Libra Image size in Kobo ebooks

[NuclearWinter]

As a new Kobo owner, I've noticed some poor formatting of Kobo books in comparison to Kindle when it comes to images. I'm wondering if there's something obvious I'm missing.

The problem is images that are too large and stretched out. For example maps that get cut off at the bottom and continued on the next page, with text that's too blurry to read.

I should note that these are books downloaded directly from the Kobo store or Overdrive on the device. I'm not talking about sideloaded books. The Kindle versions of these books all look much better.

Is there anything I can do about this? Or is it just something I should expect when purchasing books from Kobo?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by NuclearWinter

As a new Kobo owner, I've noticed some poor formatting of Kobo books in comparison to Kindle when it comes to images. I'm wondering if there's something obvious I'm missing.

The problem is images that are too large and stretched out. For example maps that get cut off at the bottom and continued on the next page, with text that's too blurry to read.

I should note that these are books downloaded directly from the Kobo store or Overdrive on the device. I'm not talking about sideloaded books. The Kindle versions of these books all look much better.

Is there anything I can do about this? Or is it just something I should expect when purchasing books from Kobo?

Can you give the names of a couple of those books?

[JSWolf]

If a map was to get cut off at the bottom of the screen, it would not continue to the next screen. The part not showing would just not be visible.

The fuzzy images could be because of being too low a resolution and being stretched to full screen.

This is not a Kobo issue. It's an ePub issue.

[NuclearWinter]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Can you give the names of a couple of those books?

Hi, Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings is an easy book to see it in. Every chapter starts with a heading image that looks bad and stretched out compared to Kindle. Page 120 has a sketch that's cut off at the bottom and continues on next page.

David Vann's Aquarium has drawings of fish at the start of each chapter. On the Kobo they take up almost half the page. The Kindle version has them much smaller, acting as little header images, matching my memory of the paperback version.

Page 89 of Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai has an image of the greek alphabet that is so large and badly aligned that it clips off the right side when I have margins any smaller than default.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If a map was to get cut off at the bottom of the screen, it would not continue to the next screen. The part not showing would just not be visible.

The fuzzy images could be because of being too low a resolution and being stretched to full screen.

This is not a Kobo issue. It's an ePub issue.

Nope. A problem with a book downloaded directly from Kobo is a Kobo issue. And direct downloads are kepubs, not ePubs. Downloading and reading should not require twiddling with ePubs.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by NuclearWinter

Hi, Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings is an easy book to see it in. Every chapter starts with a heading image that looks bad and stretched out compared to Kindle. Page 120 has a sketch that's cut off at the bottom and continues on next page.

David Vann's Aquarium has drawings of fish at the start of each chapter. On the Kobo they take up almost half the page. The Kindle version has them much smaller, acting as little header images, matching my memory of the paperback version.

Page 89 of Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai has an image of the greek alphabet that is so large and badly aligned that it clips off the right side when I have margins any smaller than default.

I agree with the earlier comment that this sounds like an issue with the epubs, not with Kobo books per se. I've never had any such issues with the books I've bought from Kobo and on the rare occasions when I've had a sideloaded version (often converted from an Amazon source) and a Kobo store purchase, the "native" Kobo version has displayed graphics etc better than the converted version.

[NuclearWinter]

I guess I could just be unlucky that the first three books with images that I've tried have all had issues. It would be a shame if this was representative of epubs as a whole.

Thanks for the responses.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

Nope. A problem with a book downloaded directly from Kobo is a Kobo issue. And direct downloads are kepubs, not ePubs. Downloading and reading should not require twiddling with ePubs.

KePub start life as ePub.They graphics are not changed and neither is the code to display them. As for direct downloading, You do get that with DRM free ePub. I've not seen KePub skew graphics.

Way of the Kings is a Tor eBook so has no DRM. It could have been downloaded from Kobo or Overdrive as ePub. And I know what the problem is that's not a problem. When The Way of the Kings was first released, the chapter graphics were made small and narrow. The current version (both ePub and Kindle) have the chapter graphics made larger and wider. It's not that the ePub is off compared to the Kindle version. It's that the ePub is more recent and the Kindle is an old version. The current Kindle version has the graphics the way it's being seen in the ePub. There is noting wrong at all with the formatting of the chapter graphics except in the original version that has them too small.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

KePub start life as ePub.They graphics are not changed and neither is the code to display them. As for direct downloading, You do get that with DRM free ePub. I've not seen KePub skew graphics.

Way of the Kings is a Tor eBook so has no DRM. It could have been downloaded from Kobo or Overdrive as ePub.

Fair enough. Although I still think that if the issue’s with the books as downloaded directly from Kobo, that’s a Kobo problem.

[NuclearWinter]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The current Kindle version has the graphics the way it's being seen in the ePub. There is noting wrong at all with the formatting of the chapter graphics except in the original version that has them too small.

I would assume that I have the current Kindle version, given that I only just bought the book? Maybe the bigger problem is just the resolution of the chapter graphics. I can expand them with a double tap on the Kindle to be larger than the Kobo ones and they still look less soft and dull.

Also, even aside from the chapter graphics there is the issue with other maps and images getting cut off the bottom and continuing on the next page. The map on page 20 also does this.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by NuclearWinter

David Vann's Aquarium has drawings of fish at the start of each chapter. On the Kobo they take up almost half the page. The Kindle version has them much smaller, acting as little header images, matching my memory of the paperback version.

I took at a look at Aquarium since it was free through Kobo Plus. I'm not sure if I would call the images chapter headers given the ToC doesn't show any chapters and going by the dropcaps, some of the images are being used as scene breaks. Anyhow, I've attached 4 screenshots from it. Are these similar to what you are seeing?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

Fair enough. Although I still think that if the issue’s with the books as downloaded directly from Kobo, that’s a Kobo problem.

It's not a Kobo problem. It's a problem with the eBooks. I have never once read that the conversion of ePub to KePub makes the graphics a problem. I have also never seen such a problem. If there is a problem, it's in the original ePub.

[NuclearWinter]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Anyhow, I've attached 4 screenshots from it. Are these similar to what you are seeing?

Thanks for the screenshots. On my Kobo they extend further across the page. Almost margin to margin. On the Kindle version they are very small in comparison, but I notice now that they are actually quite different. In some cases they look like different fish entirely so presumably there's just a difference between editions.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by NuclearWinter

Thanks for the screenshots. On my Kobo they extend further across the page. Almost margin to margin. On the Kindle version they are very small in comparison, but I notice now that they are actually quite different. In some cases they look like different fish entirely so presumably there's just a difference between editions.

Since this was a Kobo Plus book, it was a sync to my Forma. Oddly, the image size changes with font size changes. This suggests ungood things about the way the images are styled. I grabbed the free sample from Amazon and it looks pretty much the same as the copy from Kobo.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Since this was a Kobo Plus book, it was a sync to my Forma. Oddly, the image size changes with font size changes. This suggests ungood things about the way the images are styled.

More evidence the fault lies with the specific book(s), not Kobo, perhaps?