• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Blog
  • Kindle
  • Onyx Boox
  • Kobo
  • Comparisons
  • Contact
  • About
  • Disclosure
The eBook Reader Blog

The eBook Reader Blog

The eBook Reader Blog keeps you updated on the latest ereader and tablet news, reviews, and tutorials.

  • News
  • eBook Readers
  • Sales & Deals
  • Reviews
  • How To Guides
  • eBooks
  • Free eBooks

Should Amazon Add ePub Support to Kindles?

June 19, 2016 by Nathan Groezinger

Kindle Voyage Sale

Kindle ereaders are one of the few reading devices on the planet that don’t support ePub format.

Kindles are the most popular dedicated readers and ePub is the most common ebook format, so what gives?

Why doesn’t Amazon add support for ePub ebooks to Kindles?

Fire tablets support ePub with apps available through Amazon’s own appstore so what’s the big difference?

Adobe DRM’d ebook are obviously out of the question; Amazon will never in a million years pay Adobe for rights to use their crummy DRM.

But why not add support for DRM-free ePub ebooks?

Why should Amazon care if someone is reading an ePub they got five years ago when the odds are the person is going to use the Kindle to make future ebook purchases?

It seems like an easy way to convert a bunch of longtime Kindle holdouts into new customers.

Lots of people have acquired vast numbers of ePub ebooks over the years and that keeps them from wanting to get a Kindle. Even though converting ePubs to Kindle format is an easy process with Calibre, it’s still a hassle that some people don’t want to work through.

Amazon should at the very least add ePub as a supported format to their Kindle format conversion service. Being able to send ePubs over email or with a Send to Kindle app and have them get automatically converted to Kindle format would be a big advantage for Amazon.

In some ways it’s probably a good thing that Amazon doesn’t add ePub support to Kindles because that would hurt what little competition they have remaining. Supporting ePub is one of the few advantages the other brands have left.

Filed Under: Amazon Kindle, eBooks Tagged With: epub

Disclosure: This website earns commissions using affiliate links through Skimlinks and Amazon's Associates program.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. cc says

    June 19, 2016 at 8:51 am

    Wow talk about timing – I just asked in the Amazon discussions about the possibility of porting a borrowed library epub to my paperwhite. I’m hazy on why my library would acquire 3 epub copies (Stieg Larsson books) and no Kindles…

  2. Dave says

    June 19, 2016 at 9:56 am

    Adobe’s DRM is kinda synonymous with commercially purchased ePubs nowadays. I think Amazon wants to avoid creating confusion.

  3. Jmirko says

    June 19, 2016 at 2:29 pm

    Actually, I think the number of advantages of Kindle alternatives is growing: open Android, a choice of screen sizes, and water resistance, to name but a few.

    • Harry says

      June 22, 2016 at 11:27 am

      I definitely agree as to size especially. As long as Amazon remains resistant to expanding into the 8 to 9 inch arena, even with ePub access I would not abandon my current Pocketbook 840 inkpad with its 8 inch screen. The 840 can handle both Mobi and ePub among numerous other formats but I find ePub works more smoothly.

  4. Florence says

    June 19, 2016 at 5:51 pm

    Amazon apps offers Aldiko ereader for free and for a nominal sum one can have Aldiko with all the options such as highliting, collections. A wonderful ereader. It recognizes epub formats which can be sideloaded easily.

  5. Sean says

    June 19, 2016 at 6:29 pm

    That’s why I got a Link.

  6. Sean says

    June 19, 2016 at 6:30 pm

    kobo……I hate autocorrect!

  7. cc says

    June 20, 2016 at 6:48 am

    I don’t own any epubs – if Gutenberg, say, has epub but not Kindle then I use Calibre to convert. So my only epub issue is library borrows where Kindle isn’t available – for those is the Aldiko app (on a Fire HDX if that matters) better than just downloading into Overdrive?

  8. Dave says

    June 23, 2016 at 10:50 am

    YES! I would be so pleased if Amazon allowed Kindles to read ePubs too. I have a fair number of ePubs from my Nook days and would love to read them again on my Paperwhite as I can through the Nook app on my tablet.

Primary Sidebar

Kindle Voyage Screen Broke

My Kindle Voyage Broke Today – Avoid Doing What I Did

Boox Max Case Bundle

Onyx Now Giving Away Free Covers With Some Amazon Purchases

Boox Go 7 BW vs Color Comparison

Boox Go 7 BW vs Boox Go Color 7 Comparison (Video)

Kobo Sale

Kobo Libra Colour and Kobo Elipsa 2E on Sale for $20-$50 Off

New Kindle Page View

Amazon Changing Page View on Kindles to Look Like Kindle Apps

Navigation Menu

  • Homepage
  • The eBook Reader Blog
  • Comparison Tables
  • Kindle Comparisons
  • Best eBook Readers
  • Reviews
  • How To Guides

Follow

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress