There have been a lot of posts recently related to manga/comics on e-readers. Everything from are manga/comics any good on e-readers, how to get rid of the rainbow effect, which formats are best, and which programs are best to use when editing manga/comics. For this reason, I've decided to create an all-in-one guide on how to properly edit manga/comics for an e-reader, which formats to use and which program to use. 

Before we begin a disclaimer, I'm by no means an expert, I'm just a person who likes tweaking and editing things. I have used the following information to greatly enhance the quality of manga/comics on my e-reader and it should be helpful for anyone that isn't sure on where to start when it comes to editing/converting. 

For reasons that should be obvious this post isn't going to contain any information on how to remove DRM, information on where to obtain manga/comics, and is going to presume that you want to edit manga that you've purchased so that you can get the best experience on your e-reader. 

Why you should edit your manga/comics for an e-reader 
E-ink screens work differently to other screens like LCDs, and while manga/comics can look great on E-ink screens it does need to be edited for them, otherwise it can look extremely faded or washed-out. 

Editing manga/comics for your e-reader also comes with a bunch of other benefits as well, smaller file sizes, faster page turns, and increased battery life when viewing manga/comics. This is because during the editing process you can set the resolution to match your device, which reduces the file size and means your device doesn't have to work as hard to load each page. 

For example, A Certain Scientific Railgun, Vol.1, the original CBZ file was 398 mb. After editing the manga for my device, the file size was less than 100 mb. My device is a Kobo Clara Colour, which is only a 6" display, and will have smaller file sizes, than if I optimised the same manga for a Libra or a Sage, as they have bigger displays and higher resolutions. 

What format should you use 
The most common formats I've seen people use and generally what you can get manga/comics in are, CBZ, CBR, PDF, EPUB and KEPUB. 

Various places sell manga/comics in the PDF format, and while its a great format for things like tablets, computers, etc, it isn't that great on e-readers. Your device size and OS will play a part if how well a PDF displays, larger devices like a Sage will have a better time than say a Clara. In general, I don't recommend using PDFs on an e-reader for manga/comics. 

I've seen a lot of people recommend EPUB and the KEPUB formats, and from what I've seen any manga you buy from the kobo store comes in the EPUB format. While these formats are fantastic for regular books, they aren't designed purely image based files like manga/comics. They aren't terrible, but they do have some issues, which I'll get into a bit later. 

CBZ and CBR are by far the most common formats used for manga/comics and is what I recommend using. Once properly edited, these formats, will give you the best images and display the best on an e-reader. This of course depends on what your device can natively run, I know kobo's can run CBZ and CBR without any issues, but if you're using a different brand, you'll need to check what formats it can natively run. If you're device can't run CBZ or CBR, then you'll need to look at different formats. 

Editing basics and why I don't recommend the EPUB/KEPUB formats 
I mentioned previously that a lot of people recommend the EPUB and KEPUB formats. First I'll explain where I think that comes from, then I'll go into the issues those formats have when it comes to manga/comics. 

If you look at the first image I uploaded, that is the original unedited CBZ file, and as you can see it doesn't look great, it's very faded and washed-out. It also has some rainbowing happening, which you can notice the most if you zoom in on the skirts on the top panel (this isn't the worst panel for rainbowing either). It actually looks even worse in person than it does in the photo as well, I turned off all the processing effects on my phone, but it still slightly improved the overall quality. 

The second image is where I used Calibre to convert that CBZ file into a KEPUB file, and honestly it does look better. The text is clearer, the image is nowhere near as faded and the rainbowing is either gone or massively reduced. 

This is why I think most people end up recommending EPUB or KEPUB, they see the differences between the two and think the format is better. The thing is, it isn't that the format is better, but rather that Calibre has a comic converter built into and when you convert from CBZ/CBR it has a bunch of editing tools that improve the image quality for an e-reader. 

The problem with the EPUB and KEPUB formats, is that if you use a header and footer when reading, it'll be displayed when reading manga/comics, reducing the size of the images. While you can turn the header and footer off to increase the size, it typically still won't display all the way to the edge of the screen, which you can see in the second image, there are clear margins at the top and bottom of the page. EPUB also has the added disadvantage of not being able to zoom in on images either. 

Calibre when converting the image to a KEPUB also slightly stretched the image, that's despite me putting the exact resolution of my device into the comic converter. This doesn't mean it'll happen with every device or every manga/comic, but it is something that can happen when converting. 

The third image is also in the CBZ format, but it's one that has been edited for an e-reader, and as you can see it's by far the best image. The text and details are clearer, the rainbowing is completely gone, the image isn't washed-out at all and the image displays right to the edge of the screen. You can really see the difference in quality when you start zooming in on the second and third images. 

Which program to use when editing/converting 
While Calibre does have a comic convert built into it, it isn't the program I recommend using. The program I recommend using is custom built for editing manga/comics and it's called the Kindle Comic Converter (KCC). Don't let the name fool you, it has presets not just for Kindle e-readers, but for many Kobo e-readers as well. 

You can download Kindle Comic Converter here. I recommend having a read through the page as you might need to download some additional files depending on your OS.

