Which 'other' ebook converts to best to epub?

[nkormanik]

Given the chance to download:

mobi
azw3
pdf
chm
.
.
etc.

And your intention is to convert the ebook to epub..., which would you select to download?

All thoughts appreciated!

Nicholas Kormanik

[JSWolf]

Your poll leaves out KF8, KFX, and Topaz. AZW is Mobi. It is not a catch all for Amazon eBooks.

There is no what format converts best to ePub. PDF, Djvu, are terrible formats.

It depends on how the source format is made. For example, I've seen KF8 that format shifts very well with KindleUnpack and KF8 that are terrible. Same goes for Word documents. Most are really bad and some are good because styles were used properly.

So there isn't just one format that converts well to ePub. And even if you think a given format converts well, if it's made poorly, it may not convert well.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Your poll leaves out KF8, KFX, and Topaz. AZW is Mobi. It is not a catch all for Amazon eBooks.

There is no what format converts best to ePub. PDF, Djvu, are terrible formats.

It depends on how the source format is made. For example, I've seen KF8 that format shifts very well with KindleUnpack and KF8 that are terrible. Same goes for Word documents. Most are really bad and some are good because styles were used properly.

So there isn't just one format that converts well to ePub. And even if you think a given format converts well, if it's made poorly, it may not convert well.

↑ ↑ ↑ ✔

And even if Book A in format X converts okay, it doesn't mean Book B in Format X will convert equally well.

Also see ==>> What are the best source formats to convert?

BR

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by nkormanik

Given the chance to download:

mobi
azw3
pdf
chm
.
.
etc.

And your intention is to convert the ebook to epub..., which would you select to download?

All thoughts appreciated!

Nicholas Kormanik

AZW3 (non-fixed layout format) will convert best, as it was most likely generated from an epub.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

AZW3 (non-fixed layout format) will convert best, as it was most likely generated from an epub.

Unless it came from a self-published author and then it's a crap shoot.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Unless it came from a self-published author and then it's a crap shoot.

Not always. There are plenty properly formatted self-pubs nowadays. For example, Vellum for MacOS usually produces a nice layout, and many authors use it.

[The_book]

I think pdf/djvu is always a bad idea to convert to epub. For other formats, I don't familiar with some of them. But I think if it use xml/html/xhtml with css without js, it will be easy to convert to epub. Using xml/html/xhtml with css and js also easy to convert, but js may not work well. Use self-defined tag format may cause confusing in converting.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Not always. There are plenty properly formatted self-pubs nowadays. For example, Vellum for MacOS usually produces a nice layout, and many authors use it.

You mean Vellum that adds multiple unused classes in the text files? Vellum that supplies two stylesheets, one of which is stuffed with unused classes, the other of which is filled with a hodge-podge of media queries (and that is in the epub flavour of the file)? Vellum that can generate a page map that has out of order entries?

The best I can say for Vellum is that it is relatively easy to use and generates files that allow handling the oddities of Amazon's formats fairly decently.

As for voting in the poll, pdf and dejavu are probably the two worst. Cbr/cbz/cb7 are image based formats and I've seen several conversions that produced unreadable epubs. As for chm, I seem to remember it converted fairly well but I haven't seen one of them in years.

[Sarmat89]

FYI, LIT, MOBI and AZW formats are literally EPUBs in a Palm-style container, so their conversion is trivial.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

FYI, MOBI and AZW formats are literally EPUBs in a Palm-style container, so their conversion is trivial.

Not quite right. All three formats are HTML based which makes conversion relatively easy. OTOH, all three have their quirks. Mobi has had quite a few changes since the days of mobi or pdb being identical. AZW3 &EPUB are the closest and the easiest to convert. Quite a few AZW3 files have the original epub file embedded so you can extract that with KindleUnpack.

[BetterRed]

FTR I voted for LIT, because it s top of the pops in Kovid's list - and I assume he based that on his knowledge of all the facts.

BR

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Not always. There are plenty properly formatted self-pubs nowadays. For example, Vellum for MacOS usually produces a nice layout, and many authors use it.

I didn't say that all self-published eBooks are lousy. I said it's a crap shoot meaning some are OK and some are not.

As for the layout, that's not the issue here. The issue is the code. The code has to be good enough for the conversion to be good. Take a KF8 published by a mainstream publisher. The source of that KF8 will have been ePub. That KF8 can have the code shifted to an ePub with KindleUnpack (just have to fix the errors and there are not many of them). You get an ePub that matches the KF8 which matches the ePub pretty well. Take one of those lousy self published KF8 where the code is not good and the HTML is one big file and the conversion is not going to go well without a lot of work.

As for Vellum, the code it produces is lousy. So do not say that using Vellum produces a good eBook. Others can tell you about Vellum and how nasty it is. Pages is another awful program for creating eBooks. And then there is Word where the author has no clue about styles and the output is a freaking nightmare.

So really, there is no one format that converts well in all cases. Some formats convert better then others when the code is decent enough. That's about the best you can say.

[JSWolf]

By the way, Mobi and AZW are EXACTLY THE SAME FORMAT!

[nkormanik]

In my 'Library' I have folders for each kind of ebook I've accumulated. Seems way, way too many folders.

I would personally prefer to convert every single 'other' type to either .epub or .pdf.

I've been waiting to do this (mass conversions of all 'other') until I'm confident of the specific conversion program.

It's possible (??) that Calibre might be the conversion program of choice.

Not gonna rush, though.

[Thasaidon]

Originally Posted by nkormanik

It's possible (??) that Calibre might be the conversion program of choice.

Not gonna rush, though.

I would be a little surprised if it was not. I have been using Calibre for about ten years now, I have tried other conversion programs and none were as good as Calibre.

That is where the conversion software had not stolen code from Calibre and were passing it off as their own.

During this time I have converted several thousand books and can confirm the old adage GIGO (garbage in - garbage out) as others have said above.

PDF in general is probably the worst format to to convert to ePub.

To use an old UK saying "suck it and see" (i.e. it means try it for yourself).