3.1(January 5, 2017; 2 years ago ( 2017-01-05) )Type of formatContained by(OCF; )Extended from,ISO/IEC TS 30135?YesWebsiteEPUB is an that uses the '.epub'. The term is short for electronic publication and is sometimes styled ePub. EPUB is supported by many, and compatible software is available for most smartphones, tablets, and computers. EPUB is a published by the (IDPF). It became an official standard of the IDPF in September 2007, superseding the older standard.The endorses EPUB 3 as the format of choice for packaging content and has stated that the global book publishing industry should rally around a single standard.

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The EPUB format is implemented as an archive file consisting of files carrying the content, along with images and other supporting files. EPUB is the most widely supported vendor-independent -based (as opposed to ) e-book format; that is, it is supported by almost all hardware readers, except for.

Contents.History A successor to the, EPUB 2.0 was approved in October 2007, with a maintenance update (2.0.1) approved in September 2010.The EPUB 3.0 specification became effective in October 2011, superseded by a minor maintenance update (3.0.1) in June 2014. New major features include support for precise layout or specialized formatting (Fixed Layout Documents), such as for comic books, and support. The current version of EPUB is 3.1, effective January 5, 2017. The (text of) format specification underwent reorganization and clean-up; format supports remotely-hosted resources and new font formats ( and ) and uses more pure and.In May 2016 Members approved (W3C) merger, 'to fully align the publishing industry and core Web technology'. Version 2.0.1 EPUB 2.0 was approved in October 2007, with a maintenance update (2.0.1) intended to clarify and correct errata in the specifications being approved in September 2010. EPUB version 2.0.1 consists of three specifications:.

Open Publication Structure (OPS) 2.0.1, contains the formatting of its content. Open Packaging Format (OPF) 2.0.1, describes the structure of the.epub file in XML. Open Container Format (OCF) 2.0.1, collects all files as a archive.EPUB internally uses or (an XML standard provided by the Consortium) to represent the text and structure of the content document, and a subset of to provide layout and formatting.

Is used to create the document manifest, and EPUB. Finally, the files are bundled in a file as a packaging format.Open Publication Structure 2.0.1 An EPUB file uses XHTML 1.1 (or DTBook) to construct the content of a book as of version 2.0.1. This is different from previous versions (OEBPS 1.2 and earlier), which used a subset of XHTML.

There are, however, a few restrictions on certain elements. The for XHTML documents in EPUB is application/xhtml+xml.Styling and layout are performed using a subset of CSS 2.0, referred to as OPS Style Sheets. This specialized syntax requires that reading systems support for only a portion of CSS properties and adds a few custom properties. Custom properties include oeb-page-head, oeb-page-foot, and oeb-column-number. Font-embedding can be accomplished using the @font-face property, as well as including the font file in the OPF's manifest (see below). The for CSS documents in EPUB is text/css.EPUB also requires that, and images be supported using the image/png, image/jpeg, image/gif, image/svg+xml. Other media types are allowed, but creators must include alternative renditions using supported types.

For a table of all required mimetypes, see of the specification.is required, and content producers must use either or encoding. This is to support international and multilingual books. However, reading systems are not required to provide the fonts necessary to display every unicode character, though they are required to display at least a placeholder for characters that cannot be displayed fully.An example skeleton of an XHTML file for EPUB looks like this.

Open Packaging Format 2.0.1 The OPF specification's purpose is to '.define the mechanism by which the various components of an OPS publication are tied together and provides additional structure and semantics to the electronic publication.' This is accomplished by two XML files with the extensions.opf and.ncx.opf fileThe OPF file, traditionally named content.opf, houses the EPUB book's, file manifest, and linear reading order. This file has a root element package and four child elements: metadata, manifest, spine, and guide. Furthermore, the package node must have the unique-identifier attribute. The.opf file's mimetype is application/oebps-package+xml.The metadata element contains all the metadata information for a particular EPUB file. Three metadata tags are required (though many more are available): title, language, and identifier. Title contains the title of the book, language contains the language of the book's contents in format or its successors, such as the newer and identifier contains a unique identifier for the book, such as its or a.

