Size of a .MOBI File

[samuvk]

Hello guys,

I´m working on a e-book for kids with some images on it. I want to load to Amazon Kindle KDP.

1. I have a book that it is only 26 pages and that it would have about 25 images.

2. I tried to load the file in the Amazon KDP webside in word and pdf format and the whole formating is mess-up so the only way I found the format is correct is with using "Kindle Kids Book creator" and converting it to .MOBI

3. Kindle Kids Book is created by uploading a PDF

4. Initially my word document was 2.5MB --> 1,8MB the PDF --> Converted to 8.3MB the .MOBI File --> and 4.48MB the final or "fee" file

5. I tried to reduce my word document to reduced the size of the final file but the .MOBI and final final are still the same size

6. After reducing to 1.8MB --> 1,2MB the PDF --> Converted to 8.3MB the .MOBI File --> and 4.48MB the final or "fee" file


I´m sure I´m doing something wrong but I don´t know where:

1. It is not normal that other poeple told me that with the same number of images and 300 more pages his final file is 1.8MG and my file is 4.48MB
2. Is there any way to reduce the .MOBI file size??


Any help or clue it would be highly appreciate. Please considered that I´m totally new at this, so don´t fell bad talking to me like I´m a little baby 😃



Thank you very much to all of you 😃

[Pulpmeister]

Perhaps the problem lies in the size of the 25 images.

[slowsmile]

@samuvk...The trouble with loading a PDF of your kids ebook into Kindle Kids Book Creator(KKBC) is that each page(text and images) in your PDF file will automatically be transformed into a full-page jpeg image. That's a BIG hit on your ebook file size.

You might want to investigate creating your kid's ebook as a reflowable ebook using Kindle Create(free app download from Amazon). If you go this route, you just load your properly prepared Word doc into Kindle Create(choose "Reflowable"). I would also advise you to insert/resize all your images in Kindle Create and not Word. You can also create full-bleed width images in KC by clicking on an image and selecting Image Properties panel > Size > Full and then choosing Bleed for ebook > Place to edge. For max screen width your images should be at least 1200 pixels wide and full page images should be at least 1200 x 1800 pixels in size(with an aspect ratio of 1:1.5). Also bear in mind that you will not be able to create pop-up text boxes in Kindle Create(like you can in KKBC).

And since it's really your images that are causing your file size problem, you might want to consider using the TinyPNG website to reduce the file size of all your images before your insert them into your reflowable ebook using KC. TinyPNG uses lossless compression to reduce the file size of your images which means that, after compression, image quality will always be preserved.

Using TinyPNG to compress your images and creating a reflowable ebook using KC as described will probably more than halve your ebook's current file size.

[Doitsu]

@samuvk

You could also try the following:

• Create a .docx version of your book with MS Word or LibreOffice.
• Convert the .docx file with Calibe to an .epub book.
• Check your .epub file for errors with the Calibre error checker and the IDPF validator.
• If no errors were found, upload the .epub file to KDP.

If the file size isn't much smaller, open the image folder in Windows Explorer/Finder and post a screenshot that shows the file types and file sizes.

If they're rather large, it might be possible to reduce their file sizes with lossless/lossy compression.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by slowsmile

@samuvk...The trouble with loading a PDF of your kids ebook into Kindle Kids Book Creator(KKBC) is that each page(text and images) in your PDF file will automatically be transformed into a full-page jpeg image. That's a BIG hit on your ebook file size.

You might want to investigate creating your kid's ebook as a reflowable ebook using Kindle Create(free app download from Amazon). If you go this route, you just load your properly prepared Word doc into Kindle Create(choose "Reflowable"). I would also advise you to insert/resize all your images in Kindle Create and not Word. You can also create full-bleed width images in KC by clicking on an image and selecting Image Properties panel > Size > Full and then choosing Bleed for ebook > Place to edge. For max screen width your images should be at least 1200 pixels wide and full page images should be at least 1200 x 1800 pixels in size(with an aspect ratio of 1:1.5). Also bear in mind that you will not be able to create pop-up text boxes in Kindle Create(like you can in KKBC).