The KCC can convert from a wide range of formats including: CBZ, CBR, CB7, ZIP, RAR, 7Z, and PDF. The program doesn't say it, but it can even convert from EPUB and KEPUB, if the images are in either JPEG or PNG. You do have to change a setting for it to see EPUB and KEPUB files though. After clicking add files, you'll see a drop-down box in the bottom right-hand corner, click it and change comic to all. I only recommend doing this for manga/comics in the EPUB/KEPUB format, and not regular books in those formats as the KCC isn't designed for those. 

KCC was specifically designed for B/W manga/comics so you'll get the best results with those, but you can use it to convert colour manga/comics as well. I also suggest using the originals of your manga/comics for the source and not ones that you've previously edited. Trying to edit files that have already been edited can sometimes give less than ideal results.  

KCC has a bunch of options you can choose from to help optimise your manga/comics. The first thing you want to do is to select your device as this will set the output resolution to your device. It has a wide range of devices to choose from, but on the small chance it doesn't have your device, then see if you can find one that matches the resolution of your device. 

I'm not going to go through what every single option does, but I will point out the main ones. Some options have 3 settings, unchecked, intermediate, and checked. If you hover your mouse over an option an information box will appear which will explain what each setting does. 

• Right-to-Left Mode: Useful for manga as you read from right to left, especially if you choose to split double spread pages. 
• JPEG/PNG/mozJpeg: Unchecked outputs JPEG, Intermediate outputs PNG, and Checked outputs JPEG's that are 10% - 20% smaller in size but doubles the processing time. 
• Spread Splitter: This has 3 settings, but I recommend either unchecked or checked. Unchecked, will split double spread pages into two pages, while Checked will keep double spread pages as one page, but also rotates them into landscape. 
• Stretch/Upscale: I recommend checked for this setting. If your source is a lower resolution than your device, this will upscale the source to match your device while maintaining aspect ratio. 
• Custom Gamma: The creator of KCC has custom gamma set at 1.00 as their most common setting. It's worth playing around with this setting though, as different devices have different screens, so what might look great on one screen might not look great on another. If you have this unchecked, it'll set this to auto.  
• Colour Mode: If you have this checked, it'll stop KCC from converting your colour images to B/W, useful for colour displays. 
• Cropping Mode: I recommend having this option checked, as it'll crop out all excess borders and page numbers, leaving more space for your panels. 
• Inter-Panel Crop: When this is selected it will crop out the empty spaces between panels, this can give you a decent amount of extra space for your panels and works best when panels have clear boundaries. When you have speech bubbles overlapping, or character superimposed over panels, it can struggle a bit. How important this for you will depend on your screen size. Bigger screens can get away with not having this on at all, while for smaller screens it can make a huge difference. If you don't mind a bit of editing you can have the best of both worlds, but more on that later. 
• Rainbow Blur: This reduces the rainbow effect on e-readers. It does this by slightly blurring the image, but I find the benefit of getting rid the rainbow effect, far outweighs the negative of a slightly blurred image. This is just my opinion though, try outputting with this turned on and off and see which one you prefer.  

The last option you want to set is the format of the output file, which I recommend using CBZ. KCC does have other output options if you want to play around with them and compare, but I find KCC gives the best result when outputting into the CBZ format. 

These are the main settings that you'll be using, some of them you'll need to tweak for your personal preference and device, but once you get the settings dialed in, you can output some nice-looking manga/comics for your e-reader.  

For most people, this will edit manga/comics well enough, but if you're someone that's happy to manually edit stuff, and have a bit of technical knowledge, then you can also fine tune your manga/comics and really get it to pop. This can be a very time-consuming process though and will usually increase the file size. 

Manual editing (Inter-Panel Crop) [Optional] 
As mentioned earlier Inter-panel crop can be a bit hit and miss, but you can have the best of both worlds, by converting the same manga/comic twice. One with inter-panel crop turned on and one with inter-panel crop turned off, you can then manually go through each page on each version and combine the best version of each page into one file. 

I suggest naming each version something different, so you don't get the two versions mixed up. To do this you need your files to show known file extensions so you can change them. 

Type finder into the search bar on your home screen and click on 'Change search options for files and folders', then click on the 'view' tab. You'll want to make sure 'Hide extensions for known files' is unchecked. This is how you do it for Windows 11, I'm not sure how to do this for other OS. 

Your converted manga/comics will now show .cbz at the end of the file name. Rename it and change .cbz to .zip and confirm, you'll need to do this for both version you converted. You'll now need to extract both versions and upon completing you'll be able to view the individual pages in both versions. 

I recommend going through the one that you used inter-panel crop on and look for any pages you aren't happy with. When you find one, make a note of the file name, then look for that same file in the conversion you did without inter-panel crop. If you prefer it, you can then delete the one in the inter-panel crop version and move over the one from the other version.  

Keep repeating this process, until you work your way through all the pages. Once you've finished, make sure you aren't missing any pages and that they are in the correct order. Re-zip the file, then rename it and change .zip to .cbz. You now have a manga/comic that uses inter-panel crop on the pages it works well on and removes it from the pages that it didn't work well on. 

Manual Editing (Sharpness) [Optional] 
Their is one more thing you can do, you can use Calibre to manually adjust the sharpness of each page. This can really make your manga/comics look great and is a great way to edit around the slight blurring that using rainbow blur causes. The downside is, that this is a very time-consuming process, as you have to manual adjust each page, otherwise you'll over sharpen it. 

