PDF is the most common ebook format in electronic scholarly publishing. While PDF does not allow for the greater functionality offered by ebook readers and other mobile devices, most readers and devices can accommodate it.
Calibre, an e-book management software, can help in converting PDF's (or other formats) to new formats when needed.
There are over twenty different types of ebook formats other than PDF. Some of the most widely used are listed below.
.AZW is Amazon's proprietary format for its Kindle devices, and only works on Kindles.
EPUB is an open standard ebook format that is supported by almost all e-readers and devices.
.PRC is the Mobipocket e-reader format which uses XHTML and Javascript.
.PDB is an e-book format for Palm OS devices that is frequently supported by other devices, as well.
E-Books are also published in familiar formats such as .txt, .doc, .docx, and .html. The chart below shows which formats work on which devices. Finally, if you have an e-book in a format that doesn't work with your device, try items listed in e-Book Solutions box below.
E-book Formats for Popular E-readers and Apps by Amanda Tarbet is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Bridging the gap between the e-book reader you have and the e-book content you want to use often requires a software "middleman". Here are some of the most common free software solutions:
Major review sites for e-readers:
