Comparison of e-book formats: Difference between revisions

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The .ibooks format is created with the free [[iBooks Author]] ebook layout software from [[Apple Inc.]]. This proprietary format is based on the [[EPUB]] standard, with some differences in the CSS tags used in an ibooks format file, thus making it incompatible with the EPUB open standard. The End-User Licensing Agreement (EULA) that comes with iBooks Author states that "If you want to charge a fee for a work that includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author, you may only sell or distribute such work through Apple". The "through Apple" will typically be in the Apple [[iBooks]] store. The EULA further states that "This restriction does not apply to the content of such works when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format." Therefore, Apple has not included distribution restrictions in the iBooks Author EULA for ibooks format ebooks created in iBooks Author that are made available for free, and it does not prevent authors from repurposing the content in other ebook formats to be sold outside of the iBookstore. This software currently supports import and export functionally for three formats. ibook, Plain text and Adobe PDF. It does not support importing or exporting in EPUB format.
The .ibooks format is created with the free [[iBooks Author]] ebook layout software from [[Apple Inc.]]. This proprietary format is based on the [[EPUB]] standard, with some differences in the CSS tags used in an ibooks format file, thus making it incompatible with the EPUB open standard. The End-User Licensing Agreement (EULA) that comes with iBooks Author states that "If you want to charge a fee for a work that includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author, you may only sell or distribute such work through Apple". The "through Apple" will typically be in the Apple [[iBooks]] store. The EULA further states that "This restriction does not apply to the content of such works when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format." Therefore, Apple has not included distribution restrictions in the iBooks Author EULA for ibooks format ebooks created in iBooks Author that are made available for free, and it does not prevent authors from repurposing the content in other ebook formats to be sold outside of the iBookstore. This software currently supports import and export functionally for three formats. ibook, Plain text and PDF. It does not support importing or exporting in EPUB format.


===IEC 62448===
===IEC 62448===
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A file format created by [[Adobe Systems]], initially to provide a standard form for storing printable documents containing a set of page images. The format derives from [[PostScript]], but without language features like loops, and with added support for features like compression, passwords and DRM. Because PDF documents can easily be viewed and printed by users on a variety of computer [[Platform (computing)|platforms]], they are very common on the [[World Wide Web]]. The specification of the format is available without charge from Adobe.
Invented by [[Adobe Systems]], and first released in 1993, [[PDF]] became ISO 32000 in 2008. The format was developed to provide a platform-independent means of exchanging fixed-layout documents. Derived from [[PostScript]], but without language features like loops, PDF adds support for features such as compression, passwords, semantic structures and DRM. Because PDF documents can easily be viewed and printed by users on a variety of computer [[Platform (computing)|platforms]], they are very common on the [[World Wide Web]] and in document management systems worldwide. The current PDF specification, ISO 32000-1:2008, is available from ISO's website, and under special arrangement, without charge from Adobe.<ref>[http://www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference.html Adobe Systems' PDF Reference page]</ref>


Because the format is designed to reproduce fixed-layout pages, re-flowing text to fit mobile device and e-book reader screens has traditionally been problematic. This limitation was addressed in 2001 with the release of PDF Reference 1.5 and "Tagged PDF"<ref>[http://www.planetpdf.com/enterprise/article.asp?ContentID=6067 "What is Tagged PDF?" on PlanetPDF]</ref>, but 3rd party support for this feature was limited until the release of [[PDF/UA]] in 2012.
Because the format is designed to reproduce page images, the text traditionally could not be re-flowed to fit the screen width or size. As a result, PDF files designed for printing on standard paper sizes were less easily viewed on screens with limited size or resolution, such as those found on mobile phones and e-book readers. Adobe has addressed this drawback by adding a re-flow facility to its Acrobat Reader software.


Many products support creating and reading PDF files, such as Adobe Acrobat, [[PDFCreator]], [[OpenOffice.org]], [[iText]], [[ConTeXt]] and [[Formatting Objects Processor|FOP]], and several programming libraries<!-- somebody add an appropriate link to this concept -->. Third party viewers such as [[xpdf]] are also available. Mac OS X has built-in PDF support, both for creation as part of the printing system and for display using the built-in Preview application.
Many products support creating and reading PDF files, such as Adobe Acrobat, [[PDFCreator]], [[OpenOffice.org]], [[iText]], [[ConTeXt]] and [[Formatting Objects Processor|FOP]], and several programming libraries such as [[iText]] and [[Formatting Objects Processor|FOP]]. Third party viewers such as [[xpdf]] and [[Nitro PDF]] are also available. Mac OS X has built-in PDF support, both for creation as part of the printing system and for display using the built-in Preview application.