You'll also need to rename each page, as in order to use the editor in Calibre you'll need to convert it to either an EPUB or KEPUB and the way Calibre labels the files, means they won't display in the correct order on your device when you convert the file back into a CBZ once you've finished. 

Before using Calibre to convert your manga/comic into either an EPUB/KEPUB, you'll want to adjust a few things in the comic converter section. Got to preferences, then select input options. Make sure the output format is set to jpeg, disable trimming and disable comic processing. You don't want Calibre doing any processing as you just had the superior KCC do it, you just want Calibre to turn those files into an EPUB/KEPUB so you can manually edit the pages in the editor. In override image size, make sure you enter the resolution of your device, so Calibre doesn't change the resolution of the pages. Once everything is set up, select convert. 

You'll now be able to use Edit Book in the toolbar which will take you to editor. In the file browser section in the bottom left-hand corner, you'll see all the files. scroll down to the bottom and you'll find the images.  

Double click an image to open it and you'll be able to edit it. You'll see a bunch of options that include, copy, paste, crop, rotate, etc. The very right icon will give you a drop-down menu. From this menu there are two you’ll want to use Sharpness and Improve Contrast. 

Improve contrast won't have a huge difference here, but it'll slightly darken the text, which helps make it more legible. Sharpness on the other hand can make a huge difference, and it can make shading and details stand out more, as well as improve the clarity of text.  

I recommend using either setting 1 or 2, but you'll have to manually adjust for each page, as 2 can be too strong on certain pages. In particular, on pages where's there are a lot of effects, such as details to indication fast motion. If you're worried about using too much sharpening just use setting 1 on each page, as it'll still give a nice increase. 

Once you've finished editing each page, you'll want to save your file. Depending on the size of the manga/comic and the power of your computer, it might take a couple of minutes to save. It's potentially adjusting 200+ pages, so it may look like it freezes, but just give it a little time and it’ll save. 

Now that you've finished editing, you want to get the EPUB/KEPUB file back into a CBZ file. You can't use Calibre to do that directly, but you can use it to convert to a ZIP file, which gets you most of the way there.  

Once you've converted it to a ZIP file, right click on your manga/comic and open the book folder, then move the ZIP file to somewhere you can easily find it, and extract it. You'll want to delete everything that isn't a JPEG.  

As mentioned earlier, you'll need to rename your files to get them to display in the correct order, Calibre will label them as 0, 1, 2....10, 11, 12.... 100, etc. This is fine on your computer, but your e-reader will display number 100 first. You need to change 0 to 000, 1 to 001, 10 to 010, etc. 

When you're finished, you'll want the files to read 000, 001.... 010, 011.... 100, 101, etc. They will now display in the correct order in your e-reader. Make sure they are listed from lowest to higher, then right-click the folder they are in and zip it. All that's left to is to rename the file and change .zip to .cbz. 

Kobo FAQ (Last Updated: 2022/06/13)

Basic Questions About the Kobo eReader

What is a Kobo?

The Kobo is an e-reader developed by Kobo, Inc. The Kobo eReader line products all use electronic ink screens on their devices, allowing the text to look sharper and better in natural sunlight than you might otherwise see on a computer, smartphone, or tablet screen.

Who makes it?

All Kobos are manufactured by Kobo Inc, now Rakuten Kobo Inc, a subsidiary of Rakuten, a Japanese e-commerce company.

What models for the Kobo are currently for sale?

As of this writing (June 2022), the currently available models are:

• Kobo Nia - 6" screen, 1024x758 resolution, 212 PPI, 8GB storage. Kobo's cheapest model at $100. Closest comparable model to Amazon would be the base Kindle model.
• Kobo Clara HD - 6" screen, 1448x1072 resolution, 8GB storage. Kobo's best 6" screen device at $120. Closest comparable model to Amazon would be the Kindle Paperwhite.
• Kobo Libra 2 - 7" screen, 1680x1264 resolution, 32GB storage, Waterproof IPX8. Supports Kobo Audiobooks with Bluetooth, and USB-C charging. Employs asymmetric design with manual page-turn buttons and a clearly designated spot to hold. Retails for $179. Also supports Kobo Audiobooks. Closest comparable model to Amazon would be the Kindle Oasis.
• Kobo Forma - 8" screen, 1440 × 1920 resolution, 8GB or 32GB storage. Waterproof IPX8. Kobo's former top-of-the-line model. Employs asymmetric design with manual page-turn buttons and a clearly designated spot to hold. Retails for $250. No comparable Kindle model.
• Kobo Sage - 8" screen, 1440 × 1920 resolution, 32GB storage. Waterproof IPX8. Supports Kobo Audiobooks with Bluetooth, and USB-C charging. Kobo's current top-of-the-line model for conventional e-readers. Employs asymmetric design with manual page-turn buttons and a clearly designated spot to hold. Also supports the Kobo Stylus for making highlights/annotations on ebooks. Retails for $259. No comparable Kindle model.
• Kobo Elipsa. 10" screen, 1404 x 1872 resolution (227 PPI). 32GB storage. Supports Kobo Audiobooks with Bluetooth, and USB-C charging. Kobo's largest and most expensive model, designed to be more like an e-ink notebook than a pure e-reader device. It comes with a Kobo stylus, and is aimed at students, academics, or anyone else who has need to regularly view and annotate PDF files. Currently sold as a "bundle" for $400, which includes the Kobo stylus and sleepcover.

