How to Read EPUB Files on Your Amazon Kindle

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I'm a big fan of the Amazon Kindle, but one of the issues I've had with it is that it doesn't support EPUB files natively. Fortunately, there's a free and relatively easy way to convert EPUB files into the Kindle's native Mobipocket file format.

The easiest way I've found to read EPUB files on the Kindle is to use Amazon's free tool, KindleGen, to convert EPUB files into the Mobipocket format. KindleGen is a tool for publishers designed to convert existing HTML and EPUB files into the Kindle's native file format. You can download it for free from Amazon and use it yourself to convert EPUB files into a Kindle-friendly format.

To read EPUB files on your Kindle, follow these steps:

  1. Download KindleGen for your platform (available for Windows, Mac, and Linux — thank you, Amazon, for cross-platform support).
  2. Follow the instructions for converting your EPUB files into the Mobipocket format.
  3. Connect your Kindle to your computer via USB. It should appear as a mounted drive or volume.
  4. Drag your new EPUB files into your Kindle's "documents" directory.
  5. Eject or unmount your Kindle, and you should find your books available in your library.

There are several other EPUB readers out there that support EPUB files natively and don't require you to go through a conversion process, but I really like the Kindle platform for other reasons, so it's worth the additional step for me.

3 thoughts on “How to Read EPUB Files on Your Amazon Kindle”

  1. What’s your experience been like with technical EPUB books? I’ve gone back and forth on getting a Kindle but I’ve got a large collection of programming books and I’ve been unsure how they’d look.
    Thanks,
    Tom

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  2. I’ve actually never tried technical books on the Kindle, primarily because I don’t feel like they’d do very well. Images are barely passable on e-ink displays, IMO. I primarily use the Kindle for reading novels and non-fiction which does not rely heavily on graphics.
    If you’re into graphic-heavy books, you might find the iPad to be a better solution. The biggest problem with the iPad is that the screen is very low-resolution, especially compared to the iPhone 4’s retina display, and to e-ink.
    I’m looking forward to:
    – Retina display iPads. (I’ll be first in line.)
    – Color e-ink.

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  3. Thanks – that’s kind of what I expected. Trying to hold out a little longer to see if any Android tablets can manage to stack up to the iPad (c’mon Adam Ink) although a Retina display iPad would be hard to resist.

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