And since it's really your images that are causing your file size problem, you might want to consider using the TinyPNG website to reduce the file size of all your images before your insert them into your reflowable ebook using KC. TinyPNG uses lossless compression to reduce the file size of your images which means that, after compression, image quality will always be preserved.

Using TinyPNG to compress your images and creating a reflowable ebook using KC as described will probably more than halve your ebook's current file size.

William:

At 1800x1200, each image/page is ggoing to be 2.160MB, x 25 = 54MB. I don't think you're heading in the direction he is trying to go.

I have this vague recollection that I already answered this question at the KDP forums, but hell, I'll try again.

By using images, as William mentioned, you are making the file larger than it absolutely has to be. I'm going to assume that you're trying to make an illustrated kids' book; someone else has done the illustrations and apparently, also typeset or hand-inked the narrative, etc.

Then you took these and slapped them into...what, Word?....and then created a PDF. That's not really the best way to do this, but let's say it's your only option.

According to what you're telling us--your original Word file was 2.5mb, and you had 25 images--that means that your images are 100kb each. Is that right? That honestly sounds like very low-resolution images, or very small images being blown up to fit a given size.

What size page or layout are you trying to design your book to? 8x10? 8.5" x 8.5"? What and how were the pages created in the first place?

Hitch

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Hitch

At 1800x1200, each image/page is ggoing to be 2.160MB, x 25 = 54MB. I don't think you're heading in the direction he is trying to go.

Why wouldn't the images be compressed?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Why wouldn't the images be compressed?

Sure, they will be, during the PW (Publishing Workflow). However, I don't give a flying rat's @$$ how much Amazon compresses it, if you start out with 54MB, it's not going to be smaller than his current delivery fee size of 4.5MB (4.48, to be accurate).

Honestly, at 25 pages of full-page images, I think that 4.5 mb is a fantastic result for a delivery fee, but apparently, the OP does not.

Hitch

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Sure, they will be, during the PW (Publishing Workflow). However, I don't give a flying rat's @$$ how much Amazon compresses it, if you start out with 54MB, it's not going to be smaller than his current delivery fee size of 4.5MB (4.48, to be accurate).

Honestly, at 25 pages of full-page images, I think that 4.5 mb is a fantastic result for a delivery fee, but apparently, the OP does not.

Hitch

Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.

I agree it would be hard to reduce the final file size.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.

I agree it would be hard to reduce the final file size.

It's okay, brother, I'm having that kind of year, myself.

Hitch

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.

I agree it would be hard to reduce the final file size.

What really chaps my ass is that this is the THIRD thread on this same book by the same poster. Two on KDP and one here. I answered the first one (KDP); answered the second, ditto, noting that it was the 2nd time I'd answered, and now this.

I mean, what, does he think, that if he asks it enough times someone else will come along and tell him something that he WANTS to hear? It's starting to get up my damned nose, lemme tell ya.

You can't make 1mb out of 25 large images, not unless they're s**t quality. That's reality.

Hitch

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You can't make 1mb out of 25 large images, not unless they're s**t quality. That's reality.

Not necessarily. I don't know if the poster mentioned on KDP what kind of images s/he created and the image dimensions.
For example, if s/he created oversized .bmp images, it'd easy to significantly reduce the image sizes by resizing them and saving them as .png images.

And even if s/he created .jpg or .png files, I'm pretty sure that a lossy compression with the right parameters would produce significantly smaller images with hardly any loss in quality.

I'm pretty sure that @Tex2002ans could suggest several suitable ImageMagick settings that the OP could play with, if s/he posted one of the images.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Not necessarily. I don't know if the poster mentioned on KDP what kind of images s/he created and the image dimensions.
For example, if s/he created oversized .bmp images, it'd easy to significantly reduce the image sizes by resizing them and saving them as .png images.

