Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#1

Post by bumbledraven » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 3:47 AM UTC

Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
microsoftpressstore.com

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#2

Post by glenngillen » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 4:01 AM UTC

If, like me, Amazon dropping support for the MOBI for at was news to you then here is an article discussing the announcement: https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2022/05/03/amazon-dropping...

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#3

Post by paxys » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 4:07 AM UTC

I'm very confused about what file format(s) Kindle actually supports.

* They are dropping support for MOBI from their Send to Kindle website and apps.

* They are adding support for ePub in their Send to Kindle website and apps, but apparently they will be converted to Kindle format (MOBI? AZW?) under the hood.

* Several sites mention AZW3 as the official Kindle format. Is that the same as MOBI?

* It is unclear whether ePub and/or MOBI are natively supported by Kindle.

If I connect my Kindle and (1) drag an ePub to its local storage and (2) drag a MOBI to its local storage, will either of them work or not?

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#4

Post by julianlam » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 4:09 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #3

I'm very confused about what file format(s) Kindle actually supports. * They are dropping support for MOBI from their Send to Kindle website and apps. * They are adding support for ePub in their Send to Kindle website and apps, but apparently they will be converted to Kindle format (MOBI? AZW?) under the hood. * Several sites mention AZW3 as the official Kindle format. Is that the same as MOBI? * It is unclear whethe…

Short of a software update, I don't imagine older Kindles would magically be able to read ePub files.

It sounds like sideloading a .mobi file will still work.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#5

Post by iou » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 4:13 AM UTC

Also send-to-kindle today rejected a mobi I sent by email with:

>>>

Send to Kindle supports the following document formats: Adobe PDF (.pdf) Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) Rich Text Format (.rtf) HTML (.htm, .html) Text (.txt) documents Archived documents (zip , x-zip) and compressed archived documents MOBI (.azw, .mobi) (will not support the most up-to-date Kindle features for documents) JPEG (.jpg), GIF (.gif), Bitmap (.bmp), and PNG (.png) images.

Additionally, Send to Kindle emails now supports EPUB (.epub). Later this year, we’ll also be adding EPUB support to the free Kindle app for iOS and Android devices and the Send to Kindle desktop app for PC and Mac.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#6

Post by iou » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 4:15 AM UTC

iou wrote: post #5

Also send-to-kindle today rejected a mobi I sent by email with: >>> Send to Kindle supports the following document formats: Adobe PDF (.pdf) Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) Rich Text Format (.rtf) HTML (.htm, .html) Text (.txt) documents Archived documents (zip , x-zip) and compressed archived documents MOBI (.azw, .mobi) (will not support the most up-to-date Kindle features for documents) JPEG (.jpg), GIF (.gif), Bitma…

I thought the response was a bad thing, but if it just means we’re finally accepting epub as a common default that’s pretty great, right?

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#7

Post by iou » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 4:16 AM UTC

julianlam wrote: post #4

paxys wrote: post #3

I'm very confused about what file format(s) Kindle actually supports. * They are dropping support for MOBI from their Send to Kindle website and apps. * They are adding support for ePub in their Send to Kindle website and apps, but apparently they will be converted to Kindle format (MOBI? AZW?) under the hood. * Several sites mention AZW3 as the official Kindle format. Is that the same as MOBI? * It is unclear whethe…

Short of a software update, I don't imagine older Kindles would magically be able to read ePub files. It sounds like sideloading a .mobi file will still work.

I did a sideload of .mobi today after being rejected by email, no issues.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#8

Post by Rebelgecko » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 4:24 AM UTC

iou wrote: post #6

iou wrote: post #5

Also send-to-kindle today rejected a mobi I sent by email with: >>> Send to Kindle supports the following document formats: Adobe PDF (.pdf) Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) Rich Text Format (.rtf) HTML (.htm, .html) Text (.txt) documents Archived documents (zip , x-zip) and compressed archived documents MOBI (.azw, .mobi) (will not support the most up-to-date Kindle features for documents) JPEG (.jpg), GIF (.gif), Bitma…

I thought the response was a bad thing, but if it just means we’re finally accepting epub as a common default that’s pretty great, right?

Does Amazon still strip metadata and cover art from user-provided epubs? If they're still intentionally gimping the implementation, IMO it's a step backwards

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#9

Post by longrod » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 4:28 AM UTC

Finally! Amazon should have done this long ago. ePub v3 supports everything MOBI does and it has really extensive support across platforms. This is HUGE for people with a big eBook collection.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#10

Post by jorgesborges » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 4:30 AM UTC

julianlam wrote: post #4

paxys wrote: post #3

I'm very confused about what file format(s) Kindle actually supports. * They are dropping support for MOBI from their Send to Kindle website and apps. * They are adding support for ePub in their Send to Kindle website and apps, but apparently they will be converted to Kindle format (MOBI? AZW?) under the hood. * Several sites mention AZW3 as the official Kindle format. Is that the same as MOBI? * It is unclear whethe…

Short of a software update, I don't imagine older Kindles would magically be able to read ePub files. It sounds like sideloading a .mobi file will still work.

My paperwhite did an update a month or so ago around the time I started getting emails about this. It’s been nice not converting to .mobi before transferring (sorry Calibre, I don’t need you anymore) but there are still a few glitches reading the format, especially with special characters. Nothing too annoying.