Which format is best for an e-book?

E-books have long been familiar to many users. The main advantage: a display that does not damage vision, accessibility of texts, long-term operation, storage of a large number of books. Recently, devices with backlit displays have appeared that allow you to read at night. That is, there are many advantages. But people who decide to buy a reader for the first time often do not know what a “format” is.

What formats does the e-reader recognize?

Types of formats:

1. EPUB is the most common standard. It is supported by SONY and Barnes&Noble devices. At its core, it is similar to an archived web page that contains text, images, and fonts. In addition to Western manufacturers, the standard is supported by domestic manufacturers Wexler, Onyx, Pocket Book. In addition, the standard is used in the iPhone. Apple's proprietary reading application has EPUB support.
2. FB2 – created by domestic programmers. The books in these files are divided into chapters, have a cover, images, and a table of contents. In addition, the standard contains information about the document (writer, title, genre category), which is supported by the electronic device and makes it possible to conveniently sort texts on the gadget. The files take up little space, they can be archived and converted to other formats. When created, the format was designed for domestic consumers; it is almost never used in the West.Barnes&Noble and Amazon are not supported. But this is the main standard for domestic manufacturers.
3. TXT – supports regular texts. Despite the fact that these files are supported by almost all readers and take up little space, reading the literature is not recommended. There is no page layout, text alignment, or hyphenation. It is used for short texts, but not for long works.
4. MOBI is a standard for Kindle devices. It is gaining popularity in electronic libraries given the development of Amazon Kindle in Russia. The rest of the “readers” support the “just for show” standard. MOBI resembles EPUB.
5. DJVU is a standard created for storing scanned documents. Books are a set of scanned sheets. You can't make the font bigger, just the scale. When enlarged, the page extends beyond the display frame, and you have to constantly move the text to read it.
6. PDF is a format developed by AdobeSystems. Inconvenient in reading rooms for several reasons. The texts take up a lot of space because they are designed for PCs and open slowly on e-readers. Also, if the text is not made for a six-inch display for a “reader” that supports the same page format, reading A4 (many PDF files have the A4 standard) is difficult.
7. RTF – intended for text files. Is more "computer". It is inconvenient to view RTF on e-readers - these are bulky files, and reading speed is significantly reduced.
8. LRF was once a Sony proprietary standard. It is not used in modern Sony devices because it was replaced by EPUB. Converts other types of files poorly.
9. DOC – text for Microsoft Office. The files are supported by many readers, but the format is used only for documents, not fiction.Large texts in this format are significant in size, and it is difficult to use them in an e-book.

What is the best format for an e-book?

Standard formats that support the majority of e-books are FB2, EPUB. The user needs to pay attention to this when purchasing a reader. Naturally, it is better if the device supports more standards.

When publishing articles, authors of texts also need to focus on FB2 and EPUB; in addition, of course, they will need a PDF file - without this it will not be possible to correctly print the work for connoisseurs of “paper” reading.

Reference! But it must be said that if the author has released a work that everyone wants to read, the problem with file extensions fades into the background. Users will independently convert the book to the standard they require.

Which format is more convenient to read?

If an e-book supports almost all formats, then you can choose a specific type of file taking into account several criteria. For example, you are purchasing your first reader, and there are no pre-downloaded books. In this case, you need to choose the file extension that is best supported by the reader. FB2 and EPUB are the most convenient.

Attention! If you choose a 9-inch device and need to read both PDF and DJVU, it is recommended to choose the former, since PDF is more modern and the texts in DJVU are often of poor quality.

In terms of comfortable use, the advantages of “book” standards are many: they look visually better, they are more convenient to sort, they take up little space and the opening speed is much higher. Don’t forget, the most important thing is the ease of use of the “reader”, and not the number of formats.