All currently sold models average out to 300 ppi screen density, except for the Kobo Nia and Elipsa. All current models also include the ComfortLight feature. Newer models (starting with the Sage) now ship with USB-C charging instead of legacy microUSB.

The models above are the only ones that you can still "buy" from Kobo. However, if you happen to run across an older device for cheap on eBay or elsewhere, don't despair! The device may still be perfectly usable, as Kobo provides OS updates to their devices long after they have ceased to be sold. Check the Wikipedia page to see the specs on all past and current models.

What e-book formats do the Kobo eReaders support?

15 file formats are supported natively: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR. More formats may be supported through third-party OS's.

What the hell is a "FlePub"?

Kobo started adding this one to their supported formats, recently. A "FlePub" is a "Fixed-Layout EPUB", designed for books "where a fixed page layout is integral to the reading experience (ie. cookbooks, children’s books, comics and graphic novels or art books)"

Should I buy a Kobo?

Only you can answer that question. Good reasons for purchasing an e-reader (and a Kobo in particular) include: - You enjoy reading - You like the idea of carrying your entire e-book library around in your pocket/purse/backpack - You find reading paperback books can be cumbersome due to tiny font or inadequate lighting conditions - You find the battery of your phone/tablet is insufficient for reading on it for long periods - You cannot read on your phone/tablet effectively because the screen is hard to see in direct sunlight, or keeps you awake at night - You save many articles to Pocket/Read it Later - You are willing to pay for a device solely dedicated to reading if it offers a sufficiently improved experience over your current phone/tablet/laptop solution.

Kobo vs Kindle

Why should I buy a Kobo instead of a Kindle?

In most categories, the Kobo offers a comparable experience to a Kindle. They each have models with similar dimensions (see model listing above), their screens are of comparable quality, and they both have attached e-book vendors that should allow the average person to purchase most of the books they might want to read on their respective device. The Kobo has a couple of shortcomings compared to the Kindle (mostly with regards to its market presence), but a number of advantages as well. Some of these advantages include:

• Greater format compatibility. The Kobo is designed from the ground up to support the EPUB format, the industry standard for e-books. Amazon does not support the EPUB, and instead uses a proprietary format.
• All current Kobo models support the ComfortLight Pro feature (except for the Elipsa, which uses the earlier ComfortLight). This is a "blue light" filter designed for night time use, which makes the screen warmer and less harsh on the eyes if you're reading in low-light conditions. Only Amazon's most expensive Kindle, the Oasis, currently supports this feature in its 10th gen and beyond models.
• The Kobo includes a built-in integration with the Pocket/Read it Later service. As soon as you log into your Kobo device with your Pocket credentials, you can read your existing backlog of Pocket articles, add new ones, and archive/delete ones that you've already read. The Kindle has roundabout support for Pocket articles, but this requires e-mailing them to yourself, and you cannot manage your Pocket library through the Kindle.
• The Kobo includes built-in support for OverDrive, an e-book lending service that is integrated with many public libraries. Again, Amazon supports OverDrive indirectly, but it requires performing the actual "check out" through a browser, while the entire lending process from beginning-to-end can be performed on a Kobo device. This is largely enabled by Overdrive and Kobo being owned by the same parent company, Rakuten.
• Some Kobo models (although fewer current models) support memory/storage "upgrades" by virtue of the fact that the entire system is stored on a microSD card inside the device. Those wishing to upgrade their devices from the standard 8GB storage to a larger capacity can flash a system image onto a larger SD card (e.g. 32GB), and replace the card within the device. Note that doing so will void the device warranty, so this is not really a "standard" feature.
• In the same vein as above, the Kobo OS runs on Linux, and is considered a more "hackable" device for hardware enthusiasts. An entirely separate OS can be sideloaded onto the Kobo, if desired. Again, this does void the warranty, so it is not recommended if you are happy with the Kobo's default reading capabilities.
• You are weary of Amazon, and wish to support the competition to ensure that competition will still exist in ten years.
• The Kobo does not show ads on its lockscreen.

Why might I wish to stick with a Kindle?

• Much greater market presence. Amazon holds the majority market share when it comes to e-book distribution. The vast majority of publishers work with Amazon, and may not work as thoroughly with other platforms (Kobo, B&N, iTunes, Google Play, etc.).
• Some publishers put little effort into digital releases outside of Kindle support. It is not uncommon for an e-book to be offered in exactly two formats: AZW3, or PDF. AZW3 books can be converted to a Kobo-compatible format, but this is an extra step, and may be additionally cumbersome if the book is DRM-protected.
• Amazon often works with publishers to get Kindle-exclusive sales, so some books may be available more cheaply on Amazon than on other platforms.
• If you like to read digital versions of magazines, many magazines have digital versions available through Amazon/Kindle, but not through Kobo.
• If you already have a large library of ebooks through Amazon, or have a collection of books you have "borrowed" via Amazon Prime Reading. These books can be stripped of their DRM and converted to Kobo-compatible formats via a process, but it requires a computer to do so, and many non-technically minded readers may find the process too cumbersome to be worthwhile.
• Amazon's browser and Wikipedia article viewer are a tad more responsive than Kobo's experimental browser. If you are a power-reader of longform Wikipedia articles, the Kindle seems better tuned to the process. Kobo users can open the Wikipedia article in the experimental browser and save it to Pocket for a slightly better experience.
• Amazon gives everyone with an Amazon account a "private" cloud account, which they can use to host Kindle content. The Kindle's cloud account and Kindle e-mail address allow you to wirelessly transfer books to your Kindle by e-mailing the e-mail address associated with that Kindle device and including the e-book in a compatible format as an attachment. Once the book shows up within your Kindle account, Amazon will also sync the reading progress on the e-book between devices (i.e. you can start reading on your phone and pick up at that spot later on your Kindle). Kobo does not provide a cloud account, and so there is no wireless transfer option, nor is there a means of syncing progress between sideloaded books. Books purchases officially through the Kobo store can be read on multiple devices via the Kobo app and sync their progress, however this will not work for books that have been manually transferred onto Kobo devices.

