EPUB EPUB document

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🏷️ .epub
🎯 application/epub+zip
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File Information
File Description

EPUB document
Category

Document
Extensions

.epub
MIME Type

application/epub+zip

EPUB (Electronic Publication) File Format

Overview

The EPUB format is an open standard for digital books and publications developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). EPUB files are essentially ZIP archives containing HTML, CSS, and image files structured according to specific standards. This format enables reflowable content that adapts to different screen sizes and reading devices.

Technical Details

File Characteristics

  • Extension: .epub
  • MIME Type: application/epub+zip
  • Category: Document
  • Format Type: ZIP-based container format

EPUB Versions

  • EPUB 2.0.1: Original standard (2007)
  • EPUB 3.0: Enhanced multimedia support (2011)
  • EPUB 3.1: Latest specification (2017)
  • EPUB 3.2: Current version (2019)

File Structure

ZIP Container 

EPUB File Structure:
epub_book.epub (ZIP archive)
├── META-INF/
│   └── container.xml
├── OEBPS/ (or OPS/)
│   ├── content.opf
│   ├── toc.ncx
│   ├── stylesheet.css
│   ├── chapter1.xhtml
│   ├── chapter2.xhtml
│   ├── images/
│   │   ├── cover.jpg
│   │   └── diagram.png
│   └── fonts/
│       └── custom-font.ttf
└── mimetype

Required Files 

<!-- mimetype (no XML declaration) -->
application/epub+zip

<!-- META-INF/container.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<container version="1.0" xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:opendocument:xmlns:container">
    <rootfiles>
        <rootfile full-path="OEBPS/content.opf" media-type="application/oebps-package+xml"/>
    </rootfiles>
</container>

Package Document (OPF) 

<!-- content.opf -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<package version="3.0" xmlns="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf" unique-identifier="bookid">
    <metadata xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
        <dc:identifier id="bookid">urn:uuid:12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012</dc:identifier>
        <dc:title>Book Title</dc:title>
        <dc:creator>Author Name</dc:creator>
        <dc:language>en</dc:language>
        <dc:date>2024-01-01</dc:date>
        <meta property="dcterms:modified">2024-01-01T00:00:00Z</meta>
    </metadata>
    
    <manifest>
        <item id="nav" href="nav.xhtml" media-type="application/xhtml+xml" properties="nav"/>
        <item id="chapter1" href="chapter1.xhtml" media-type="application/xhtml+xml"/>
        <item id="chapter2" href="chapter2.xhtml" media-type="application/xhtml+xml"/>
        <item id="css" href="stylesheet.css" media-type="text/css"/>
        <item id="cover-image" href="images/cover.jpg" media-type="image/jpeg" properties="cover-image"/>
    </manifest>
    
    <spine>
        <itemref idref="chapter1"/>
        <itemref idref="chapter2"/>
    </spine>
</package>

Content Creation

XHTML Content 

<!-- chapter1.xhtml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops">
<head>
    <title>Chapter 1</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css"/>
</head>
<body>
    <section epub:type="chapter">
        <h1>Chapter 1: Introduction</h1>
        <p>This is the first paragraph of the book.</p>
        <p>This paragraph contains an <a href="chapter2.xhtml">internal link</a>.</p>
        
        <figure>
            <img src="images/diagram.png" alt="Descriptive text"/>
            <figcaption>Figure 1: Sample diagram</figcaption>
        </figure>
    </section>
</body>
</html>

CSS Styling 

/* stylesheet.css */
@namespace epub "http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops";

body {
    font-family: serif;
    line-height: 1.6;
    margin: 1em;
    text-align: justify;
}

h1, h2, h3 {
    color: #333;
    margin-top: 2em;
    margin-bottom: 1em;
}

p {
    margin-bottom: 1em;
    text-indent: 1.5em;
}

figure {
    text-align: center;
    margin: 2em 0;
}

img {
    max-width: 100%;
    height: auto;
}

/* Media queries for different screen sizes */
@media screen and (max-width: 600px) {
    body {
        font-size: 14px;
        margin: 0.5em;
    }
}

Table of Contents (NCX) 

