eBooks are published in a
variety of formats. Not all formats work on
every eReader device.
ePub
-EPUB
was created to be an open and free format
for eBooks. It was designed to allow
changes to the flow and size of text for
different devices. The format has been
widely adopted and is used by the Barnes
and Noble Nook, the Sony Reader, and other
devices. The EPUB format supports images,
tables, sounds, interactivity, word
wrapping, annotations, and bookmarking
PDF (Adobe's Portable Document Format)
The PDF format reproduces an image of a
page. It is widely used, but since PDFs
are designed for printing on standard
paper sizes they may be difficult to read
on small devices such as mobile phones.
PDFs do not allow the "reflowing" of text
like the EPUB format. The PDF format
supports images, tables, sounds,
interactivity, annotations, and
bookmarking.
Mobipocket (MOBI)
The Mobipocket format can be used on any
PC and numerous mobile devices, but is not
as common as the EPUB format. The MOBI
format supports images, tables,
interactivity, word wrapping, annotations,
and bookmarking. It does not support
sound. Mobipocket is becoming less and
less used and may ultimately be phased
out.
AZW
AZW is the format required for Amazon's
Kindle. AZW is a proprietary format and
only works with the Kindle or Kindle apps.
The AZW format supports images, tables,
sounds, interactivity, word wrapping,
annotations, and bookmarking.
WMA
(Windows Media Audio) Audiobook format
developed by Microsoft to distribute
compressed audio over the Internet.
MP3
(MPEG-1 Audio Layer III) Audiobook format
that can be played on almost all portable
devices. MP3 is also compatible with the
Kindle Fire.