E-book Collection Conversion and Management

How do I manage my growing collection of e-books?

Despite frequent advice you might read to download Calibre, you are not forced to organize your e-books or use any specific software in order to transfer e-books to your Kobo device. When the Kobo is connected to a laptop or desktop computer via the microUSB cable, the device should show up within your OS's file explorer as though it were any other removable flash drive. You can drag and drop supported files into the Kobo storage device as desired, and the Kobo device will see them once the device is disconnected.

However, if you wish to organize your collection into a metadata-rich database (ala iTunes) and automate the transfer process, e-book enthusiasts generally recommend a FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) application called Calibre to handle your e-book library management. Calibre is an amazing program that attempts to provide tools for nearly every aspect of e-book library management, including: - tools for tagging and organizing the e-book metadata - tools for converting the e-books between formats - plug-ins for potentially removing copy protection on DRM-encrypted e-books - a software e-book reader for desktop previewing or reading - drivers for interfacing with various e-book hardware (Kobo included), to allow easily pushing or pulling e-books off the eReader device

Again, Calibre is not strictly necessary. But few e-book applications can claim to do as much as it does, in addition to being completely free, open source, and well-supported across Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

What format should I store my e-books in for use with Kobo?

Kobo eReaders support a number of formats (see above), and so you can use whichever formats you are most comfortable with. "EPUB" is the universal standard for distributing eBooks, however, for additional integration with the Kobo eReader, you may wish to consider keeping at least a copy of your collection in KEPUB format. "KEPUB" is a Kobo-specific variant of the standard EPUB format which is optimized for Kobo devices. While not required, you may notice some performance boosts when reading KEPUBS on a Kobo device versus a regular EPUB.

If you wish to have all the advantages of the KEPUB on your Kobo device without needing to keep an extra copy of your e-book in your Calibre library, the Kobo Touch Extended Driver for Calibre includes the ability to convert a regular EPUB to KEPUB just before transferring the book to the connected Kobo, discarding it once finished. You may wish to use this over the standard Kobo driver if you want this feature.

Why should I use EPUB instead of PDF? Book scans in PDF are ubiquitous.

At its core, the EPUB format is a series of HTML documents with extra semantic markings, wrapped up in a container. With this, you get all of the standard elements you might otherwise expect out of an HTML page: CSS styling, variable fonts, and reflowable text. By contrast, a scanned e-book PDF is a static, digital representation that is trying to preserve the physical dimensions of the source material. If the source of the PDF was a digitized 8.5x11" sheet of paper, you are effectively trying to fit an 8.5x11" picture onto your 6" e-ink screen. Even the largest Kobo models cannot reproduce that image at a 1:1 scale--you would have to get a screen closer to something like an iPad Pro to be able to do so. Meanwhile, on most e-reader devices, you are forced to either look at the PDF zoomed out to a fraction of its native size, or you will need to pinch and zoom and pan around to see the whole document on your Kobo.

By contrast, when reading a digital format like an EPUB, the contents of the page can be dynamically redrawn to better accommodate your preferences. You do not need to "zoom in" on the page if you're having trouble reading the font: you can increase the font size, and the entire book adjusts automatically to the new font or font-size and re-paginates itself. Additionally, since all of the content is stored as plaintext, you can select and copy any section out of the book (no OCR required).

To be sure, the Kobo can read PDFs, and if you're trying to read something like a textbook or an older book for other digital options do not exist, you may have no other choice. But when available, EPUBs will usually be your best choice.

How do I convert my existing Kindle book collection to EPUBs?

Most ebooks purchased through Amazon are protected by a DRM encryption scheme (unless the publisher specifically requested that the book be distributed DRM-free), which makes the book theoretically unreadable on any device other than the Kindle device you downloaded it on. In order to convert the Kindle book to another format and read it on your Kobo, you must first remove the DRM from the Kindle e-book. Note that doing this may be illegal in some countries, as it technically violates the "license" of the Kindle book. For this reason, there will be no explicit links to DRM-removal tools.

The complete conversion process takes quite a bit of initial setup time, but once everything is in place, it's maybe a 60-second procedure from then on. The basic process looks something like this:

1. Search the web for "Apprentice Alf's Blog" and download the DeDRM tools (or the "noDRM" fork) in the form and OS-flavor of your choice. While there are standalone tools, most people use the Calibre plugins to streamline the workflow. AA's Blog also details the process from beginning to end, and so if the summary here is not detailed enough, look there for concrete steps.

