I purchased a new ipad as a new reading device, but I want to know which ebooks formats does the iPad support?
As a terrific reading device, iPad supports a wide range of ebook and audiobook formats because of the pre-installed Apple books. What’s more, it supports most other contemporary formats via other apps like the Kindle, Nook or Kobo apps (all of which are a free install). Let’s check them out one by one.
iPad Supported eBook Foramts:
Apple books is the only app that integrated with the stores on your iPad where you can buy ebooks and audiobooks without leaving the app. You may say "every app should have that". True, but the only app that does that on the iPhone and iPad is the Apple Books. As for other reader app, like kindle, google play, Nook, they don't have the in-app store feature. That's possibly the real reason that many people only use Apple Books on iPad or iPhone.
But What eBook formats does iPad support? The Apple books supported ebook formats are EPUB and PDF. As of version 2.0, it also supports a proprietary iBook format (IBA), generated with the iBooks Author tool.
ePub
Epub is the most common used ebook format for almost ebook vendors besides Amazon kindle books. Actually, it is also the default ebook format for iPad pre-installed ebook reading app—Apple books. Apple books even support the latest epub format--Epub 3. Epub 3 supports the latest versions of HTML, CSS, and SVG, and has built-in support for embedded interactivity, audio, and video.
Different from epub, PDF is a fixed formatting and considered as the best printing format. More than that, pdf is also adopted by ebook vendors as the etextbook format. Due to the popularity of PDF, Apple books upgraded itself to support PDF format now. On iPhone/iPad, you can read, open, share, markup and print PDF documents.
.ibooks format
iBook format, also called Multi-Touch iBooks, is generated with the iBooks Author software. With it, you can create dynamic, interactive e-books for distribution on the iPad. This format is based upon the EPUB format, but depended on custom widget code in the Apple Books app to function.
Note: As of July 1, 2020, iBooks Author will no longer be available to new users. iBooks Author can still be used on macOS 10.15 and earlier, but there will be no new updates.
TXT
A TXT file is a standard text document that contains unformatted text. It is recognized by any text editing or word processing program and can also be processed by most other software programs. The .txt file is also supported by Apple books.
iPad Supported Audiobooks
MP3
MP3 is the most popular file format for audio and music format. If you have audiobooks in mp3 format, you can import the mp3 file to your ipad music with the help of iTunes. And then you can listen to it using the iOS built-in Music app.
Do you know that you can also listen to audiobooks with Apple books now? Yes, iPad also can be used as the audiobooks players. It now supports audible audiobooks and apple audiobooks.
Audible Format( aa, aax)
Without installing audible app on your iPad, you can sync your audible audiobooks to your apple books for listening. As for original audible format, there are .aa and aax formats which is the audible proprietary formats. Or you can just install the Audible app to download and listen to audible books.
Pro tips: The official guide to convert audible to mp3 format.
Apple audiobooks format (M4B & AAC)
The common format of Apple Audiobooks is M4B. For all audiobooks you purchased from Audible, they are in M4B format. Apple M4B Audiobooks are also encoded by AAC format, as a result, they are also protected by FairPlay DRM encryption, a DRM technology developed by Apple Inc.
Conclusion
These are native formats that supported by iPad. Third-party apps can open many file formats not covered by native iPad software. For those kinds of formats, you just need to install the corresponding app and then enjoy the ebooks and audiobooks.
Iris Yan has been a passionate member of Epubor since 2017. Her mission is to enhance your ebook reading experience by sharing insightful tips and tricks. Join her on a journey towards reading excellence today!
