Embedded audio in a fixed layout epub3 (Kobo reader for iPad)

[leighpeigh]

Hi folks,

I’m a graphic designer preparing an ePub3 fixed layout book to be sold in the Kobo store. This is my first ePub with embedded audio so please excuse my ignorance—I’m new to this and I’m sure there’s much I don’t know.

The details:

• We’re producing a linguistics text with a number of short embedded audio files. These files are in mp3 format (from what I understand this is the recommended audio format for embedded audio in ePub3). Note I have tried a few other formats for troubleshooting purposes, with the same results.
• The book is being built in InDesign, and exported to a fixed layout ePub from InDesign.
• The embedded audio clips work just fine in Apple Books.
• The embedded audio clips do not work in the Kobo reader for iPad. If you tap the play control for the audio clip, nothing happens.
• The audio player is visible in Kobo, but the clip shows as 00:00 in length (in the test file I'm attaching it should be 3 seconds).
• As a Hail Mary, I’ve tried a handful of different audio formats as well as a few video formats, and can get NONE of them to play in the Kobo reader.

Am I missing something fundamental here? It is my understanding that Kobo for iPad should play embedded media, but no matter what type of file I try to embed, I can't get anything to trigger and play. And I can't seem to narrow down where exactly the issue is.

Embedded media file format? I've tried a bunch of different formats with no success.

InDesign export settings? There really aren't any settings that relate to embedded media.

Kobo app itself? I can't find any other (free) books with embedded audio to try, but from everything I understand they should be supported in the Kobo app for iPad.

If my problem is not immediately apparent from the description and anyone wants to actually take a look at the files I'm using for testing purposes, I've attached the source (InDesign) files as well as the exported ePub.

Thanks in advance for any insights you might have.

[Doitsu]

I don't have a Kobo, but, AFAIK, regular epub3 books might need to be converted to KEPUB files for use with Kobo readers and apps.

Since there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your test file, you might want to download the semiofficial Creative Commons Shared Culture IDPF audio/video sample file and test it with the Kobo app. If it doesn't work either, it's definitely a Kobo app issue.

[Quoth]

Such an ePub will not work on most real ereaders.
Customers really need a phone or tablet with an app that properly supports ePub3.

I've never used the Kobo app, only third party Android apps for ePub/PDF. I did have the Kindle App, but removed it.


I think either a dedicated custom standalone app or simply content for a web browser works best for multimedia content.

[PeterT]

Is any of the info in https://github.com/kobolabs/epub-spe...ster/README.md of use here?

[Quoth]

Yes it is. They basically only have EPUB3 for fixed layout (which is garbage on phones and eInk, usually needs 10" tablets) and Multimedia on iOS and Android.

So for multimedia, a dedicated app is better for iOS and Android.
IMO Fixed Layout and/or Multimedia (Video, Gifs, image maps, audio) are not real eBooks. The epub3 spec should never have been called epub, but something else.

Kobo supports a subset of elements from the EPUB 3 spec.

Multimedia: No SMIL on eInk, Mac, Windows etc. Only Android and iOS Apps.

SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) is supported for FXL titles on Android and iOS. Audio files must be encoded using Apple iTunes AAC-LC mp4-v2 codec, 256 kbps.

Note: The Kobo Android platform does not currently support:

Non-Linear playback
Text highlighting for SVG text
Using decimals when the time is already specified in milliseconds. (ex. clipBegin="47808.823ms" clipEnd="48330.373ms). This may cause the audio to stop playing or to not start playing at all.
Using more than 4 decimal places. (ex. clipBegin="4.82333" clipEnd="7.45334ms). This may prevent the audio track from playing at all.

No multimedia content in Comic Book style fixed layouts:

The Kobo Android and iOS platforms will render FXL EPUBs that meet certain criteria with an image-based Fixed Layout reader. This reader features significantly faster panning, zooming, and page-turns than the standard one. Designed to enhance the reading experience of comics, it works for any FXL EPUBs composed entirely of images.

Basically if it's got multimedia, it's not really an ebook, only iOS and Android supported. So a Custom App would be a better experience and cause less confusion.

Multimedia Support / Media Overlays
Testing across platforms for EPUBs with multimedia and other media overlays is recommended.
Embedded audio and video is currently supported on Kobo’s iOS and Android platforms for all content.
Windows does not currently support embedded audio and video. Kobo eInk devices and the desktop app do not support embedded audio and video either but will display any content included as a fallback using the switch element display instead. NOTE: This functionality has been deprecated in EPUB3.2.
Autoplay Functionality is Not Currently Supported

Marketing fixed layout "Kindle" ebooks and any ePub3 that uses fixed layout and/or multimedia is just confusing the users, the market.
Such content is better done as dedicated comic formats, PDFs or dedicated apps.
No real mainstream ereaders implement all of epub3.
Fixed layout and/or Multimedian are not real ebooks, they are print simulations or interactive documents.

Multimedia is only on iOS & Android

Audio Video Issues on Android and iOS Platforms

Kobo often receives content with embedded audio that does not work on one or both of our iOS and Android platforms (the criteria for activating such content is that is pass QA on both). This is usually either because the content has not been designed and tested for more than one reading platform or because the media, codecs, HTML or mimetypes are not compatible with one or both of the Android and iOS devices at all (i.e. even outside of the Kobo app).

[leighpeigh]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

I don't have a Kobo, but, AFAIK, regular epub3 books might need to be converted to KEPUB files for use with Kobo readers and apps.

Since there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your test file, you might want to download the semiofficial Creative Commons Shared Culture IDPF audio/video sample file and test it with the Kobo app. If it doesn't work either, it's definitely a Kobo app issue.

Thanks Doitsu! Appreciate the help. I've just tried both—converting my epub to a kepub, and testing the CC Shared Culture epub file.

My converted file still didn't play multimedia, and it messed up some of the fixed layout to boot.

The CC Shared Culture epub similarly doesn't work in Kobo reader for iPad. Well, the epub works, but the multimedia elements don't, so yeah it's starting to look like support for embedded media and epub3 is patchy and differs across Kobo readers and Kobo apps (I had suspected the Kobo app was a whole different beast than a Kobo reader itself, and had different support).

Starting to think we might have to go a different way, as it seems extremely unlikely that we'll be able to get this thing working across all Kobo entities. Appreciate the support and suggestions from everyone.

[Quoth]

You need two custom apps, iOS and Android.
It will be much better user experience than trying to use an eReader app, and it won't work on any real ereader anyway.