In the early days of the eBooks, there were limited options when it came to the file extensions that were used. Whatever file they gave you was what you used because that is likely
all that was available. However, today people and businesses have started publishing eBooks and there are also eReader devices on the market today. Of course, another problem is that we seem to replace our frequently replace our electronic devices with “bigger and better” models.
Because of those things, it’s become more confusing to keep track of the eBook file formats you can use on your devices and what will need to be converted before you can open and read it (or send it).
We’re here to clear up that confusion for you.
ePub
This eBook file format can be used on the Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Readers and most Apple devices. There are also addons that can be used in Firefox to read the book on your computer. ePub is an open format and it was created with the purpose of acting as the source file for the book as well as the format needed for the end user.
AZW
The AZW file format is based on the MOBI format (but it has a much higher level of compression) and is used exclusively on the Amazon Kindle. However, Kindle has created many apps that allow their eBooks used on Apple products, computers and most tablets.
LIT
LIT is one of the eBook file formats that has been discontinued. It was developed for use on mobile Windows devices through the use of Microsoft Reader software. Since this has been discontinued, you will probably need to convert your eBook files to a format that can be read on your current devices.
The PDF eBook format is familiar to many people because it is a typical PDF file from Adobe. While this is one of the more popular eBook file formats, it has limitations. It can be read on any device that is equipped with Adobe Reader (and a few others), it does not scale well. This means the PDF eBook format is not very good for smart phones and smaller mobile devices.
ODF
The ODF file format is an XML based format. This is becoming popular because it is the default option for the OpenOffice suite of products that have been developed to give people a free alternative to the traditional Microsoft Office products.
Mobi
The MOBI format is used by the MobiPocket Reader. There is also software and apps available to read these types of eBook file formats on other approved devices. Some of the reading apps for other devices also open Mobi files. However, MOBI files sometimes have trouble converting tables and images on different size devices.
Now that you know what the best options are for eBook file formats, you can make a better choice when you are forced to use an eBook format converter on any of your eBook files.
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