Convert FB2 to EPUB

FileReshape's FB2 to EPUB converter turns a FictionBook 2 file (.fb2, or .fb2.zip) into an EPUB 3 e-book with the chapters, cover, pictures, footnotes, poems and table of contents of the original. The book is converted in your browser and is not uploaded. Files in Windows-1251 and other old encodings are read too.

Drop your FB2 file here or click to choose

Did a file not convert correctly? E-mail [email protected], ideally with a small sample file, and it will be fixed.

Key facts

Input: FB2 (.fb2). Output: EPUB (.epub).
Your files are not uploaded: the work is done in your browser, on your own device.
File size: up to 300 MB per book.
Needs a current browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari) on a computer, tablet or phone; nothing to install.
Free to use, with no sign-up.

Why convert FB2 to EPUB

FictionBook (FB2) is an XML e-book format from Russia that is still the usual download on many Russian, Ukrainian and Eastern European book sites and in plenty of personal libraries. Few reading apps outside that region open it: Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play Books, Tolino and Amazon's Send to Kindle all want EPUB. This tool reads the FB2 in your browser, in whatever encoding its first line names (UTF-8, Windows-1251, KOI8-R and others), turns each section into a chapter, keeps the nested sub-sections as headings, rebuilds poems, epigraphs, quotations and tables, moves footnotes into a notes chapter with working links, and adds the embedded cover and pictures. The result is a standard EPUB 3 with an EPUB 2 table of contents for older readers.

How to convert FB2 to EPUB

Drop your .fb2 file (or a .fb2.zip download) in the box, or click to choose it. The title, author and cover appear.
Click Convert to EPUB.
Save the EPUB and copy it to your e-reader, open it in your reading app or send it to your Kindle.

What changes when you convert

The reading app sets the fonts

FB2 describes structure, not layout: chapters, paragraphs, emphasis, poems. The EPUB gets a simple stylesheet with indented paragraphs and centred headings, and your reading app chooses the typeface and size, so the book looks like any other EPUB rather than like the FB2 reader you used before.

Footnotes become a notes chapter

FB2 keeps footnotes in a separate notes body. They are written as a Notes chapter at the end, and the small note numbers in the text link to them. Most reading apps show such a note in a pop-up when you tap the number.

Broken FB2 files

Many FB2 files were made by hand or by old tools and contain small XML mistakes, such as a bare "&" in the text. The tool repairs the common ones and reads the book anyway. A file that is cut off in the middle cannot be read and gives a clear message.

A .fb2.zip is fine

Book sites often offer FB2 packed in a ZIP archive. You can drop the .fb2.zip as it is; the tool takes the .fb2 file out of the archive by itself.

About the formats

FB2

FB2 (FictionBook 2) is an XML e-book format created in Russia around 2004. A whole book, including its pictures, is one XML file that describes structure rather than layout: sections, titles, paragraphs, poems, epigraphs and footnotes. It is common on Russian and Eastern European book sites, often packed as .fb2.zip.

Pictures are stored inside the XML file as base64 text, so an FB2 is larger than the same book as EPUB.
Older FB2 files are often encoded in Windows-1251 or KOI8-R instead of UTF-8; the XML declaration says which.
Footnotes live in a separate body named "notes" and are linked from the text.
Most reading apps outside Eastern Europe, and Amazon's Send to Kindle, do not open FB2.

EPUB

EPUB is the open standard for e-books, first published by the IDPF in 2007 and maintained by the W3C since 2017. Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books and most library and e-reader apps open it. The text reflows to fit the screen and the reader's chosen font size, so an EPUB has no fixed pages.

An EPUB is a ZIP archive of XHTML pages, CSS, images and fonts, plus a package file (.opf) that lists them.
The spine in the package file sets the reading order. EPUB 2 (2007) and EPUB 3 (2011 onwards) are both common.
Books with DRM, such as Adobe ADEPT or Apple FairPlay, are encrypted and only open in the apps that hold the key. Kindle books use Amazon's own formats, not EPUB.
Fixed-layout EPUBs, used for comics and picture books, have set pages instead of reflowing text.

Frequently asked questions

Is my book uploaded?

No. The FB2 is read and the EPUB is written by your browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server.

Can I send the EPUB to my Kindle?

Yes. Send to Kindle (by e-mail, the app or the website) accepts EPUB files and converts them for the Kindle. It does not accept FB2, which is a common reason to convert.

Will Cyrillic text come out right?

Yes. The encoding named in the file's XML declaration is used to read it, and the EPUB is always written in UTF-8, so Cyrillic, Polish or Danish letters appear correctly in every reading app.

Does the EPUB pass validation?

The tool writes a standard EPUB 3 package and is tested with EPUBCheck, the official EPUB validator.