Kindlegen vs Calibre: Which one compiles faster and is more efficient?

zdavatz · 02-04-2010, 02:52 AM

We are using kindlegen to generate a large Ebook (the Paper Version has about 3000 pages/ A4 size). When compiling with kindlegen the process takes more then 2 hours to finish!

Do you have stats on Calibre that Calibre is faster then Kindlegen?

We get the data in XML and convert it to MOBI/AZW/PRC and EPUB.

Thank you for your Feedback.

pdurrant · 02-04-2010, 03:16 AM

I don't know about speed, but I suspect you'll find that KindleGen produces a much smaller final file than Calibre (it definitely does a better job than Mobipocket Creator). With Amazon switching to a better royalty rate in June, but taking a fee for data size off the top, size will be important.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zdavatz

We are using kindlegen to generate a large Ebook (the Paper Version has about 3000 pages/ A4 size). When compiling with kindlegen the process takes more then 2 hours to finish!

Do you have stats on Calibre that Calibre is faster then Kindlegen?

We get the data in XML and convert it to MOBI/AZW/PRC and EPUB.

Thank you for your Feedback.

zdavatz · 02-04-2010, 03:18 AM

Hmm, good point! Thank you for pointing that out! Any more Feedback is highly welcome!

zdavatz · 02-04-2010, 03:23 AM

Very interesting the EPUB (27 MB) file is about doubled the size of the AZW (13 MB) file.

pdurrant · 02-04-2010, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zdavatz

Very interesting the EPUB (27 MB) file is about doubled the size of the AZW (13 MB) file.

That does surprise me - unless you have made the ePub with no compression at all. Only the mimetype file needs to be uncompressed - all the other files in the ePub should be compressed.

zdavatz · 02-04-2010, 03:44 AM

Ok, I will double check on that. But there must be reason why Kindlegen takes so long!

zdavatz · 02-04-2010, 03:47 AM

The XML Input is about 170 MB.

zdavatz · 02-04-2010, 03:53 AM

Ok the EPUB import to Calibre takes a long time. The AZW file was imported in non time. For the EPUB file import to Calibre I am now waiting for about 2 Minutes. Calibre is still importing the 27 MB file.

Ok, and now calibre tells me:

The add books process seems to have hung. Try restarting calibre and adding the books in smaller increments, until you find the problem book.

gwynevans · 02-04-2010, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zdavatz

Ok the EPUB import to Calibre takes a long time.

If you're just looking to convert, I'd have expected that you'd be better off using the command-line interface to do the conversion directly, rather than via the GUI & the DB. See here, for example.

zdavatz · 02-04-2010, 04:27 AM

We are using our own command line tools. We will release the code shortly. Then you can have a look at it if you like!

pdurrant · 02-04-2010, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zdavatz

Ok, I will double check on that. But there must be reason why Kindlegen takes so long!

I guess it's because it's doing heavy optimisation of the compression algorithm to get 170MB down to 13MB.

The huffman-type encoding used in highly compressed Mobipocket files gives different amounts of compression depending on choices made in the compression algorithm. Best compression requires large amounts of calculations to find the most compact form.

Luckily, decompression is always quick, since there are no choices to be made in decompresssion.

zdavatz · 02-04-2010, 09:35 AM

Yes indeed, decompression is really fast

- BTW: While creating an EPUB this automatically creates a compressed file, correct? As far as I know there is no pre-Compression there for EPUB. So our EPUB file is indeed about double the size from our AZW file!

pdurrant · 02-04-2010, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zdavatz

Yes indeed, decompression is really fast

- BTW: While creating an EPUB this automatically creates a compressed file, correct? As far as I know there is no pre-Compression there for EPUB. So our EPUB file is indeed about double the size from our AZW file!

ePUBs are zip files. Each file in a zip archive can have an individual compression method. And there are also more and less efficient zip compression programs.

I am rather surprised that the Mobipocket compression managed to beat the zip file.

zdavatz · 02-05-2010, 02:29 AM

Well the EPUB takes a couple of minutes to be generated from a 170 MB source file. The AZW files takes a couple of hours to be generated from the source file. The result must be in the size? Please proof me wrong.

zdavatz · 02-05-2010, 02:55 AM

Ok, it takes about 4.5 Minutes to open the EPUB file in http://www.epubread.com/de/ do you think that is because of the compression, i.e. the file first has to be decompressed? Once the file is open in Firefox there is no problem and it is really fast! Any Feedback is highly welcome.

02-04-2010, 02:52 AM	#1
zdavatz Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 496222 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle, iPhone, HTC D2 not Sony.	Kindlegen vs Calibre: Which one compiles faster and is more efficient? We are using kindlegen to generate a large Ebook (the Paper Version has about 3000 pages/ A4 size). When compiling with kindlegen the process takes more then 2 hours to finish! Do you have stats on Calibre that Calibre is faster then Kindlegen? We get the data in XML and convert it to MOBI/AZW/PRC and EPUB. Thank you for your Feedback.

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02-04-2010, 03:18 AM	#3
zdavatz Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 496222 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle, iPhone, HTC D2 not Sony.	Hmm, good point! Thank you for pointing that out! Any more Feedback is highly welcome!

02-04-2010, 03:23 AM	#4
zdavatz Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 496222 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle, iPhone, HTC D2 not Sony.	Very interesting the EPUB (27 MB) file is about doubled the size of the AZW (13 MB) file.

02-04-2010, 03:44 AM	#6
zdavatz Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 496222 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle, iPhone, HTC D2 not Sony.	Ok, I will double check on that. But there must be reason why Kindlegen takes so long!

02-04-2010, 03:47 AM	#7
zdavatz Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 496222 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle, iPhone, HTC D2 not Sony.	The XML Input is about 170 MB.

02-04-2010, 03:53 AM	#8
zdavatz Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 496222 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle, iPhone, HTC D2 not Sony.	Ok the EPUB import to Calibre takes a long time. The AZW file was imported in non time. For the EPUB file import to Calibre I am now waiting for about 2 Minutes. Calibre is still importing the 27 MB file. Ok, and now calibre tells me: The add books process seems to have hung. Try restarting calibre and adding the books in smaller increments, until you find the problem book.

02-04-2010, 04:27 AM	#10
zdavatz Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 496222 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle, iPhone, HTC D2 not Sony.	We are using our own command line tools. We will release the code shortly. Then you can have a look at it if you like!

02-04-2010, 09:35 AM	#12
zdavatz Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 496222 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle, iPhone, HTC D2 not Sony.	Yes indeed, decompression is really fast - BTW: While creating an EPUB this automatically creates a compressed file, correct? As far as I know there is no pre-Compression there for EPUB. So our EPUB file is indeed about double the size from our AZW file!

02-05-2010, 02:29 AM	#14
zdavatz Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 496222 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle, iPhone, HTC D2 not Sony.	Well the EPUB takes a couple of minutes to be generated from a 170 MB source file. The AZW files takes a couple of hours to be generated from the source file. The result must be in the size? Please proof me wrong.

02-05-2010, 02:55 AM	#15
zdavatz Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 496222 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Device: Kindle, iPhone, HTC D2 not Sony.	Ok, it takes about 4.5 Minutes to open the EPUB file in http://www.epubread.com/de/ do you think that is because of the compression, i.e. the file first has to be decompressed? Once the file is open in Firefox there is no problem and it is really fast! Any Feedback is highly welcome.

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