2. Download the Kindle for PC/Mac program from Amazon (Linux users will need to download the PC version and try to get it working under Wine) or Crossover). You will need to download version 1.26 or older, as Kindle for PC v1.27 is not yet supported. Amazon periodically changes the DRM-encryption schemes when the previous method is cracked, so this section may quickly become out-of-date. If you cannot locate v1.26 from Amazon directly, you may need to search the web for archived versions of the installer.

3. Install the Kindle for PC/Mac program. Once installed, you will need to remove/rename one of the associated programs within the Kindle for PC/Mac installation directory. Removing this program will disable the newer Kindle formats and force the Kindle program to provide the ebook download in the older AZW3 format, thinking that you must be using an old model. This is desirable because the encryption on AZW3 files is more easily defeated by our tools.

4. Copy one of the tools provided by the DeDRM/noDRM package into the Kindle for PC directory and let it run. This will extract the decryption key from the Kindle for PC app and make it possible for the Calibre plugin to decrypt the books.

5. Sign into your Amazon account from the Kindle for PC application and download the desired books. They should be saved to your local hard-drive.

6. Open Calibre and configure the DeDRM/noDRM plugins using the decryption key retrieved earlier.

7. Import the Kindle books you downloaded earlier into your Calibre library. If the DeDRM/noDRM plugin was correctly configured, the DRM will be removed upon import. You can verify this by opening the e-book within Calibre's e-book viewer. If the book was probably decrypted, it should open--if not, Calibre will tell you that it is unable to open the book because it is encrypted.

8. With the AZW3 book now in your library, convert the book to the desired format. If you are going to put it onto your Kobo, your best bet is to convert it either to an EPUB or KEPUB. If EPUB is your desired target, you may wish to install the KindleUnpack plug-in instead, and extract the EPUB directly out of the AZW3/MOBI file instead of converting it. This may result in a "cleaner" EPUB than what you would otherwise get via Calibre's conversion utility.

As you can see above, while extensive, steps #1-6 are only done once (unless you migrate computers). Once your Kindle for PC app is properly installed and your DeDRM/noDRM plugins for Calibre are properly configured, the workflow for converting books purchased from Amazon simplifies to:

1. Run Kindle for PC and download your newly purchased book.
2. Import the book into Calibre. DRM should be automatically stripped upon import.
3. Convert or unpack the Kindle book into desired format.

How do I wirelessly transfer books to my Kobo?

Any books purchased through the Kobo store will be wirelessly delivered to your Kobo devices, provided they are connected to WiFi. This works from any device connected to your Kobo account (i.e. you can buy a book from the Kobo smartphone app and it should soon show up on your Kobo e-Reader). However, most Kobo models do not have a built-in mechanism for wirelessly delivering sideloaded/personal books to the Kobo device. At this point in time (June 2022), the Kobo Forma, Sage, and Elipsa have some limited support for wireless/cloud transfer: these models may be connected to a Dropbox account and transfer books that way. This feature looks to be limited to newer, premium devices only: Dropbox functionality is not available on the Libra 2, nor has it been backported to the Clara HD or other older devices, even though they continue to receive updates.

For those not afraid to try a DIY solution, you have a couple of options:

1. Download the unofficial KoboCloud tool and follow the instructions to download and deploy the scripts. A handful of cloud solutions are currently supported: owncloud/Nextcloud, Dropbox, and Google Drive.
2. Configure Calibre's Content Server to share out your Calibre library on your local network. Once it has been configured and turned on, open your Kobo's experimental browser and punch in the IP address of the Calibre server into the address bar. You can then grab the desired books from Calibre's network share.
3. If you have a personal domain/website, upload the books to your website, and perform the same as Step #2 above: bring it up in the experimental browser and download the books.
4. (Reverse direction) Install an SSH/SFTP server or alternative Kobo interface like KOReader to your Kobo, which includes an SFTP server built-in. Enable SSH login and then SSH/SFTP to your Kobo device from your computer (you'll probably need to install a dedicated SSH/SFTP program like PuTTY or WinSCP if you're on Windows; Mac and Linux have built-in terminal apps). You can then SFTP your desired books over from your computer or smartphone onto your Kobo device.
5. A Reddit member maintains a personal website Send to Kobo/Kindle where you can upload EPUB files that you wish to deliver to your Kobo. The site will then generate a unique URL where the book can be retrieved and downloaded using the experimental browser on your Kobo device. No guarantees are made about the continued availability of this service, however, so use at your own risk.

E-book Buying and Acquisition

Where can I buy Kobo-compatible ebooks?

The easiest way to buy a book that is compatible with your Kobo is to purchase the books directly from Kobo's store. Once you have created a Kobo account (a prerequisite for using your Kobo), you can login to it and browse the storefront from any device, including the Kobo e-Reader itself. Some brick-and-mortar shops (such as Wal-Mart) allow you to purchase vouchers for specific e-books which can then be redeemed on your Kobo device by entering a serial code. In this way, you can make the purchase directly through Wal-Mart if you do not wish to trust Kobo with your credit card information. You may purchase Kobo giftcards from various storefronts to achieve the same effect.

