Q475488

Also known as Electronic publication, ePub

EPUB is an e-book file format that uses the ".epub" file extension. The term is short for electronic publication and is sometimes stylized as ePUB. EPUB is supported by many e-readers, and compatible software is available for most smartphones, tablets, and computers. EPUB is a technical standard published by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It became an official standard of the IDPF in September 2007, superseding the older Open eBook (OEB) standard.

Key facts

File format.name: Electronic Publication (EPUB)
File format.screenshot: 200px
File format.extension: .epub
File format.mime: application/epub+zip
File format.magic: PK\x03\x04 (Zip)
File format.standard: ISO/IEC TS 30135
File format.open: Yes
File format.owner: International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)
File format.latest release version: 3.3
File format.genre: e-book file format
File format.contained by: OEBPS Container Format (OCF; Zip)
File format.extended from: Open eBook, XHTML, CSS, DTBook

~27 min read

Article

25 sections

Contents

History
Version 2.0.1
Open Publication Structure 2.0.1
Open Packaging Format 2.0.1
.opf file
.ncx file
Open Container Format 2.0.1
Version 3.0.1
Version 3.2
Version 3.3
Features
Digital rights management
Adoption
Security and privacy concerns
Implementation
Container
Publication
Contents
Media overlays
Software
Reading software
Creation software
Notes
References
External links

The Book Industry Study Group 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. Technically, a file in the EPUB format is a ZIP archive file consisting of XHTML files carrying the content, along with images and other supporting files. EPUB is the most widely supported vendor-independent XML-based e-book format; it is supported by almost all hardware readers and many software readers and mobile apps.