The identifier's id attribute should equal the unique-identifier attribute from the package element.The manifest element lists all the files contained in the package. Each file is represented by an item element, and has the attributes id, href, media-type. All XHTML (content documents), stylesheets, images or other media, embedded fonts, and the NCX file should be listed here. Only the.opf file itself, the container.xml, and the mimetype files should not be included. Note that in the example below, an arbitrary media-type is given to the included font file, even though no exists for fonts.The spine element lists all the XHTML content documents in their linear reading order. Also, any content document that can be reached through linking or the table of contents must be listed as well. The toc attribute of spine must contain the id of the NCX file listed in the manifest.

Each itemref element's idref is set to the id of its respective content document.The guide element is an optional element for the purpose of identifying fundamental structural components of the book. Each reference element has the attributes type, title, href. Files referenced in href must be listed in the manifest, and are allowed to have an element identifier (e.g. #figures in the example).An example OPF file. Pride and Prejudice en 123456789X Jane Austen.ncx fileThe NCX file ( Navigation Control file for XML), traditionally named toc.ncx, contains the hierarchical for the EPUB file. The specification for NCX was developed for (DTB), is maintained by the, and is not a part of the EPUB specification.

The NCX file has a mimetype of application/x-dtbncx+xml.Of note here is that the values for the docTitle, docAuthor, and meta name='dtb:uid' elements should match their analogs in the OPF file. Also, the meta name='dtb:depth' element is set equal to the depth of the navMap element. NavPoint elements can be nested to create a hierarchical table of contents. NavLabel's content is the text that appears in the table of contents generated by reading systems that use the.ncx. NavPoint's content element points to a content document listed in the manifest and can also include an element identifier (e.g. #section1).A description of certain exceptions to the NCX specification as used in EPUB is in of the specification.

The complete specification for NCX can be found in of the Specifications for the Digital Talking Book.An example.ncx file.

The OCF specifies how to organize these files in the ZIP, and defines two additional files that must be included.The mimetype file must be a text document in ASCII that contains the string application/epub+zip. It must also be uncompressed, unencrypted, and the first file in the ZIP archive. This file provides a more reliable way for applications to identify the mimetype of the file than just the.epub extension.Also, there must be a folder named META-INF, which contains the required file container.xml. This XML file points to the file defining the contents of the book. This is the OPF file, though additional alternative rootfile elements are allowed.Apart from mimetype and META-INF/container.xml, the other files (OPF, NCX, XHTML, CSS and images files) are traditionally put in a directory named OEBPS.An example file structure:-ZIP Container-mimetypeMETA-INF/container.xmlOEBPS/content.opfchapter1.xhtmlch1-pic.pngcss/style.cssmyfont.otfAn example container.xml, given the above file structure. Version 3.0.1 The EPUB 3.0 Recommended Specification was approved on 11 October 2011. On June 26, 2014 EPUB 3.0.1 was approved as a minor maintenance update to EPUB 3.0.

Publication The ePUB container must contain:. At least one content document. One navigation document.

One package document listing all publication resources. This file should use the file extension.opf.

It contains metadata, a manifest, fallback chains, bindings, and a spine. This is an ordered sequence of ID references defining the default reading order.The ePUB container may contain:.

Documents. media overlay documents.Contents Content documents include: content, navigation documents, documents, scripted content documents, and fixed layout documents.Contents also include CSS and PLS documents. Navigation documents supersedes the NCX grammar used in EPUB 2.Media overlays Books with synchronized audio narration are created in EPUB 3 by using media overlay documents to describe the timing for the pre-recorded audio narration and how it relates to the EPUB Content Document markup.

The file format for Media Overlays is defined as a subset of. Software Many editors exist including and, both of which are. For a table of the required XHTML modules and a description of the restrictions, see, ePub OPS 2.0.1 (specification draft), IDPF.

For a table of supported properties and detailed information, see, ePub OPS 2.0.1 (specification draft), IDPF. For a full listing of metadata, see, ePub OPF 2.0.1 (specification draft), IDPF. A list of possible values for type is in, ePub OPDF 2.0.1 (specification draft), IDPF. Detailed descriptions of the differences between 3.0 and 2.0.1 can be found on, IDPF.References.

Retrieved January 12, 2017. Oct 15, 2007. Retrieved 18 September 2015. Retrieved 2017-05-10. ^.

11 October 2011. Retrieved 2017-01-12. ^ Rothman, David (July 27, 2008). TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home. Retrieved 2017-01-12.

