MOBI Converter

Convert MOBI to and from a range of formats

About MOBI

MOBI is the older Kindle format, superseded by AZW3 and retired by Amazon for new sideloaded books.

Common Uses

Reading eBooks on Kindle
Mobile reading
eBook distribution

MOBI Conversion FAQ

What is a MOBI ebook file?

MOBI is the format used by Amazon Kindle devices and apps. MOBI files are not always interchangeable with EPUB — Kindle locks down some metadata and DRM is common on store-bought titles. A MOBI wraps PalmDOC-compressed HTML with Amazon’s indexing extensions bolted on top. MOBI is readable by every Kindle ever made, including the earliest hardware that never learned any newer format.

Can I read a MOBI book on something that is not a Kindle?

Only after converting it, in general. MOBI is Amazon's own format and support outside its apps and devices is patchy, so moving a book to a Kobo, an Apple device or a general-purpose reader means converting first. Store purchases are the exception that stops the whole process: if the file carries Amazon's DRM, no converter can open it, here or anywhere else. Amazon stopped accepting MOBI for new publishing in 2022, and the format cannot express modern CSS, embedded fonts or fixed layout.

Why do purchases arrive as MOBI?

Because the format is the store's own delivery wrapper, tied to its apps and, for paid content, to your account. That is what makes it convenient inside that ecosystem and awkward outside it. Files that are not account-locked convert normally; protected ones cannot be opened by any converter, which is a deliberate property of the format rather than a limitation here. MOBI is the Mobipocket format Amazon bought in 2005 and used as the original Kindle format.

Why does my purchased MOBI refuse to convert?

Because it is encrypted. A store-bought MOBI is locked to an account, and the file a converter sees is ciphertext rather than a book — there is nothing to read until the store's software decrypts it for its own reader. Removing that protection is a legal grey area in many countries and is not something this site does. Files you made yourself, or downloaded DRM-free, convert normally.

What if my MOBI is a scan rather than real text?

Then nothing downstream can read it until OCR has run. A scanned page is a picture of words: it looks fine, and searching, copying or converting to an editable document all come back empty. Optical character recognition adds a real text layer over the image, after which the words are selectable and the conversion produces an actual document instead of a wrapper around a photograph.

Does a MOBI have fixed pages?

No — content flows, and pages appear only when something decides on a page size. Change the font, the margins or the screen and the page numbering changes with it. That is why a page reference from a MOBI is unreliable, and why converting to a fixed-layout format is the step that makes page numbers mean something.

Should I still be saving new files as MOBI?

Only if something downstream demands it. The format still opens, and there is no urgency about converting an archive that is not causing trouble, but it is no longer where the tooling or the efficiency is going. For anything new, a current format costs nothing extra and avoids the next round of this question a few years from now.

Is MOBI usable outside Amazon's ecosystem?

Partly. The format itself is documented well enough that several readers and conversion tools handle it, so a DRM-free file moves around fine. Anything bought from the store is a different matter — it is encrypted against your account and cannot be opened by any third-party tool, which is the design working as intended rather than a fault.

Why convert MOBI to another ebook format?

Convert MOBI to EPUB for the widest non-Kindle reader support (Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books) — that is the conversion most people actually want, because MOBI is the one format those readers will not open. Convert to PDF when you need a fixed-layout copy for printing.