Mobi Technical Documentation / Cover Images

[erayd]

Where can I find technical documentation that explains how to add a cover image to a mobi file? I've googled extensively, but can't find anything that describes how it's actually done, and sadly the wiki page doesn't go into enough detail in this area.

Note that I'm looking for documentation on how this is internally represented within the file, I'm not looking for instructions on how to use another program to do this job.

Thanks .

Edit: Documentation on creating an embedded TOC (i.e. in the metadata rather than inline) would also be useful, I can't find anything on this either.

[Billi]

Maybe you will find some answers here:

http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/articl...eFolder=prcgen

[erayd]

Originally Posted by Billi

Maybe you will find some answers here:

http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/articl...eFolder=prcgen

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, it's not what I'm after - your link seems to contain instructions on using other software tools to create mobi files.

What I'm looking for is technical information on the mobi format itself.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by erayd

What I'm looking for is technical information on the mobi format itself.

There is no official technical documentation for the mobi format. It's a proprietary format owned by Amazon—so any knowledge gleaned about the internal structure of the format has been from the result reverse engineering efforts. If the wiki here on MobileRead doesn't contain the information you're looking for, then you're probably not going to find it anywhere.

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, it's not what I'm after - your link seems to contain instructions on using other software tools to create mobi files.

Just so you know... the creation of a mobi file REQUIRES "other software tools." They can't really be made from scratch. MOBIs are binary files that must be compiled from source material, so it's not like an epub where you can build it with whatever text-editing tools you already use on your computer. Unless you write your own mobi creation software, you're stuck with kindlegen, Mobipocket Creator, or calibre (plus a few other plugins for other software).

[erayd]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

There is no official technical documentation for the mobi format. It's a proprietary format owned by Amazon—so any knowledge gleaned about the internal structure of the format has been from the result reverse engineering efforts. If the wiki here on MobileRead doesn't contain the information you're looking for, then you're probably not going to find it anywhere.

I'm aware that there is no official documentation - however this format has been comprehensively reverse-engineered by several others in the past, so unofficial documentation is a distinct possibility.

My current references are the MobileRead wiki and the API documentation for a perl library.

Just so you know... the creation of a mobi file REQUIRES "other software tools." They can't really be made from scratch. MOBIs are binary files that must be compiled from source material...

I'm aware of that, however just because it's a binary format doesn't make it impossible to create without using somebody else's tool.

Unless you write your own mobi creation software...

That's exactly what I'm doing, hence my request for documentation.