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^. April 21, 2005. Archived from on August 31, 2009. Retrieved October 9, 2009. ^. EBook Technologies. Retrieved 10 July 2014.

EPUB 3 Working Group. 11 October 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011. March 29, 2008. Rothman, David (November 5, 2007).

TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home. Archived from on January 13, 2013. Retrieved October 8, 2009., IDPF, retrieved July 8, 2014., IDPF, retrieved August 28, 2018. International Digital Publishing Forum. Retrieved 11 September 2015. ^. International Digital Publishing Forum.

Retrieved 11 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015. ^. November 20, 2006.

Archived from on 2009-09-03. Gelles, David (January 29, 2010). The Financial Times. Rothman, David (August 13, 2009). TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home. Archived from on October 14, 2009.

Biba, Paul (December 21, 2009). TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home. Archived from on December 28, 2009. Retrieved January 29, 2010. Biba, Paul (January 28, 2010). TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home. Archived from on February 2, 2010.

Retrieved January 29, 2010. Kendrick, James (January 28, 2010). JK On The Run. Dickson, Dave (January 27, 2010). Digital Editions.

Adobe. Arnold Kim (January 19, 2012). MacRumors. ^. Retrieved 11 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.

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Retrieved 12 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015. 9 February 2019 – via GitHub. Pham, Alex (February 15, 2010).

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Bott, Ed (January 22, 2012). Retrieved January 30, 2012. March 23, 2012. Retrieved April 26, 2012. March 23, 2012.

Retrieved April 26, 2012., Extension center, Libre Office.External links.

While there are dedicated tablets designed for reading Epub books, it doesn’t mean that you need to spend hundreds of dollars on a tablet to enjoy reading them. In fact, reading them on your Windows machine gives you a similar if not better reading experience.

It is even better if you own a convertible or 2-in-1 Windows machine like a Surface Pro or Lenovo Yoga line of device as you can hold those devices in one hand and read Epubs just like you would read them from a dedicated tablet. The only thing that you need for reading is a good Epub reader. While there are a number of Epub apps available for Windows, not all of them are made equally. That’s why we are bringing you a list of top 10 best Epub readers that you can use on your Windows machine:10 Best Windows Epub Readers 1.

Calibre is one of the oldest and the best Epub reader for your Windows machine. The app is packed with features allowing you to do things like downloading Epubs, managing metadata, downloading covers for books, transferring books from one device to another, and even converting books from one format to other. Calibre is not only good for reading normal Epub novels but also magazines, comics, and more. If you are looking for a good Epub reader for your Windows PC, Calibre is certainly the topmost contender for the job.Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Vista and Windows 7Download: 2. Adobe Digital EditionsIf there is one company which makes software for almost all form of creating and consuming creative content, it’s Adobe, and its Adobe Digital Editions is a great Epub reader for Windows PC which allows users to consume their favorite titles.

One of the best reasons for using Adobe Digital Editions is its support for EPUB 3 standard which gives users a richer reading experience by bringing support for right to left reading, dynamic image resizing without loss in clarity, interactive quizzes, better rendering of math formulas, and more.Adobe Digital Editions also brings a ton of other convenient features like exceptional search capabilities, the ability to rent or borrow Epub version of books from your local and public libraries, multi-lingual support, bookmarking, highlighting, notes, and more. If you are looking for a full-fledged, Epub reading experience, Adobe Digital Edition is the right app to do that.Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Vista and Windows 7Download: 3. FredaFreda is one of my most favorite Epub readers for Windows just because of its looks. The app looks like a native Windows 10 app and makes Epubs really stand out when you read them on it.

One of my favorite features of this app is its theming capabilities which allow users to customize the look and feel of the app to make it exactly how they like it. Apart from supporting Epub, the app also supports a ton of other formats including Mobi, FB2, HTML, and TXT. The app also gives you access to more than 50,000 public domain classic books free of charge from Feedbooks, Gutenberg, and other online catalogs. If looks matter to you, do give Freda a try.Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1 (ARM, x86, x64)Download: with in-app purchases 4.

