EPUB vs MOBI
A side-by-side feature comparison.
Summary
EPUB is the W3C-blessed open e-book standard everyone except Amazon ships. MOBI was the Kindle format until 2022, when Amazon switched to KFX. Both are ZIP-like containers of HTML and CSS; the differences are in DRM, metadata, and which devices can render them.
Feature comparison
| Feature | EPUB | MOBI (Mobipocket) |
|---|---|---|
| Container | ZIP | PalmDOC + HTML |
| Standardized? | Yes (IDPF / W3C) | Proprietary (Amazon) |
| Devices | Kobo, Nook, Apple Books, etc. | Kindle (legacy) |
| Reflowable | Yes | Yes |
| Fixed layout | Yes (EPUB 3) | Limited |
| Status in 2026 | Universal | Deprecated by Amazon |
About EPUB
EPUB is the open eBook standard maintained by the W3C. An .epub is a ZIP file containing XHTML documents, CSS, images, and a manifest (OPF). Reading apps render the contents like a tiny website, with reflowable text optimized for the reader's screen.
About MOBI (Mobipocket)
MOBI is the eBook format Amazon adopted when it bought Mobipocket in 2005. .mobi (and the related .azw) are PalmDB databases containing compressed HTML and embedded images. Amazon retired MOBI in favor of KFX in 2022, but the Kindle still imports .mobi files via Send-to-Kindle.
Read the full MOBI (Mobipocket) guide →
More comparisons
- ZIP vs RAR
- ZIP vs 7z
- RAR vs 7z
- tar.gz vs tar.xz
- tar.xz vs tar.zst
- gzip vs Zstandard
- 7-Zip vs WinRAR
- 7-Zip vs PeaZip
- Keka vs The Unarchiver
- ZIP vs tar.gz
- XZ vs Zstandard
- LZ4 vs Snappy
- bzip2 vs bzip3
- ISO vs IMG
- Parquet vs ORC
- VMDK vs qcow2
- APK vs AAB (Android App Bundle)
- CAB vs MSI
- DEB vs RPM
- DMG vs macOS PKG
- Flatpak vs Snap
- AppImage vs Flatpak
- 7z vs ZPAQ
- Borg vs restic