PDF files are supported by almost all modern e-book readers, tablets and smartphones. However, PDF re-flow being newer is not supported by all devices that can open PDF files. Reflow is usually found under the "view" options, and is usually called "word-wrap".
PDF files are supported by almost all modern e-book readers, tablets and smartphones. However, PDF reflow based on Tagged PDF, as opposed to re-flow based on the actual sequence of objects in the content-stream, is not yet commonly supported on mobile devices. Such Reflow options as may exist are usually found under "view" options, and may be called "word-wrap".


===Plain text files ===
===Plain text files ===

Revision as of 15:36, 4 March 2014

The following is a comparison of e-book formats used to create and publish e-books.

The EPUB format is the most widely supported[citation needed] vendor-independent XML-based (as opposed to PDF) e-book format; that is, it is supported by the largest number of e-Readers. The popularity of Amazon.com's Kindle devices in America has led also to the prominence of KF8 and AZW formats; Kindle does not support EPUB.

Format descriptions

Formats available include, but are by no means limited to:

Archos Diffusion

Format: Archos Reader
Published as: .aeh

The AEH format is an XML-based proprietary format developed by the French firm Archos Diffusion. AEH files use a proprietary DRM and encryption method and are readable only in the Archos Player. It supports various input formats for text, audio or video, such as PDF, WMA, MP3, WMV, and allows multiple interactive functions such as bookmarking, advanced plain-text searching, dynamic text highlighting, etc.

Broadband eBooks (BBeB)

Main article: BBeB
Format: Sony media
Published as: .lrf; .lrx

The digital book format originally used by Sony Corporation. It is a proprietary format, but some reader software for general-purpose computers, particularly under Linux (for example, calibre's internal viewer[1]), have the capability to read it. The LRX file extension represents a DRM encrypted eBook. More recently, Sony has converted its books from BBeB to EPUB and is now issuing new titles in EPUB.

Comic Book Archive file

Main article: Comic book archive
Format: compressed images
Published as: .cbr (RAR); .cbz (ZIP); .cb7 (7z); .cbt (TAR); .cba (ACE)

Compiled HTML

Format: Microsoft Compiled HTML Help
Published as: .chm

CHM format is a proprietary format based on HTML. Multiple pages and embedded graphics are distributed along with proprietary metadata as a single compressed file. In contrast, in HTML, a site consists of multiple HTML files and associated image files in standardized formats.

DAISY – ANSI/NISO Z39.86

Format: DAISY
Published as:

The Digital Accessible Information SYstem (DAISY) is an XML-based open standard maintained by the DAISY Consortium for people with print disabilities. DAISY has wide international support with features for multimedia, navigation and synchronization. A subset of the DAISY format has been adopted by law in the United States as the National Instructional Material Accessibility Standard (NIMAS), and K-12 textbooks and instructional materials are now required to be provided to students with disabilities.

DAISY is already aligned with the EPUB open standard, and is expected to fully converge with its forthcoming EPUB3 revision.[2]

DjVu

Format: DjVu
Published as: .djvu

DjVu is a format specialized for storing scanned documents. It includes advanced compressors optimized for low-color images, such as text documents. Individual files may contain one or more pages. DjVu files cannot be re-flowed.

The contained page images are divided in separate layers (such as multi-color, low-resolution, background layer using lossy compression, and few-colors, high-resolution, tightly compressed foreground layer), each compressed in the best available method. The format is designed to decompress very quickly, even faster than vector-based formats.

The advantage of DjVu is that it is possible to take a high-resolution scan (300–400 DPI), good enough for both on-screen reading and printing, and store it very efficiently. Several dozens of 300 DPI black-and-white scans can be stored in less than a megabyte.

EPUB

Main article: EPUB
Format: IDPF/EPUB
Published as: .epub
File:EPUB logo.svg
The EPUB logo.