Icecream Epub ReaderIcecream apps is an app studio which has developed some really fine apps for Windows PC and of all the apps that come from the studio, their Epub reader is my favorite. Not only their Epub reader looks good but it also brings a ton of features including full-screen mode support, exceptional search capabilities, easy page turning mechanics, reading progress tracking, support for multiple languages, and more. Apart from all the above features, I also love the fact that the reader not only supports Epub format but also other major ebook formats including Mobi, FB2, and, more.Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows 7Download:, $19.95 5. CoverCover is primarily an app made for reading comic books on your Windows PC, but since the app also supports Epub format, it has made its way on the list. The main reason why Cover is on the list is that since the app is made for comics, it is great for reading books which are image heavy. While all the other apps on the list can handle images, they can’t do it as well as Cover can.

So, if you are into books which feature a ton of images, Cover will be good for you. On the other hand, if you are into comics and manga, there is no better app that you can get.Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1 (ARM, x86, x64)Download: with in-app purchases 6.

KoboLike Kindle, Kobo is not only an ebook reader app but a service which also allows you to buy books from its store. However, unlike Kindle, which doesn’t support Epub formats, Kobo does support both Epub and Epub 3 formats.

The app brings all the usual features that we have come to expect from an Epub reader including, search, bookmarks, progress tracking, theming, and more. However, the biggest reason to get Kobo over other Epubs readers is its store which allows you to browse and buy from over 5 million free and affordable eBooks, comics, and children’s books.Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1 (ARM, x86, x64)Download: 7. NookIf you are into books, the chance that you have never heard of Barnes and Nobles is pretty slim as it is the world’s largest booksellers. Barnes and Nobles mainly is a chain of offline stores, however, Amazon’s success with its Kindle platform made the offline bookseller giant to launch its own online book service which is called Nook. With Nook app, you are not only getting an app to read Epub books, but also a store to buy them, just like you do with Kobo.When you sign up for the service, you get a 14-day trial period during which you can test out any book or news magazine that you want.

After the trial period ends, you can buy the books or subscribe to magazines that you are interested in. Other features of the app include the ability to customize your reading experience to view books with different fonts, line spacing, and themes, online sync across devices, access to thousands of classics, and more.Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8 (x86)Download: 8. BibliovoreBibliovore is yet another great free Epub reader for your Windows machine. The app can be easily downloaded from the Windows app store and is completely free to download and use.

I love this app because it brings fantastic organizational features allowing you to manage even a large library of books with ease. The app also allows you to easily adjust font parameters, manage reading themes, edit book metadata, use day/night reading mode, and more. One of my favorite features of this app is that despite being free, it syncs all your books across devices using OneDrive.Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1 (x86, x64)Download: 9. BookviserBookviser is an Epub reader for Windows which wants to give you a reading experience which is similar to reading physical books. It does that by designing its UI in such a way that it looks like a real book.

That said, if you are not fond of such a UI, you can easily get into the settings to get a more traditional Epub reader experience. Just like Freda, Bookviser also allows you to download free classics from public catalogs including Feedbooks, Project Gutenberg, and Smashwords. Rest of the Epub reader features like progress tracking, theming, dictionary support and more can also be found here.Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1 (ARM, x86, x64)Download: 10. EpubReaderThe last Epub reader on the list is well EpubReader which is the only paid app on the list. The app is a fairly simple app for reading Epub books on your Windows PC which also allows you to download books from preconfigured and personal sources, easily manage your book library, tracks reading progress, and more. One of the biggest features of this app is that you can easily transfer your whole library onto either an SD Card or to OneDrive. EpubReader is a great app to manage a large library of books without eating any storage on your Windows PC.Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1 (x86, x64)Download: Bonus: ReadiumReadium is an open source Epub reader made for all your web reading needs.

If you don’t want to install any app on your device but still want to consume Epub books, Readium is the way to do it. Redium is a browser extension which allows you to read Epubs online. You can even upload your own books to Readium and read them there. It’s a great way to read books without having to install any app on your device.Supported Browsers: Google Chrome, MozillaDownload: Free (, )SEE ALSO: Read Epubs on Windows PCs with The Best Epub Reader AppsI am a fan of ebooks, as they allow you to carry your whole library with your where ever you go.

One of the best parts about using Epub readers for reading ebooks is that you get thousands of classic titles for free. Do check these apps out and let us know which is your favorite Windows Epub reader. Also, if you want to suggest an app which should be on the list but isn’t, drop its name in the comments section below.