo epubs (official kepubs from kobo store) that we download on our device have Adobe Digital Editions DRM like standard epubs, or a sort of proprietary kobo DRM?

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02-01-2026, 06:19 PM	#2
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 50,011 Karma: 178398936 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	Books purchased from Kobo and synced to their ereaders and apps use Kobo's own proprietary DRM. This is removable in some cases using the OBOK DeDRM plugin.

02-01-2026, 06:53 PM	#3
Jane Eyre Zealot Posts: 129 Karma: 6368 Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Italy Device: Kindle P.white3/Kobo Clara 2E	Woow at last! That's the answer I expected, thank you! And do you also know where kobo writes its code in kepub files?