The .epub or OEBPS format is an open standard for e-books created by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It combines three IDPF open standards:

  • Open Publication Structure (OPS) 2.0, which describes the content markup (either XHTML or Daisy DTBook)
  • Open Packaging Format (OPF) 2.0, which describes the structure of an .epub in XML
  • OEBPS Container Format (OCF) 1.0, which bundles files together (as a renamed ZIP file)

The EPUB format has gained some popularity as a vendor-independent XML-based e-book format. The format can be read by the Kobo eReader, Blackberry Playbook, Apple's iBooks app running on iOS devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, Barnes and Noble Nook, Sony Reader, BeBook, Bookeen Cybook Gen3 (with firmware v. 2 and up), COOL-ER, Adobe Digital Editions, Lexcycle Stanza, BookGlutton, AZARDI, FBReader, Aldiko, Mantano Reader, Moon+ Reader on Android, the Mozilla Firefox add-on EPUBReader, and Okular. Several other desktop reader software programs are currently implementing support for the format, such as dotReader, Mobipocket, uBook.

The only notable device lacking support for the EPUB format is the Amazon Kindle. There are a number of programs that can convert EPUB to formats the Kindle can read, including Calibre and kindlegen.[3]

Adobe Digital Editions uses .epub format for its e-books, with DRM protection provided through their proprietary ADEPT mechanism. The recently developed ADEPT framework and scripts have been reverse-engineered to circumvent this DRM system.[4]

eReader

Formerly Palm Digital Media/Peanut Press
Format: Palm Media
Published as: .pdb

eReader is a freeware program for viewing Palm Digital Media electronic books which use the pdb format used by many Palm applications. Versions are available for iPhone, Palm OS (not webOS), Android, Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile Pocket PC/Smartphone, desktop Windows, and Macintosh. The reader shows text one page at a time, as paper books do. eReader supports embedded hyperlinks and images. Additionally, the Stanza application for the iPhone and iPod Touch can read both encrypted and unencrypted eReader files.

The program supports features like bookmarks and footnotes, enabling the user to mark any page with a bookmark, and any part of the text with a footnote-like commentary. Footnotes can later be exported as a Memo document.

On July 20, 2009, Barnes & Noble made an announcement[5] implying that eReader would be the company's preferred format to deliver e-books. Exactly three months later, in a press release by Adobe, it was revealed Barnes & Noble would be joining forces with the software company to standardize the open EPUB and PDF eBook formats.[6][7] Barnes & Noble e-books are now sold mostly in EPUB format.[8][9][10]

FictionBook (Fb2)

Format: FictionBook
Published as: .fb2

FictionBook[11] is a popular XML-based e-book format, supported by free readers such as FBReader, Okular, CoolReader, Bebook and STDU Viewer.

The FictionBook format does not specify the appearance of a document; instead, it describes its structure and semantics. All the ebook metadata, such as the author name, title, and publisher, is also present in the ebook file. Hence the format is convenient for automatic processing, indexing, and ebook collection management. This also is convenient to store books in it for later automatic conversion into other formats.

Founder Electronics

Format: Apabi Reader
Published as: .xeb; .ceb

APABI is a format devised by Founder Electronics. It is a popular format for Chinese e-books. It can be read using the Apabi Reader software, and produced using Apabi Publisher. Both .xeb and .ceb files are encoded binary files. The Iliad e-book device includes an Apabi 'viewer'.

Hypertext Markup Language

Format: Hypertext
Published as: .htm; .html

HTML is the markup language used for most web pages. E-books using HTML can be read using a Web browser. The specifications for the format are available without charge from the W3C.

HTML adds specially marked meta-elements to otherwise plain text encoded using character sets like ASCII or UTF-8. As such, suitably formatted files can be, and sometimes are, generated by hand using a plain text editor or programmer's editor. Many HTML generator applications exist to ease this process and often require less intricate knowledge of the format details involved.

HTML on its own is not a particularly efficient format to store information in, requiring more storage space for a given work than many other formats. However, several e-Book formats including the Amazon Kindle, Open eBook, Compiled HTML, Mobipocket and EPUB store each book chapter in HTML format, then use ZIP compression to compress the HTML data, images, metadata and style sheets into a single, significantly smaller, file.

