MOBI is the e-book format of older Kindles. Amazon's Send to Kindle now takes EPUB files directly and turns them into its own format, so if you have a recent Kindle or the Kindle app, send the EPUB itself. A MOBI file is for the rest: early Kindles (Kindle Keyboard, the first Paperwhites and the like) loaded over USB, older Kindle apps, and other readers and apps that open MOBI but not EPUB. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and while the page stays open, a feature you have already used keeps working offline.
The converter is written for this site from the public description of the MOBI format, not based on any other converter. It makes a classic MOBI (Mobipocket 6) file, the kind every Kindle and Kindle app reads: the chapters as compressed text, the pictures as JPEG or GIF, the title, authors, language and cover in the book's details, and the table of contents as a contents page that the Kindle's Go To menu opens. Books with DRM (from most shops and library apps) cannot be converted, and this page says so rather than trying to unlock them.
- Do I still need MOBI for a Kindle?
- Usually not. Since 2022 Send to Kindle (the email address, the app and the website) takes EPUB files and no longer takes MOBI, and current Kindles show EPUBs sent that way. MOBI is still useful for older Kindles you load over USB, for older Kindle and Mobipocket apps, and for readers that do not open EPUB. Copying the MOBI over USB works on every Kindle.
- Will the book look the same as the EPUB?
- The text, headings, italics, bold, lists, tables, pictures and links come across. The older MOBI format has no stylesheets, so the EPUB's own fonts, colours, margins and fancy layouts are replaced by the Kindle's standard look, which you can change on the Kindle (font, size, spacing). Pictures larger than a Kindle screen are made smaller, and SVG picture files are turned into JPEGs where the browser can draw them; drawings written into the chapter itself are left out.
- Can I convert an EPUB with DRM?
- No. A book locked with Adobe DRM, Readium LCP or Apple FairPlay has its text encrypted, and this page does not remove DRM. Read it in the app it came from. Books without DRM convert: free classics, many independent and technical publishers, and books you made yourself.
- Is the table of contents kept?
- Yes. The EPUB's table of contents becomes a contents page at the start of the MOBI, with each entry a link, and the Kindle's Go To, Table of Contents menu opens it. The MOBI has no separate chapter index, so where a Kindle offers a list of chapters it may be empty; the contents page is always there.
- Does it make AZW3 or KFX?
- No, MOBI only: the classic format that every Kindle generation reads. To go the other way, from a Kindle book to EPUB, use MOBI to EPUB.
- Are my books uploaded to be converted?
- No. The EPUB is read and the MOBI is written in this browser tab on your device; nothing is sent to this site or anywhere else.