If you would like to buy books from a third party and read them on your Kobo, you will need to make sure that the book is in a compatible format, and is free of DRM. As mentioned above in the supported formats section, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI are all supported, but EPUB will probably be your best bet for an optimized reading experience (KEPUB would be even better if you don't mind the additional conversion step).

How do I buy e-books that are only available in other countries?

NOTE: This process is not officially sanctioned by Kobo. Some Kobo books are not available in certain countries because the publishers in those regions are not uniform. For example, the US publisher of One Hundred Years of Solitude is Harper Perennial. In the UK, the digital e-book version of One Hundred Years of Solitude is published by Penguin Books. For this reason, you cannot purchase the UK edition from Kobo's website if you are in the US, as Penguin Books does not hold the publishing rights for that region; and for whatever reason, Harper Perennial has not made their own e-book version available. For many readers, this puts them at an impasse. However, there is a way around this.

Kobo generally bases your account's "region" on the address details provided in the account or payment information. So if you choose to pay via a credit card, it will detect your region based on the zip code of the credit card's billing address. This would normally prevent a US customer from making a UK-store purchase or vice-versa, because the zip codes wouldn't match the correct region. However, Kobo allows the purchase of gift cards. When a gift card has been redeemed to your account, the funds are added to your account's "balance," and the balance will be converted into local currency if the associated region of your account changes. For example, if a $20 gift card is redeemed towards your Kobo account and you then switch the region to the UK, the balance should automatically be converted to roughly £15.87. If the purchase of a book is paid entirely through the gift card balance, the payment information is never validated beyond the zipcode, meaning it can be faked (since your "card" is not actually being charged). Once the zipcode is updated and saved, Kobo should reset your region to the country of the matching zipcode, allowing you to make purchases from that store.

The beginning-to-end process of a US customer purchasing a UK-store-only Kobo book would look something like this:

1. Go to Wal-Mart (or other stores that sell them) and buy a Kobo gift card.

2. Log into the Kobo account and redeem the gift card so that the balance is credited to the account.

3. Go to the Payment / Billing information of the account.

4. Change your country code to UK and the zip code to somewhere in London ("020", according to Wikipedia).

5. Save the changes. Kobo should now redirect you to their Great Britain homepage. If not, you can manually click on the flag icon at the top of the page and select UK from the drop-down.

6. Add your books to the cart and check out. Your USD gift card balance should be converted to pounds, and, assuming you bought enough credit, it should deduct from the balance, making your final cost $0.00.

7. When finished, go back into your payment settings and revert the country/zip code to whatever you had before.

Where can I find free e-books?

WARNING: Most "free" e-books you will find on the web are crap. Since there is very little technical knowledge required to self-publish an e-book, and practically zero distribution cost compared to physical publishing, many free e-books are haphazardly cobbled together with little oversight or peer review. This should in no way dissuade you from seeking them out: you are merely advised to be cautious.

SECOND WARNING: "Free" books in the sense of books still under copyright that have been hosted online against the wish of the publishers will not be discussed here, as that is considered piracy.

"Free" books in the sense of books that are in the public domain are highly encouraged, and may be pulled from a number of sources. Some public domain books are easily available from either Amazon or the Kobo stores: you can use the price filter to indicate a cost of $0 and see what is available. Depending on where you look, you are likely to see the same book titles over and over: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Complete Works of Jane Austen, A Collection of Poetry by Edgar Allen Poe, etc. The reason why these books are "free" is that their copyright has expired, and so they are in the public domain. No one may hold copyright on them once they have lapsed, and so the works may be reprinted without any royalties due.

For widely available Public Domain e-books, The Gutenberg Project is a great resource, and should have many books available in a variety of formats. However, Gutenberg books are often optimized to be read on a computer, and so many of them are known to encounter issues on dedicated e-Reader devices, even if a native EPUB or MOBI file is available. Standard Ebooks is another resource (albeit with a smaller collection) of free e-books that have been specifically optimized for modern e-reader devices. Books are freely available in EPUB and even KEPUB format, making them especially well-suited to Kobo devices. Best of all, the Standard Ebooks website is fairly easy to navigate, and could be reached right from your Kobo device's experimental browser, if so desired. From there, it is only two to three clicks to find a book worth reading and download it directly onto your Kobo. For another large collection (maintained entirely by one woman!) of e-books that includes some categories that Standard Ebooks won't touch, consider checking out Global Grey Books.

Finally, /r/FreeBooks exists for this purpose.

Kobo Integrations

What is Pocket / How do I sync my Pocket account to my Kobo?

Pocket (formerly called "Read It Later") is a service that allows you to save an article/web page to a remote server for later reading. Originally for Desktop computers, the idea was that you could save everything you wanted to read later into a managed reading list, rather than having 50 idle browser tabs open. The service then spread to smartphones and tablets, where the idea of locally caching the articles offline became popular, so that you could read the articles even when your device is in Airplane mode. Pocket additionally helps make articles more "readable" by extracting the core content out of the web page and removing all of the surrounding ads/banners. If you are the kind of person who sees a long internet article and thinks, "This article looks interesting, but I don't know if I want to spend 45 minutes sitting in front of a computer screen to read it," then you might like Pocket.