HTML files encompass a wide range of standards[12] and displaying HTML files correctly can be complicated. Additionally many of the features supported, such as forms, are not relevant to e-books.

iBook (Apple)

Format: iBook
Published as: .ibooks

The .ibooks format is created with the free iBooks Author ebook layout software from Apple Inc.. This proprietary format is based on the EPUB standard, with some differences in the CSS tags used in an ibooks format file, thus making it incompatible with the EPUB open standard. The End-User Licensing Agreement (EULA) that comes with iBooks Author states that "If you want to charge a fee for a work that includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author, you may only sell or distribute such work through Apple". The "through Apple" will typically be in the Apple iBooks store. The EULA further states that "This restriction does not apply to the content of such works when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format." Therefore, Apple has not included distribution restrictions in the iBooks Author EULA for ibooks format ebooks created in iBooks Author that are made available for free, and it does not prevent authors from repurposing the content in other ebook formats to be sold outside of the iBookstore. This software currently supports import and export functionally for three formats. ibook, Plain text and PDF. It does not support importing or exporting in EPUB format.

IEC 62448

Format: IEC 62448
Published as:

IEC 62448 is an international standard created by International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Technical Committee 100, Technical Area 10 (Multimedia e-publishing and e-book).

The current version of IEC 62448 is an umbrella standard that contains as appendices two concrete formats, XMDF of Sharp and BBeB of Sony. However, BBeB has been discontinued by Sony and the version of XMDF that is in the specification is out of date. The IEC TA10 group is discussing the next steps, and has invited the IDPF organization which has standardized EPUB to be a liaison. It is possible that the current version of EPUB and/or the forthcoming EPUB3 revision may be added to IEC 62448. Meanwhile a number of Japanese companies have proposed that IEC standardize a proposed new Japanese-centric file format that is expected to unify DotBook of Voyager Japan and XMDF of Sharp. This new format has not been publicly disclosed as of November 2010 but it is supposed to cover basic representations for the Japanese language. Technically speaking, this revision is supposed to provide a Japanese minimum set, a Japanese extension set, and a stylesheet language. These issues were discussed in the TC100 meeting held in October 2010 but no decisions were taken besides offering the liaison status to IDPF.

KF8 (Amazon Kindle)

Format: Kindle
Published as: .azw; .kf8

With the release of the Kindle Fire reader in late 2011, Amazon.com also released Kindle Format 8, their new file format. The .kf8 file format supports a subset of HTML5 and CSS3 features, with some additional nonstandard features; the new data is stored within a container which can also be used to store a MOBI content document (allowing limited backwards compatibility).[13][14][15]

Older Kindle eBook readers use the proprietary format, AZW. It is based on the Mobipocket standard, with a slightly different serial number scheme (it uses an asterisk instead of a dollar sign) and its own DRM formatting. Because the eBooks bought on the Kindle are delivered over its wireless system called Whispernet, the user does not see the AZW files during the download process. The Kindle format is now available on a variety of platforms, such as through the Kindle app for the iPad.

Microsoft LIT

Format: Microsoft Reader
Published as: .lit

DRM-protected LIT files are only readable in the proprietary Microsoft Reader program, as the .LIT format, otherwise similar to Microsoft's CHM format, includes Digital Rights Management features. Other third party readers, such as Lexcycle Stanza, can read unprotected LIT files.

The Microsoft Reader uses patented ClearType display technology. In Reader navigation works with a keyboard, mouse, stylus, or through electronic bookmarks. The Catalog Library records reader books in a personalized "home page", and books are displayed with ClearType to improve readability. A user can add annotations and notes to any page, create large-print e-books with a single command, or create free-form drawings on the reader pages. A built-in dictionary allows the user to look up words.

Microsoft announced that Microsoft Reader has been discontinued from August 30, 2012.

Mobipocket

Format: Mobipocket
Published as: .prc; .mobi

The Mobipocket e-book format is based on the Open eBook standard using XHTML and can include JavaScript and frames. It also supports native SQL queries to be used with embedded databases. There is a corresponding e-book reader.

The Mobipocket Reader has a home page library. Readers can add blank pages in any part of a book and add free-hand drawings. Annotations – highlights, bookmarks, corrections, notes, and drawings – can be applied, organized, and recalled from a single location. Images are converted to GIF format and have a maximum size of 64K,[16] sufficient for mobile phones with small screens, but rather restrictive for newer gadgets. Mobipocket Reader has electronic bookmarks, and a built-in dictionary.

