One eBook format to rule them all?
May 21st, 2010 | By Ovi Demetrian Jr | Posted in DistributionPublishing
While the topic of eBook formats seems complicated and usually leads to getting into confusing tech jargon, I’m going to try and make it as easy to understand as possible. Let’s start by looking at the most widely-used electronic formats and how they are currently supported:
Adobe PDF – Most common for reading on your computer, originally designed for portable electronic documents, has some limitations when it comes to reading on eReaders or mobile devices- MobiPocket – Originally designed specifically for mobile devices, most modern devices have switched away from it, the biggest current supporter is the Amazon Kindle device
- RTF (Rich Text Format) and TXT (Plain Text) – Have wide support but very limited formatting options
- ePub – Works virtually all eReading devices, except Amazon’s Kindle
The ePub format is the one to keep an eye on since it could well be the universal format used across all platforms. The reason it works so well is because it is essentially developed the same way as the webpage you’re reading right now. And since most mobile devices and even eReaders come with internet browsers, it makes it a no-brainer to support it.
Another big advantage is that ePub allows for multiple types of books. From primarily text-based to more stylized layouts, to even comic books. You can start with practically any word processing software, or with something like Adobe InDesign for more specific styling and layout, or Photoshop for your comics and either export it out directly to ePub or use one of the many tools available for doing so.
One caveat with ePub is that it does not use any DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection. But if we’ve learned anything from the music industry and MP3s, no DRM is a good thing as it’s ultimately unnecessary.
Update: Thanks to Liza Daly who pointed out that there is in fact ability to add DRM to ePub files. I still feel that it is unnecessary, but the option is there.
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I’d agree that TXT files lack formatting but surely that hardly applies to RTF? It’s cumbersome and lacks the ability to apply some advanced formatting offered in modern versions of word processors, but as its name implies, Rich Text Format can handle pretty much everything that’s likely to be found in an eBook.
Where it falls down in comparison to epub and mobi is that it is inflexible. The various bits of software capable of displaying it are generally not available on eReaders and those programs which can display it do not seem to agree on how to do so. That’s where PDFs are much better because you can be sure that a PDF will display consistently regardless of the software used to display it.
But it’s a small point. I agree: Epub is the way to go, or mobi if you want to go the Kindle route.
Thanks for the comment Jo!
RTFs do have some formatting, yes, I’ve even seen people use TXT files in ways that work fine for reading. It doesn’t work for eBooks with a specific layout or images though.
You’re right about PDFs, but they depend on fixed page sizes which can get annoying to read on different devices since the text doesn’t flow to the screen size.