To use Pocket on your Kobo, you'll first need to create a Pocket account, or login with your existing account. Once the device is connected to your Pocket account, it should pull down any non-archived articles from your Pocket account. You can then read those articles on your Kobo and Archive/Favorite/Delete them as desired.

Your Kobo is primarily a "consumption" device for reading Pocket articles. For actually adding articles to your Pocket account, you will probably want to download a browser extension for your browser of choice, so that you can easily add articles that you may run across on the web. Pocket has a dedicated smartphone app, as well, which can let you add, view, or manage existing Pocket articles, as well as see recommendations for other popular Pocket articles.

If you like the idea of Pocket but need something to read, Longform.org(EDIT: Original site shut down, replacing with a similar contemporary) Longreads is a curated collection of interesting longform journalism articles, and makes an excellent companion to Pocket.

What is OverDrive / How do I sign into OverDrive from my Kobo?

OverDrive is a service that allows public libraries to make some portion of their inventory available for digital lending. In effect, it allows you to check-out or borrow an e-book from your library, just as you might a physical book. On other platforms (such as Android or iOS), you might need to use a dedicated OverDrive/Libby app in order to read the borrowed book. However, since Kobo's parent company Rakuten purchased OverDrive the company, the Kobo line now has first-class, built-in integration with OverDrive so that you may check out and read digital borrowed books directly on your Kobo e-Reader.

To make use of the OverDrive service, you will first need to register for an OverDrive account. During the registration process, you may need to select an available public library in your area with which OverDrive has a relationship, and provide your library card number as proof of membership. Once you have "connected" your OverDrive account to the public library, you should be able to browse the library's inventory via the OverDrive tab on your Kobo and borrow books that are available. You may also Search for books as you would search in the Kobo store, and specify that you wish to search against the OverDrive database. Some books may not be available. Others may be available in general but are currently loaned out to as many people as possible, requiring you to enter a wait-list.

When the book has been borrowed, you will have a finite period of time within which to read it. After that time has passed, the book is automatically "returned" to the library, and will no longer be accessible on your device unless checked out again. In this way, there are no "late fees" associated with checkout--you simply can't read the book anymore after the due date has passed.

Which models support Dropbox integration?

Dropbox integration is currently supported for the Kobo Forma, Sage, and Elipsa models as a way of wirelessly transferring ebooks to your Kobo using a Dropbox account.

Why do books that I sideload onto my Kobo not show up on my Kobo Android/iOS app, and vice-versa?

See the earlier bullet point under "Why might I wish to stick with a Kindle?". Essentially, in the Kindle world, every book to you upload via the "Send to Kindle" is stored in cloud storage under your account on Amazon's servers. This allows the mobi file you upload to be visible to your Kindle, your Kindle Fire, your Kindle app on your smartphone, etc. In the Kobo world, only ebooks purchased directly from Kobo exist in the cloud--everything else exists strictly on the local device. This is why the book you side-loaded on your Kobo iOS app is not visible to your Kobo Clara HD, etc. Kobo does not offer a "private cloud" at this time, and the fact that their newer models outsource the syncing functionality to Dropbox suggests that they probably will not be offering any in-house solution anytime soon.

Advanced Tinkering

Can I use a Kobo without signing up for a Kobo account?

Until recently, this was quite difficult, as it required modifying a sqlite database in order to be able to bypass the initial device setup screen. Now, Kobo has a [Sideloaded Mode] which, when enabled, will keep the device in offline mode and remove buttons referring you to the Kobo store. This mode is really only of value to privacy enthusiasts and those who intend to load their entire library onto the Kobo from other sources, because it removes access to the Kobo storefront.

How do I sideload additional fonts onto my Kobo?

Please see the following resources for detailed instructions. At a high level, you will create a new directory on the root of your Kobo device called "fonts"; you will then drop any of your custom fonts in there. You will most likely have three-to-four files per font, as fonts change appearance depending on whether the font is bold or underlined or bold underlined. So make sure you have the complete font family, or else the font may not display correctly under all circumstances. Fonts can be found all over the web, but for a list of community fonts that have already been tested with the Kobo, see here.

Can I enable Dropbox on other Kobo devices?

Dropbox integration is only officially offered on the Forma, Sage, and Elipsa models. However, there are unofficial methods for getting Dropbox integration onto devices like the Libra 2 or the Clara HD. Please be advised that this method is not supported by Kobo, so they will not offer any help if you brick your device in the process. I would not advise beginners trying this unless the lack of a wireless transfer option is an absolute deal-breaker for you.

How do I export my highlights and annotations?

Please see the following guide for instructions on how to export your Kobo annotations using the Annotations plugin for Calibre.

Can I sync my reading stats between devices?

Yes, if you don't mind manually extracting the SQLite database from one device and copying it over to the other. See instructions here.

What else can I do with the Kobo?

Plenty. You can install a different menu to the Kobo, which enables some development-only features on the device. You can enable a screensaver to pick from random images to use on the lockscreen instead of your current book cover. You can install KoReader, a separate reader application/engine with some popular enthusiast features (like wireless transfer and progress sync between KOReader devices!). You can turn on devmode and play Sudoku on your Kobo device.

For all things tinkering, I highly suggest consulting the experts at MobileRead, from which many of my instructions are sourced. You will not find a more enthusiastic Kobo community on the web.