File format of .mbs files

peterson · 03-20-2016, 05:16 AM

I want to synchronize the last-read position on my Kindle with MoonReader on my Android phone. I haven't been able to find software/hacks for that, so I am looking into doing this myself. Step 1 is figuring out how the Kindle stores the format, step 2 is doing the same for MoonReader, and step 3 the actual syncing (I have a jailbroken Kindle PW2 with some custom scripts and binaries already running, so I am optimistic that I can set something up ala the Kindle writing MoonReader compatible files to Dropbox).

For step 1 I am looking into decoding the mbs files that are in the book.sdr folder(s) on my Kindle. I think I figured out enough to parse it in a quick&dirty way, but a full definition and an explanation of the values would be nicer. Does anybody know any details?

What I have so far:

the mbs file is a key-value dictionary
there seems to be some kind of type indicator (0..4?)
keys are in ascii
each key is prefaced with "fe 00 00" and one byte (or "fe 00" and two bytes in big endian?) with the length of the key
the "lpr" key seems to store the read position, with the value some fixed numbers (type definitions?) and a string with colon-delimited values where the first two are always identical and quite large, and the third increases by one for every page-flip (but it doesn't match the page number the Kindle shows)

I believe by trial&error I can match the "lpr" values to something, but if anybody has more information already, this would save me some time.

knc1 · 03-20-2016, 08:37 AM

Watch out for 'page numbers' in an electronic book -
they usually change when the font or font size is changed.

mcouthon · 02-10-2019, 12:53 AM

Have you ever figured out the format? I'm also looking at decoding the info in the .sdr folders. I want to get the latest read location, but other interesting metadata is also welcome.

ilovejedd · 02-10-2019, 04:25 AM

As far as I can tell, last position read appears to use a similar format to highlights (mbp1)

point 1:point 2:????

With the points being something like Location * 150 (wherein Location is the location found in My Clippings.txt). I can't figure out what the last set of numbers is. I'm guessing it might be location as well but counting something different.

03-20-2016, 05:16 AM	#1
peterson Connoisseur Posts: 74 Karma: 889004 Join Date: Mar 2014 Device: Kindle PW2	File format of .mbs files I want to synchronize the last-read position on my Kindle with MoonReader on my Android phone. I haven't been able to find software/hacks for that, so I am looking into doing this myself. Step 1 is figuring out how the Kindle stores the format, step 2 is doing the same for MoonReader, and step 3 the actual syncing (I have a jailbroken Kindle PW2 with some custom scripts and binaries already running, so I am optimistic that I can set something up ala the Kindle writing MoonReader compatible files to Dropbox). For step 1 I am looking into decoding the mbs files that are in the book.sdr folder(s) on my Kindle. I think I figured out enough to parse it in a quick&dirty way, but a full definition and an explanation of the values would be nicer. Does anybody know any details? What I have so far: the mbs file is a key-value dictionary there seems to be some kind of type indicator (0..4?) keys are in ascii each key is prefaced with "fe 00 00" and one byte (or "fe 00" and two bytes in big endian?) with the length of the key the "lpr" key seems to store the read position, with the value some fixed numbers (type definitions?) and a string with colon-delimited values where the first two are always identical and quite large, and the third increases by one for every page-flip (but it doesn't match the page number the Kindle shows) I believe by trial&error I can match the "lpr" values to something, but if anybody has more information already, this would save me some time.

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03-20-2016, 08:37 AM	#2
knc1 Going Viral Posts: 17,212 Karma: 18210809 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Central Texas Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA	Watch out for 'page numbers' in an electronic book - they usually change when the font or font size is changed.

02-10-2019, 12:53 AM	#3
mcouthon Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2019 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Have you ever figured out the format? I'm also looking at decoding the info in the .sdr folders. I want to get the latest read location, but other interesting metadata is also welcome.

02-10-2019, 04:25 AM	#4
ilovejedd hopeless n00b Posts: 5,110 Karma: 19597086 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: in the middle of nowhere Device: PW4, PW3, Libra H2O, iPad 10.5, iPad 11, iPad 12.9	As far as I can tell, last position read appears to use a similar format to highlights (mbp1) point 1:point 2:???? With the points being something like Location * 150 (wherein Location is the location found in My Clippings.txt). I can't figure out what the last set of numbers is. I'm guessing it might be location as well but counting something different.

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