The reader has a full screen mode for reading and support for many PDAs, Communicators, and Smartphones. Mobipocket products support most Windows, Symbian, BlackBerry and Palm operating systems, but not the Android platform. Using WINE, the reader works under Linux or Mac OS X. Third-party applications like Okular and FBReader can also be used under Linux or Mac OS X, but they work only with unencrypted files.

The Amazon Kindle's AZW format is basically just the Mobipocket format with a slightly different serial number scheme (it uses an asterisk instead of a dollar sign), and .prc publications can be read directly on the Kindle. The Kindle AZW format also lacks some Mobipocket features such as JavaScript.[17]

Amazon has developed an .epub to .mobi converter called KindleGen[18] (supports IDPF 1.0 and IDPF 2.0 epub format, according to the company).

Multimedia eBooks

Format: Eveda
Published as: .exe or .html

A multimedia ebook is media and book content that utilizes a combination of different book content formats. The term can be used as a noun (a medium with multiple content formats) or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content formats.

The 'multimedia ebook' term is used in contrast to media which only utilize traditional forms of printed or text books. Multimedia ebooks include a combination of text, audio, images, video, and/or interactive content formats. Much like how a traditional book can contain images to help the text tell a story, a multimedia ebook can contain other elements not formerly possible to help tell the story.

With the advent of more widespread tablet-like computers, such as the smartphone, some publishing houses are planning to make multimedia ebooks, such as Penguin.[19]

Newton eBook

Format: Newton eBook
Published as: .pkg

Commonly known as an Apple Newton book; a single Newton package file can contain multiple books (for example, the three books of a trilogy might be packaged together). All systems running the Newton operating system (the most common include the Newton MessagePads, eMates, Siemens Secretary Stations, Motorola Marcos, Digital Ocean Seahorses and Tarpons) have built-in support for viewing Newton books. The Newton package format was released to the public by Newton, Inc. prior to that company's absorption into Apple Computer. The format is thus arguably open and various people have written readers for it (writing a Newton book converter has even been assigned as a university-level class project[20]).

Newton books have no support for DRM or encryption. They do support internal links, potentially multiple tables of contents and indexes, embedded gray scale images, and even some scripting capability (for example, it's possible to make a book in which the reader can influence the outcome).[21] Newton books utilize Unicode and are thus available in numerous languages. An individual Newton book may actually contain multiple views representing the same content in different ways (such as for different screen resolutions).

Open Electronic Package

Format: Open eBook
Published as: .opf

OPF is an XML-based e-book format created by E-Book Systems; it has been superseded by the EPUB electronic publication standard.

Portable Document Format

Format: Portable Document Format
Published as: .pdf

Invented by Adobe Systems, and first released in 1993, PDF became ISO 32000 in 2008. The format was developed to provide a platform-independent means of exchanging fixed-layout documents. Derived from PostScript, but without language features like loops, PDF adds support for features such as compression, passwords, semantic structures and DRM. Because PDF documents can easily be viewed and printed by users on a variety of computer platforms, they are very common on the World Wide Web and in document management systems worldwide. The current PDF specification, ISO 32000-1:2008, is available from ISO's website, and under special arrangement, without charge from Adobe.[22]

Because the format is designed to reproduce fixed-layout pages, re-flowing text to fit mobile device and e-book reader screens has traditionally been problematic. This limitation was addressed in 2001 with the release of PDF Reference 1.5 and "Tagged PDF"[23], but 3rd party support for this feature was limited until the release of PDF/UA in 2012.

Many products support creating and reading PDF files, such as Adobe Acrobat, PDFCreator, OpenOffice.org, iText, ConTeXt and FOP, and several programming libraries such as iText and FOP. Third party viewers such as xpdf and Nitro PDF are also available. Mac OS X has built-in PDF support, both for creation as part of the printing system and for display using the built-in Preview application.

PDF files are supported by almost all modern e-book readers, tablets and smartphones. However, PDF reflow based on Tagged PDF, as opposed to re-flow based on the actual sequence of objects in the content-stream, is not yet commonly supported on mobile devices. Such Reflow options as may exist are usually found under "view" options, and may be called "word-wrap".

