6 Reasons Why ePub Is a Better eBook Format Than PDF

by | Published on Dec 28, 2020 | Document Conversion / Scanning Services

Companies across the healthcare, higher education, government, finance and manufacturing industries are moving towards digitization and have seamlessly automated their processes with the help of reliable document conversion services. Businesses greatly use PDF for transferring various information. Even though PDF is widely used in many industries, it has some defects. For example, when you view PDF file in mobile devices, you have to zoom in for better reading but this will make you go outside of your screen. Similarly, reading a PDF format book using your mobile is difficult because you will have to zoom in and scroll up and down to read the content. But with ePub you can read the whole text by simply scrolling down. Today, a large majority of users prefer e-reading on mobiles, tablets and e-book readers. ePub format is designed in such a way that the reflowable content allows it to adjust properly to fit whatever screen size your reader has and with whatever font size you prefer.

With the rising use of eBooks, the demand for ePub has also increased. This is because it is a very flexible and portable format that allows publishers to customize eBooks. It also provides interactivity, making it one of the most popular formats. PDF was developed decades ago and it has always been popular to circulate digital files and documents. Compared to PDF, ePub is relatively new. It was developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum, and has become the standard format for digital publication.

In order to develop and deliver interactive and compelling digital files and eBooks, businesses, authors and publishers use ePub format.

Here are six reasons why you should go for ePub instead of PDF:

  • Easy to Create and Edit: ePub is a zip file that contains style sheets, XHTML files, and JPG for images. There are many software options available online to create an ePub file. These are either paid or open source software for ePub conversion. But to create a PDF file, you will need Adobe Acrobat’s PDF creator or any other PDF converters. But for ePub files, it requires only changes in the HTML codes to make any modification in the file, which is much easier.
  • Allows to Add Media: eBooks are different from regular books and can also include audio files, videos and rich images. This is where ePub becomes more useful than PDFs. ePub allows you to add media like videos and images to the content and make it more interactive, engaging and interesting. PDF is also becoming more engaging and interesting by including videos and such multimedia in it but the trouble is that videos on a PDF file rely on software compatibility. You will also need PDF reader to read and play the content.
  • Supports Multiple Reader Platforms: ePub was designed mainly for eBook readers. ePub documents can be read on any devices like computer, smartphone, tablet and any e-reader except Kindle. e-readers like Apple’s iBook, Barnes and Noble’s Nook and many others support ePub files. PDF files can also be read on almost all devices, but you cannot read them on all e-readers. They are not designed to be displayed on an eBook reader but can be viewed on big screens like a desktop computer or a laptop.
  • Seamless Flow of eBook: One of the main features that makes ePub files different from PDF is that ePub has the ability to reflow its content. When PDF files open on small screen devices, you will have to zoom in and pinch in order to read the documents. But with ePub, it fits the screen smoothly. The page breaks depend on the size of the screen due to its reflowable nature. The content on the page rearranges and realigns itself so that the user can have a better reading experience. A PDF file is also a digital format file whereas ePub is like a website that has a responsive design.
  • Better Security than PDF: PDF offer password lock syst4em to protect confidential files but these are not considered to be fully safe. These password can be recovered with the help of recovery software. So the password lock is not very effective. ePub offers DRM protection that cannot be shared and people only have the rights to allow people to read or specify a time period for accessing the content or limit the devices the eBook can be installed on. DRM protects eBooks from theft, copying of content, and unauthorized circulations. DRM is an encryption code embedded in the eBook that prevents anyone from accessing the content without a proper access key. So, your content is more protected as an ePub file than as a PDF document.
  • Retailer’s Choice: ePub formats are available in all stores and all eBook retail sites and distributors like Amazon, Apple, Kobo etc accept ePub files. But none of these sites accept PDFs. PDFs files need to be converted into ePub or any other acceptable formats and then approach online eBook stores.

The following are some of the software that can be used for converting PDF files to ePub

  • Online- convert.com (web based): It is considered as one of the most reliable web-based options that can be used to convert a wide variety of file types. Apart from PDF to ePub conversion, it also converts DOCX files to DOC.
  • Toepub.com: This is a professional online service that helps to convert PDF and other types of documents into a variety of e-book formats, including EPUB, Kindle MOBI, AZW3, FB2, LIT, and LRF.
  • Zamzar: It is a famous online and free document conversion service, Zamzar offers a PDF to EPUB converter.
  • PDFelement: This is an all-in-one PDF converter and editor that helps to convert PDF files into ePub.

ePub files can also be easily converted into AZW3 or MOBI formats.

We’ve updated the blog “Four Different ways to Convert EPub to MOBI or AZW” on November 24, 2022

Choosing a good PDF to ePub converter is not an easy task as there are numerous software options available. Consider the solutions provided by an experienced document conversion services provider for reliable ePub conversion.

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