Whats With All the 20mb Epubs All Of A Sudden?

Thargor · 12-24-2019, 12:38 PM

Did something change in the last year or two? Every second epub I download especially on new releases seems to have jumped from 4-5MB to 20MB. These are pure text sci-fi/fantasy in the main, no illustrations or special fonts...

I know 20MB is nothing but when you have a huge collection like mine it adds up, is there any Calibre plug-in that strips out all this bloat and just leaves you with the cover/blurb/text/Chapters and a bit of formatting to keep it tidy or is that even possible?

GoSharks · 12-24-2019, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thargor

Did something change in the last year or two? Every second epub I download especially on new releases seems to have jumped from 4-5MB to 20MB. These are pure text sci-fi/fantasy in the main, no illustrations or special fonts...

I know 20MB is nothing but when you have a huge collection like mine it adds up, is here any Calibre plug-in that strips out all this bloat and just leaves you with the cover/blurb/text/Chapters and a bit of formatting to keep it tidy or is hat even possible?

Edit Books is probably your best bet. Remove fonts and also look for jpeg picture files that are unrelated to the book (advertisements for other books in the series or by the author is common).
Good luck!

ZodWallop · 12-24-2019, 02:35 PM

With some books, the Chapter heading will be a .jpg instead of text.

I've also seen books where breaks within a chapter were done with a .jpg like this one:

And instead of using the same image over and over, the publisher inserted the image once for each instance it was used. So .jpg003, .jpg004 and .jpg005 would all be the same image. That sort of stuff really causes file size to increase.

crich70 · 12-24-2019, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thargor

Did something change in the last year or two? Every second epub I download especially on new releases seems to have jumped from 4-5MB to 20MB. These are pure text sci-fi/fantasy in the main, no illustrations or special fonts...

I know 20MB is nothing but when you have a huge collection like mine it adds up, is there any Calibre plug-in that strips out all this bloat and just leaves you with the cover/blurb/text/Chapters and a bit of formatting to keep it tidy or is that even possible?

I just reconvert ebook files in Calibre. Most of the time the new copy of the same file usually an epub or mobi shrinks considerably.

Thargor · 12-24-2019, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

I just reconvert ebook files in Calibre. Most of the time the new copy of the same file usually an epub or mobi shrinks considerably.

Tried a few there, epub to epub in Calibre, not even a kb of difference afterwards.

rkomar · 12-24-2019, 05:22 PM

EPUBs are just zip files. Unzip them or list their contents and see which files take up the most space.

JSWolf · 12-24-2019, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

With some books, the Chapter heading will be a .jpg instead of text.

I've also seen books where breaks within a chapter were done with a .jpg like this one:

And instead of using the same image over and over, the publisher inserted the image once for each instance it was used. So .jpg003, .jpg004 and .jpg005 would all be the same image. That sort of stuff really causes file size to increase.

Besides this, if any of the eBooks are from Penguin, there will be embedded fonts for one section that you do not need. You do not need that html file and you do not need those fonts. It's an advert for signing up to Penguin's email. The thing to do is use Calibre's eBook editor to see what it is in these eBooks that are making them so large.

@Thagor, can you please give us some of the titles/authors of these large eBooks? Thanks.

fjtorres · 12-24-2019, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Besides this, if any of the eBooks are from Penguin, there will be embedded fonts for one section that you do not need. You do not need that html file and you do not need those fonts. It's an advert for signing up to Penguin's email.

Interesting.
Do they do it with Kindle books, too?
Amazon charges a small download fee based on file size.
Epub vendors don't.
It always seemed odd nickel and dimeing but maybe they figured publishers might try this kind of padding.

JSWolf · 12-24-2019, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Interesting.
Do they do it with Kindle books, too?
Amazon charges a small download fee based on file size.
Epub vendors don't.
It always seemed odd nickel and dimeing but maybe they figured publishers might try this kind of padding.

I cannot say 100%, but I would think so. I don't see any reason for Penguin to have this page in ePub only. I know it's rubbish, but that's Penguin for you.

binaryhermit · 12-24-2019, 11:52 PM

You could try using "losslessly compress jpegs" or whatever it is in the Calibre editor.
And if you're brave, you can lossily compress them while you're there
(And I've seen some insanely bloated books on the kindle store)

EDIT: It's "Compress images losslessly'

fxp33 · 01-04-2020, 09:28 AM

Hi,

The Sigil forum is also packed with epubs editors... sure you can find help there too if you want to learn.

I you already are a Calibre user (I guess from your collection size), you can try the Calibre Editor forum to understand the way epub work and what the problem is with these 20mb jump...

Cheers
François

12-24-2019, 12:38 PM	#1
Thargor Connoisseur Posts: 93 Karma: 6322 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Sony PRS 505	Whats With All the 20mb Epubs All Of A Sudden? Did something change in the last year or two? Every second epub I download especially on new releases seems to have jumped from 4-5MB to 20MB. These are pure text sci-fi/fantasy in the main, no illustrations or special fonts... I know 20MB is nothing but when you have a huge collection like mine it adds up, is there any Calibre plug-in that strips out all this bloat and just leaves you with the cover/blurb/text/Chapters and a bit of formatting to keep it tidy or is that even possible? Last edited by Thargor; 12-24-2019 at 12:53 PM.

12-24-2019, 11:52 PM	#10
binaryhermit Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,732 Karma: 20469902 Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Lockport, IL Device: Kindle PW4, Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition	You could try using "losslessly compress jpegs" or whatever it is in the Calibre editor. And if you're brave, you can lossily compress them while you're there (And I've seen some insanely bloated books on the kindle store) EDIT: It's "Compress images losslessly' Last edited by binaryhermit; 12-24-2019 at 11:54 PM.

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12-24-2019, 02:35 PM	#3
ZodWallop Gentleman and scholar Posts: 11,464 Karma: 111111111 Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Space City, Texas Device: Clara BW; Nook ST w/Glowlight, Paperwhite 3	With some books, the Chapter heading will be a .jpg instead of text. I've also seen books where breaks within a chapter were done with a .jpg like this one: And instead of using the same image over and over, the publisher inserted the image once for each instance it was used. So .jpg003, .jpg004 and .jpg005 would all be the same image. That sort of stuff really causes file size to increase.

12-24-2019, 05:22 PM	#6
rkomar Wizard Posts: 3,041 Karma: 18821071 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Sudbury, ON, Canada Device: PRS-505, PB 902, PRS-T1, PB 623, PB 840, PB 633	EPUBs are just zip files. Unzip them or list their contents and see which files take up the most space.

01-04-2020, 09:28 AM	#11
fxp33 Addict Posts: 262 Karma: 110864 Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Bordeaux, France Device: Kobo Glo, Aura HD, kindle paperwhite	Hi, The Sigil forum is also packed with epubs editors... sure you can find help there too if you want to learn. I you already are a Calibre user (I guess from your collection size), you can try the Calibre Editor forum to understand the way epub work and what the problem is with these 20mb jump... Cheers François