Plain text files

Format: text
Published as: .txt

The first e-books in history were in plain text (.txt) format, supplied for free by the Project Gutenberg community, but the format itself existed before the e-book era. The plain text format doesn't support digital restrictions management (DRM) or formatting options (such as different fonts, graphics or colors), but it has excellent portability as it is the simplest e-book encoding possible as a plain text file contains only ASCII or Unicode text (text files with Unicode or UTF-8 encoding are also popular for languages other than English). Almost all operating systems can read ASCII text files (e.g. Unix, Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, DOS and other systems) and newer operating systems support Unicode text files as well. The only potential for portability problems of ASCII text files is that operating systems differ in their preferred line ending convention and their interpretation of values outside the ASCII range (their character encoding). Conversion of files from one to another line-ending convention is easy with free software. DOS and Windows uses CRLF, Unix and Apple's OS X use LF, Mac OS up to and including OS 9 uses CR. By convention, lines are often broken to fit into 80 characters, a legacy of older terminals and consoles. Alternately, each paragraph may be a single line.

The size in bytes of a text file is simply the number of characters, including spaces, and with a new line counting for 1 or 2. For example, the Bible, which is approximately 800,000 words, is about 4 MB.[24]

Plucker

Format: Plucker
Published as: .pdb

Plucker is an Open Source free mobile and desktop e-book reader application with its own associated file format and software to automatically generate Plucker files from text, PDF, HTML, or other document format files, web sites or RSS feeds. The format is public and well-documented. Free readers are available for all kinds of desktop computers and many PDAs.

PostScript

Format: PostScript
Published as: .ps

PostScript is a page description language used in the electronic and desktop publishing areas for defining the contents and layout of a printed page, which can be used by a rendering program to assemble and create the actual output bitmap. Many office printers directly support interpreting PostScript and printing the result. As a result, the format also sees wide use in the Unix world.

SSReader

Format: SSReader
Published as: .pdg

The digital book format used by a popular digital library company 超星数字图书馆[25] in China. It is a proprietary raster image compression and binding format, with reading time OCR plug-in modules. The company scanned a huge number of Chinese books in the China National Library and this becomes the major stock of their service. The detailed format is not published. There are also some other commercial e-book formats used in Chinese digital libraries.

TEBR

Format: TEBR
Published as: .tebr[citation needed]

TEBR file format is designed with mobile devices, PDAs, and phones in mind, although a Windows Desktop version is also available. The first reader to support this format is the Tiny eBook Reader. It allows compression and encryption, but does not allow for conversion to other formats.

Text Encoding Initiative

Format: TEI Lite
Published as: .xml[citation needed]

TEI Lite is the most[citation needed] popular of the TEI-based (and thus XML-based or SGML-based) electronic text formats.

TomeRaider

Format: TomeRaider
Published as: .tr2; .tr3

The TomeRaider e-book format is a proprietary format. There are versions of TomeRaider for Windows, Windows Mobile (aka Pocket PC), Palm, Symbian and iPhone. Several Wikipedias are available as TomeRaider files with all articles unabridged, some even with nearly all images. Capabilities of the TomeRaider3 e-book reader vary considerably per platform: the Windows and Windows Mobile editions support full HTML and CSS. The Palm edition supports limited HTML (e.g., no tables, no fonts), and CSS support is missing. For Symbian there is only the older TomeRaider2 format, which does not render images or offer category search facilities. Despite these differences any TomeRaider e-book can be browsed on all supported platforms. The Tomeraider website[26] claims to have over 4000 e-books available, including free versions of the Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia.

Open XML Paper Specification

Format: OpenXPS
Published as: .oxps, .xps

Open XML Paper Specification (also referred to as OpenXPS) is an open specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format. Microsoft developed it as the XML Paper Specification (XPS). In June 2009, Ecma International adopted it as international standard ECMA-388.[27]

The format is intentionally restricted to sequences of: Glyphs (a fixed run of text), Paths (a geometry that can be filled, or stroked, by a brush), and Brushes (a description of a shaped brush used to in rendering paths).

This reduces the possibility of inadvertent introduction of malicious content and simplifies the implementation of compatible renderers.

