Quality of EPUB to Kindle

arturg · 06-20-2016, 01:40 AM

Hello all,

Just curious as to what is the quality of EPUB books converted to Kindle format? Any problems with characters, line breaks, margins, etc?

HarryT · 06-20-2016, 02:15 AM

I've converted literally hundreds of books from ePub to KF8 format. They've all converted absolutely fine.

eschwartz · 06-20-2016, 02:27 AM

@arturg,

You asked the exact same question here, in the past: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=232162

The answer has not changed since then.

arturg · 06-20-2016, 05:12 AM

Thanks, it was so long ago that I didn't remember

rashkae · 06-20-2016, 08:28 AM

I thought I would update it with some information I posted in another thread. Several people commented how Epub converted to AZW3 retains all formatting. I think people who have been doing this a long time forget how much Calibre default settings changes things. Calibre default conversion settings are well optimized for converting non-ebook formats into E-books, (word documents, web pages/html, rtf documents, etc.)

However, when converting E-book format to E-book format (epub to AZW3, or vice versa), here are some changes to Calibre defaults that will preserve more of the original formatting.

In Look and Feel, check "Disable Font size Rescalling"
In Page Setup tab, change Output Profile to "Tablet"
In Structure Detection Tab: Change Chapter Mark to "None"
Change Insert Page Breaks Before to "/", (without the quotes.)
Heuristic Processing Tab, unchech "Enable Heuristic Processing"

The one big caveat: some books specify their fontsizes with generic keywoards (small, medium, large.)... With font scaling disabled, Calibre will mistreat those badly, (changing them to fixed point sizes, very bad.)... you will usually know this if previewing the converted books and the font sizes have all become tiny. In that case, you will either have to enable font size re-scalling, or change those font sizes in the source epub manually.
In the case of enabling Font-size scaling, I prefer to use this font-size key,, It reduces the shrinkage of smaller text: Base font size "12 pt" Font Size Key: "10.5, 11.0, 11.5, 12.0, 13.5, 17.0, 20.0, 22.0, 24.0"

Edit: Personally, in my experience, I find the Kindle, with the help of Calibre to side load, makes a better epub reader than the Kobo.

radius · 06-21-2016, 03:18 PM

On the other hand, if you use Amazon's own kindlegen app you don't have to futz around with changing any Calibre defaults... Considering publisher workflow seems to output epubs, this might be very close to how Amazon produces their own Kindle format books.

06-20-2016, 01:40 AM	#1
arturg Zealot Posts: 148 Karma: 483146 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Helsinki, Finland Device: Kindle PaperWhite 5 (10th gen)	Quality of EPUB to Kindle Hello all, Just curious as to what is the quality of EPUB books converted to Kindle format? Any problems with characters, line breaks, margins, etc?

06-20-2016, 08:28 AM	#5
rashkae Wizard Posts: 1,277 Karma: 5935030 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Aura HD	I thought I would update it with some information I posted in another thread. Several people commented how Epub converted to AZW3 retains all formatting. I think people who have been doing this a long time forget how much Calibre default settings changes things. Calibre default conversion settings are well optimized for converting non-ebook formats into E-books, (word documents, web pages/html, rtf documents, etc.) However, when converting E-book format to E-book format (epub to AZW3, or vice versa), here are some changes to Calibre defaults that will preserve more of the original formatting. In Look and Feel, check "Disable Font size Rescalling" In Page Setup tab, change Output Profile to "Tablet" In Structure Detection Tab: Change Chapter Mark to "None" Change Insert Page Breaks Before to "/", (without the quotes.) Heuristic Processing Tab, unchech "Enable Heuristic Processing" The one big caveat: some books specify their fontsizes with generic keywoards (small, medium, large.)... With font scaling disabled, Calibre will mistreat those badly, (changing them to fixed point sizes, very bad.)... you will usually know this if previewing the converted books and the font sizes have all become tiny. In that case, you will either have to enable font size re-scalling, or change those font sizes in the source epub manually. In the case of enabling Font-size scaling, I prefer to use this font-size key,, It reduces the shrinkage of smaller text: Base font size "12 pt" Font Size Key: "10.5, 11.0, 11.5, 12.0, 13.5, 17.0, 20.0, 22.0, 24.0" Edit: Personally, in my experience, I find the Kindle, with the help of Calibre to side load, makes a better epub reader than the Kobo. Last edited by rashkae; 06-20-2016 at 08:31 AM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Epub to mobi using KindleGen creates really low quality images – advice needed!	Joefish	Kindle Formats	8	10-11-2015 07:08 AM
Quality of epub books converted to Kindle	arturg	Amazon Kindle	12	01-27-2014 09:53 AM
ePUB quality question	SomeNewGuy	ePub	4	05-10-2011 06:02 PM
ePub to Mobi Conversion Quality	Logiedan	Calibre	8	08-17-2010 04:02 PM
Kindle build quality? My kindle 2 squeaks when I squeeze it...	Starhawk	Amazon Kindle	12	03-20-2009 02:09 AM

06-20-2016, 02:15 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I've converted literally hundreds of books from ePub to KF8 format. They've all converted absolutely fine.

06-20-2016, 02:27 AM	#3
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	@arturg, You asked the exact same question here, in the past: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=232162 The answer has not changed since then.

06-20-2016, 05:12 AM	#4
arturg Zealot Posts: 148 Karma: 483146 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Helsinki, Finland Device: Kindle PaperWhite 5 (10th gen)	Thanks, it was so long ago that I didn't remember

06-21-2016, 03:18 PM	#6
radius Lector minore Posts: 661 Karma: 1738720 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Aura One, Paperwhite Signature	On the other hand, if you use Amazon's own kindlegen app you don't have to futz around with changing any Calibre defaults... Considering publisher workflow seems to output epubs, this might be very close to how Amazon produces their own Kindle format books.