And even if s/he created .jpg or .png files, I'm pretty sure that a lossy compression with the right parameters would produce significantly smaller images with hardly any loss in quality.

I'm pretty sure that @Tex2002ans could suggest several suitable ImageMagick settings that the OP could play with, if s/he posted one of the images.

Doits:

you know I love ya, you do. But hell, brother, we do this all day long and there's only so much moosh you can get out of images.

He's never listed the dimensions or how they were made (not for lack of asking, mind you). But, if he has 25 pages that are images (let's just go with what we have, here), and the original Word file was 2.5MB, (not 25mb, presumably), that makes each full-page image (the full page is an inference, granted) 100kb. Right?

Now, that's GOTTA mean that those images are 72-96DPI. Even if he was building pages to the old Kindle size standards, using 400x600 or 600x800, the like, that would be what, 240KB to 320kb or thereabouts? I don't care how much of a genius someone is, when push comes to shove and you've exhausted your unused pixels (God Bless You, TinyPng!) and all that, the only thing that remains, really, are used pixels.

And let's not forget that presumably--he's said, somewhere, that this is a kids' book--it's also got images of text on the page. Which never reproduces "great," (readable, but not as good as "real" text, of course), and the more you go down, the rattier it will get. If he's sizing those pages to today's K sizes, those have to be...lemme think...1200x768, yes? I mean, how do you get smaller than 100KB with that? Or for modern Fires, 1024x600, yes? Again, how do you get smaller than 100kb?

I would--truly--love to hear more creative ideas and techniques. I would. If you or Tex have input, please run it for the guy. It's better than seeing another 5 posts from him in 5 more places with the same info.

(And OP: If you can provide more information, yes, folks can be more helpful. Possibly.)

Hitch

[Notjohn]

>at 25 pages of full-page images, I think that 4.5 mb is a fantastic result for a delivery fee

It certainly is. People talk all the time about hundreds of MB for their books.

>if he asks it enough times someone else will come along and tell him something that he WANTS to hear?

This seems to be a very popular way of asking for information. (That, and not returning to the thread to thank people for helping.)

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Notjohn

>at 25 pages of full-page images, I think that 4.5 mb is a fantastic result for a delivery fee

It certainly is. People talk all the time about hundreds of MB for their books.

>if he asks it enough times someone else will come along and tell him something that he WANTS to hear?

This seems to be a very popular way of asking for information. (That, and not returning to the thread to thank people for helping.)

If I hadn't learned but one thing from all my years now, this last decade, posting on the KDP forums, it would be that expecting gratitude or appreciation is folly. You can only post with the expectation that someone, somewhere, will find what you say useful and that's pretty much it. If one wants gratitude...get a dog. :-)

Spoiler:

But only if you will love it and take care of it. If that's not who you are, do both yourself and the pet a favor, and don't.

Hitch

[AlanHK]

The size of the file depends mostly on the images.

When a file is converted to Mobi/AZW, all images become JPEG or GIF.

GIF images pass as-is, JPEGs may pass, or get compressed more.

All other formats will be converted to one or the other. PNG often ends up as a much larger, and lower resolution, JPEG, some small ones might become (larger) GIFs.
So I never use PNG in ebooks.

If you have line work, like a cartoon, black and white, you can make a very compact and very sharp image as a GIF that will pass to the Kindle.

I use Photoshop to sharpen, convert to greyscale, then save as PNG.
Then I use Irfanview to reduce the bit depth.
4 bits if it's just lines, 6, 8 or 16 if there are greys.
I convert and if noticeably degraded I undo and try with more colours.
Then I look at the palette and adjust the "black" to be actually black.
Then save as GIF.

The size of the image in pixels is even more important. If you can reduce that without noticeable degradation, then try that. I'm happy with 800 px wide. The PW is 1072 px wide, so no point going higher than that, unless you think people will be looking at it in the app on iPads or the like.