rtf versus epub

sovre · 03-13-2011, 06:49 PM

I'm just curious what are the differences (not so much technically, but as a reader would experience them) between epub and rtf?

I have a lot of rtf files, and I'm in the habit of converting them to epub to use them with Stanza. But the Sony eReader can recognize rtf as well as epub--would there be any compelling reason to convert to epub in this case?

The one thing I have noticed is that my converted epub files tend to be smaller than the original rtf.

DaleDe · 03-13-2011, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sovre

I'm just curious what are the differences (not so much technically, but as a reader would experience them) between epub and rtf?

I have a lot of rtf files, and I'm in the habit of converting them to epub to use them with Stanza. But the Sony eReader can recognize rtf as well as epub--would there be any compelling reason to convert to epub in this case?

The one thing I have noticed is that my converted epub files tend to be smaller than the original rtf.

Yes, the epub is compressed while the RTF is only an ascii file with images shown in base64 most likely. ePUB is definitely more sophisticated format and can be edited in Sigil. ePUB will likely load faster. You can add TOC and metadata to the ePUB while this may or may not be present in your RTF and it is not likely to be available for viewing even if in the file. You can read about RTF in the wiki and ePUB too for that matter.

Dale

Elfwreck · 03-13-2011, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sovre

I'm just curious what are the differences (not so much technically, but as a reader would experience them) between epub and rtf?

Sony's RTF reading doesn't include images, and the font options are limited to the defaults (serif, sans serif, monospace). It doesn't support linking or a TOC (I believe; it's been a long time since I tried anything more than basic formatting options). And as you mentioned, epub is condensed; it has smaller filesizes, especially for anything with complex formatting.

That said, I read a lot of RTFs on my Sony. I set the body text font size to 14 pt, line spacing to 1.2, and indent paragraphs .25" for first lines. I have to remember to turn off the orphan line settings, or I wind up with a lot of pages with whitespace at the bottom; I'd rather deal with a single line starting a paragraph than a half-inch of unused space on the screen. It does acknowledge page breaks, so I use those at chapter breaks. Works fine for novels; wouldn't work for anything I'd want for research.

sovre · 03-14-2011, 04:03 AM

Thanks for the informative, helpful replies.

I just did a comparison myself of a text on my PRS-950, reading first an rtf version and then an epub conversion, and could definitely see a difference. The formatting of the epub file was much nicer, giving overall much better readability.

So I think it's probably worth the small amount of extra time for me to do the conversion.

03-13-2011, 06:49 PM	#1
sovre Zealot Posts: 116 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: United States Device: iPad Mini; iPhone; Kindle Paperwhite (10th gen)	rtf versus epub I'm just curious what are the differences (not so much technically, but as a reader would experience them) between epub and rtf? I have a lot of rtf files, and I'm in the habit of converting them to epub to use them with Stanza. But the Sony eReader can recognize rtf as well as epub--would there be any compelling reason to convert to epub in this case? The one thing I have noticed is that my converted epub files tend to be smaller than the original rtf.

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03-14-2011, 04:03 AM	#4
sovre Zealot Posts: 116 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: United States Device: iPad Mini; iPhone; Kindle Paperwhite (10th gen)	Thanks for the informative, helpful replies. I just did a comparison myself of a text on my PRS-950, reading first an rtf version and then an epub conversion, and could definitely see a difference. The formatting of the epub file was much nicer, giving overall much better readability. So I think it's probably worth the small amount of extra time for me to do the conversion.

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