Comparison tables

Features

Format Filename extension DRM support Image support Table support Sound support Interactivity support Word wrap support Open standard Embedded annotation support Book- marking Video support
DjVu .djvu ? Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes ?
EPUB (IDPF) .epub Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes yes Yes/No[f 1] Yes/No[f 1] Yes[f 2]
FictionBook .fb2 No Yes Yes/No[f 3] No No Yes Yes Yes ? ?
HTML .html No Yes Yes Yes[f 4] No Yes Yes No No Yes[f 5]
Kindle .azw Yes Yes Yes[f 6][28] Yes[f 7][29] Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes[f 8][29]
Microsoft Reader .lit Yes Yes ? No No Yes No ? Yes ?
Mobipocket .prc, .mobi Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes ?
Multimedia EBook .exe Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ?
Newton Book .pkg No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
eReader .pdb Yes Yes ? No No Yes No Yes Yes ?
Plain text .txt No No No No No Yes Yes No No No
Plucker .pdb Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes ?
Portable Document Format .pdf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes/No[f 9][30] Yes Yes Yes Yes[f 10]
PostScript .ps No Yes ? No No No Yes ? ? ?
Tome Raider .tr2, .tr3 Yes Yes ? No No Yes No ? ? ?
OpenXPS .oxps, .xps ? Yes Yes ? No No Yes ? ? ?
  1. ^ a b Depends on the eReader application
  2. ^ With ePub 3
  3. ^ Table support added in FictionBook V2.1. Not supported in V2.0
  4. ^ With HTML 5
  5. ^ With HTML 5
  6. ^ Supported in all except 1st Generation Kindle. (Support level is as it is in mobipocket)
  7. ^ Supported only in kindle for iPhone, iPod, iPad.
  8. ^ Supported only in kindle for iPhone, iPod, iPad.
  9. ^ "Reflow" is implemented by some readers.
  10. ^ With Flash Embeded

Supporting platforms

Reader  Plain text PDF ePub HTML Mobi- Pocket Fiction- Book (Fb2) DjVu Broadband eBook (BBeB)[h 1] eReader[h 1] Kindle[h 1] WOLF[h 1] Tome Raider[h 1] Open eBook[h 2] Comic Book OpenXPS
Amazon Kindle 1 Yes No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No No ? ?
Amazon Kindle 2, DX Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No No ? ?
Amazon Kindle 3 Yes Yes No[h 3] Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No No ? ?
Amazon Kindle Fire Yes Yes Yes[h 4] Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No No ? ?
Android Devices Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[h 5][31] Yes Yes[h 5][32] No Yes[h 5][33] Yes No Yes[h 5][26] Yes[h 5] ? Yes
Apple iOS Devices Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[h 5] Yes[h 5] Yes[h 5] No Yes[h 5] Yes[h 5] No Yes[h 5] Yes[h 5] Yes[h 6] ?
Azbooka WISEreader Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No ? ?
Barnes & Noble Nook Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No No No ? ?
Barnes & Noble Nook Color Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No ? ?
Bookeen Cybook Gen3, Opus Yes Yes Yes[h 7] Yes Yes[h 7] Yes[h 8] No No No No No No Yes ? ?
COOL-ER Classic Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No ? ?
Gnu/Linux Operating System Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[h 9] Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes Yes
Foxit eSlick Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No ? ?
Hanlin e-Reader V3 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No ? ?
Hanvon WISEreader Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No ? ?
iRex iLiad Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No No No No No ? ?
Iriver Story Yes Yes Yes No No Yes[h 5] Yes[h 5] No No No No No No ? ?
Kobo eReader Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No Yes ?
Nokia N900 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes Yes ?
NUUTbook 2 Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No ? ?
OLPC XO, Sugar Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No No No ? ?
Onyx Boox 60 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No ? ?
Mac OS X Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ?
TrekStor eBook Reader Pyrus[34] Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes No No No ? ? ?
Windows Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[h 10] Yes ? Yes Yes[h 11] ? ? Yes ? Yes[h 12]
Pocketbook 301 Plus, 302, 360° Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No ? ?
Sony Reader Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No No No No ? ?
Viewsonic VEB612 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No ? ?
Windows Phone 7 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No No ? ?
  1. ^ a b c d e Proprietary format
  2. ^ Predecessor of ePUB
  3. ^ Yes, if the Duokan alternate Kindle OS (third-party software add-on) is used.
  4. ^ By adding epub capable apps, such as Aldiko
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Requires latest firmware
  6. ^ With third party apps, such as CloudReader
  7. ^ a b Versions support either ePUB or MobiPocket
  8. ^ Only ePUB version and with FW 2.0+
  9. ^ KDE's Okular supports fb2
  10. ^ ICE Book Reader for Windows supports fb2
  11. ^ DRM-protected publications are supported as of Kindle for PC v1.3.0
  12. ^ XP or later, not on Windows 2000

