I recently purchased several books on Bookapy. When I tried to download it in my favorite format (Kindle), I got a file with the file form of .azw3. Is there a problem with the store, or is my ki9ndle not reading these files?
If the problem is on my end, is there a new free reader that will read those files.
got a file with the file form of .azw3
I have one novel on Bookapy in the .azw3 format for Kindle because .mobi didn't format correctly. I thought any Kindle reader could read both .azw3 and .mobi
From kboards:
AZW3 has better performance than MOBI, is much smaller, and shows up on your Kindle as a book and not a personal document.
If you are converting from ePub to the Kindle, best use the AZW3 (KF8) format. AFAIK, It allows many of the more complex formatting options that ePub has had for a long time to be transferred to the Kindle. Such as indenting block quotes, proper table formatting, etc.
And I found this on a site:
MOBI eBook format, developed by Mobipocket.com, is sold to Amazon in 2005. There are 2 MOBI formats used for eBooks – MOBI7 and MOBI8. MOBI7 (KF7) is the eBook format developed with basic HTML language. The eBooks saved as MOBI7 format do not support to change the font, text size, layout within Kindle e-readers. MOBI8 (KF8) is developed based on MOBI7 format with support HTML5 and CSS, which means it supports to display eBook with complicated layout and multi-media (except audios and videos).
In general, we could say that the MOBI8 format is the same as the AZW3 format. You may ask why? The reason is that the AZW3 eBook format is developed from MOBI8 format for publishing Kindle eBooks with DRM (Digital Rights Management) mechanism.
So in other words, the main difference between the MOBI and AZW3 formats is their support for complex layouts and multimedia. Because AZW3 eBooks support more styles, fonts, layouts and multimedia content (except audio and video) on Kindle devices, the reading experience of AZW3 (KF8) format e-books is better than that of MOBI (KF7) format eBooks.
I was planning on using .azw3 for all my novels in the future. It seems to have the most functionality for Kindle.
.azw is the native kindle format. .azw3 is the latest generation of that.
What are you using for a Kindle reader?
The latest version of the Kindle reader for Android, IOS or PC will handle .azw3 files just fine. If you are using any of those, make sure you have the latest version.
A warning: The latest version of Kindle reader for PC won't run on anything less than Windows 10.
Are you using an actual Kindle device? If so how old is it? You may need to upgrade to a newer device if it won't handle .azw3 files. If you buy a kindle book from Amazon, .azw3 is what you will get.
If you use Calibre, you may be able to convert the .azw3 to .mobi, which all generations of kindle readers can handle.
Something I noticed from a Amazon announcement a few months ago:
in 2022, Amazon discontinued support for its MOBI and AZW formats, but added support for EPUB, sort of. Existing MOBI and AZW files will be converted to the KF8 (. azw3) format but can no longer be emailed or sent to a Kindle library
In newer generation files they're switching to .KF series extensions.
If the problem is on my end, is there a new free reader that will read those files.
Are you reading using a kindle device or a kindle app?
As other said, azw3 is amazon's format. It is for kindles.
By the way, as Amazon has dropped support for .mobi and .azw I will be changing the download system here and on bookapy to match.
I will drop the download of .mobi files, and will switch all kindle buttons to 'mail-to-kindle' and the function will email the EPUB file to the kindle. I tested it already and the mail-to-kindle server at amazon already accepts EPUB files. So .mobi is not really needed anymore.
Anybody who wants .mobi can use calibre to create them from the EPUB version.
I will be changing the download system here and on bookapy to match.
Does that mean we (authors) should change our .mobi novels on Bookapy to .azw3?
Does that mean we (authors) should change our .mobi novels on Bookapy to .azw3?
Probably a good idea.
No. In the next couple of month .mobi and .azw3 will be gone as options.
The behind the scene system for the formats will be changed so that when a user clicks the kindle button (here or Bookapy) the EPUB file will be emailed to their kindle.
It will be easier for you as an author as you only need to provide EPUB and it will be simpler here on the site and on bookapy.
EPUB will be the one and only format supported on Bookapy. Since pdf downloads are so tiny, then PDF will also go away on Bookapy.
