Convert EPUB to PDF

Why turn an EPUB into a PDF

An EPUB reflows to fit whatever screen it is read on, which is great in an e-reader app and awkward everywhere else. A PDF has fixed pages: you can print it, mark it up in a PDF editor, attach it to a course page, or read it on a device without an EPUB app. This tool opens the EPUB in your browser, puts the chapters in reading order with the book's own styles and images, and starts each chapter on a new page. The last step uses the print function that every browser has: in the print dialog you choose "Save as PDF", and the browser writes the file. That is how the PDF gets real text you can select and search, sharp type at any zoom level and the original images, instead of a stack of page screenshots. Scripts inside the book are never run, and the book never leaves your device.

How to convert EPUB to PDF

1. Drop your EPUB file in the box, or click to choose it. A preview of the laid-out book appears.
2. Pick the page size (A4 or US Letter), the margins and the text size.
3. Click Create PDF. Your browser's print dialog opens. Choose "Save as PDF" as the printer or destination and save the file.

What changes when you convert

The PDF is made by your browser's print dialog

There is no direct download. Software that builds PDFs inside a web page cannot lay out a whole book with proper line breaks, hyphenation and embedded fonts, and turning pages into pictures gives large files with text you cannot search. Browsers already have a print engine that does this well, so the tool uses it. In the print dialog, set the destination to "Save as PDF" (Firefox calls it "Save to PDF"; in Safari on a Mac use the PDF button). Turn off "Headers and footers" if you do not want the date and a web address on every page, and turn on "Background graphics" if the book uses coloured boxes or background images.

Books with DRM cannot be converted

Many shops sell e-books with DRM (copy protection), such as Adobe ADEPT or Apple FairPlay. Their chapters are encrypted, so only the reading app that holds the key can open them. The tool detects this and tells you; it cannot convert such books. Books from Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks and many independent publishers are DRM-free. Kindle books (MOBI, AZW3, KFX) are not EPUB files at all.

Comics and fixed-layout books

Picture books, comics and some textbooks are fixed-layout EPUBs, made for one page size, with every element placed exactly. They are laid out here like a normal book, with each page of the original starting on a new page, and may look different from your e-reader, for example with a page split in two or extra white space. The status line says when a book is fixed-layout.

Pages differ from your e-reader

Page breaks depend on the paper size, margins and text size you choose, so page numbers will not match an e-reader or the printed edition. Every file in the book's reading order starts on a new page, which usually means each chapter, but also the title page and copyright page. Pop-up footnotes appear where the book has placed them, often at the end of a chapter.

Very large books

A novel takes a few seconds. A long illustrated book with hundreds of images can take a minute before the preview is ready, and the print dialog needs extra time for its own preview. Close other tabs if your device is short on memory.