See also

References

General information
  • Cavanaugh, T W (2006). The Digital Reader: Using E-Books in K-12 Education. Eugene, Oregon: International Society for Technology in Education. ISBN 1564842215.
  • Chandler, S (2010). From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur: Make Money with Books, EBooks, and Information Products. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 1118044770.
  • Cope, B., & Mason, D. (2002). Markets for electronic book products. C-2-C series, bk. 3.2. Altona, Vic: Common Ground Pub.
  • Henke, H (2001). Electronic Books and Epublishing: A Practical guide for Authors. London: Springer. ISBN 1852334355.
  • Hanttula, D. (2001). Pocket PC handbook.
  • Rich, J (2006). Self-Publishing For Dummies. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0470100370.
Footnotes
  1. ^ http://calibre-ebook.com/about
  2. ^ http://www.daisy.org/z3986
  3. ^ "Kindle Publishing Programs". Amazon Kindle. 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2014-01-11. [kindlegen] for publishers and individuals who are familiar with HTML and want to convert their HTML, XHTML, XML (OPF/IDPF format), or ePub source into a Kindle Book
  4. ^ http://i-u2665-cabbages.blogspot.com/2009/02/circumventing-adobe-adept-drm-for-epub.html
  5. ^ Barnes & Noble Launches World's Largest eBookstore
  6. ^ "Barnes & Noble adopts open EPUB eBook Format, PDF and Adobe Content Server" (Press release). Adobe Systems. 2009-10-20. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
  7. ^ Rothman, David (2009-10-20), ‘Barnes & Noble adopts open EPUB eBook Format, PDF and Adobe Content Server’, TeleRead, retrieved 2013-05-06
  8. ^ Bell, Ian (2009-11-18), Barnes & Noble Adopts ePub Standard; Aligns With Adobe, Digital Trends, retrieved 2013-05-06
  9. ^ Meadows, Chris (2009-12-13), Barnes & Noble quietly changes e-book format, neglects to tell consumers, TeleRead, retrieved 2013-05-06
  10. ^ James, Kendrick (2009-12-14), Has Barnes & Noble Changed Its e-Book Format to ePUB?, GigaOM, retrieved 2013-05-06
  11. ^ FictionBook description
  12. ^ http://www.webstandards.org/learn/faq/
  13. ^ "Kindle Format 8 Overview". Amazon.com. 2012.
  14. ^ "The New Kindle Format KF8". Musings and Marvels:Learning the ins and outs of the publishing industry. 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  15. ^ "HTML5 tags supported by KF8". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  16. ^ http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=creatorhome&File=image.htm
  17. ^ http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1299906&postcount=2
  18. ^ http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/
  19. ^ http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-first-look-how-penguin-will-reinvent-books-with-ipad/
  20. ^ http://metcs.bu.edu/~feneric/cs331/Archives/Project2002/
  21. ^ http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/index.php/MakeNewtonEbooksIndex
  22. ^ Adobe Systems' PDF Reference page
  23. ^ "What is Tagged PDF?" on PlanetPDF
  24. ^ King James Bible at Project Gutenberg.
  25. ^ http://www.ssreader.com/downland_index.asp
  26. ^ a b http://www.tomeraider.com/
  27. ^ http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-388.htm
  28. ^ http://kindleformatting.com/blog/2009/02/kindle-2-review-formatting-perspective.php
  29. ^ a b http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=2248263011
  30. ^ http://www.adobe.com/uk/epaper/tips/acr5reflow/
  31. ^ http://ireader.over-blog.com/
  32. ^ http://code.google.com/p/vudroid/
  33. ^ http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook-for-android/379002287
  34. ^ http://www.trekstor.co.uk/detail-ebook-reader-en/product/ebook-reader-pyrus-mini.html

External links

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