<!-- toc.ncx (EPUB 2.0) -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ncx version="2005-1" xmlns="http://www.daisy.org/z3986/2005/ncx/">
    <head>
        <meta name="dtb:uid" content="urn:uuid:12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012"/>
        <meta name="dtb:depth" content="1"/>
        <meta name="dtb:totalPageCount" content="0"/>
        <meta name="dtb:maxPageNumber" content="0"/>
    </head>
    
    <docTitle>
        <text>Book Title</text>
    </docTitle>
    
    <navMap>
        <navPoint id="chapter1" playOrder="1">
            <navLabel><text>Chapter 1: Introduction</text></navLabel>
            <content src="chapter1.xhtml"/>
        </navPoint>
        <navPoint id="chapter2" playOrder="2">
            <navLabel><text>Chapter 2: Development</text></navLabel>
            <content src="chapter2.xhtml"/>
        </navPoint>
    </navMap>
</ncx>

<!-- nav.xhtml (EPUB 3) -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops">
<head>
    <title>Navigation</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css"/>
</head>
<body>
    <nav epub:type="toc" id="toc">
        <h1>Table of Contents</h1>
        <ol>
            <li><a href="chapter1.xhtml">Chapter 1: Introduction</a></li>
            <li><a href="chapter2.xhtml">Chapter 2: Development</a></li>
        </ol>
    </nav>
    
    <nav epub:type="landmarks" id="landmarks" hidden="">
        <h1>Landmarks</h1>
        <ol>
            <li><a epub:type="toc" href="#toc">Table of Contents</a></li>
            <li><a epub:type="bodymatter" href="chapter1.xhtml">Start of Content</a></li>
        </ol>
    </nav>
</body>
</html>

Advanced Features

Multimedia Content (EPUB 3) 

<!-- Video content -->
<video controls="controls" poster="video-poster.jpg">
    <source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4"/>
    <source src="video.webm" type="video/webm"/>
    <p>Your reading system does not support video.</p>
</video>

<!-- Audio content -->
<audio controls="controls">
    <source src="audio.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"/>
    <source src="audio.ogg" type="audio/ogg"/>
    <p>Your reading system does not support audio.</p>
</audio>

<!-- Interactive content -->
<object data="interactive.svg" type="image/svg+xml">
    <img src="fallback.png" alt="Interactive diagram"/>
</object>

JavaScript Support 

<!-- Scripted content (EPUB 3) -->
<script type="text/javascript">
    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
        // Interactive functionality
        var buttons = document.querySelectorAll('.interactive-button');
        buttons.forEach(function(button) {
            button.addEventListener('click', function() {
                // Handle interaction
                this.classList.toggle('active');
            });
        });
    });
</script>

Reading Systems 

Hardware Devices:
- Amazon Kindle (with conversion)
- Kobo readers
- Sony Reader devices
- PocketBook readers
- Onyx BOOX devices

Software Applications 

Desktop Applications:
- Adobe Digital Editions
- Calibre (viewer and converter)
- Thorium Reader (open source)
- Apple Books (macOS)

Mobile Apps:
- Google Play Books
- Apple Books (iOS)
- Adobe Digital Editions
- FBReader
- Moon+ Reader

Creation Tools

Professional Tools 

Commercial Software:
- Adobe InDesign (with plugins)
- Sigil (open source EPUB editor)
- Calibre (conversion and editing)
- PubCoder (multimedia EPUB)
- Book Brush (design tool)

Programming Libraries 

# Python EPUB creation with ebooklib
from ebooklib import epub

# Create book
book = epub.EpubBook()
book.set_identifier('id123456')
book.set_title('Sample Book')
book.set_language('en')
book.add_author('Author Name')

# Create chapter
c1 = epub.EpubHtml(title='Chapter 1', file_name='chap_01.xhtml', lang='en')
c1.content = '''
<h1>Chapter 1</h1>
<p>This is the first chapter content.</p>
'''

# Add chapter to book
book.add_item(c1)

# Create table of contents
book.toc = (epub.Link("chap_01.xhtml", "Chapter 1", "chap_01"),)

# Add default NCX and Nav files
book.add_item(epub.EpubNcx())
book.add_item(epub.EpubNav())

# Create spine
book.spine = ['nav', c1]

# Write EPUB file
epub.write_epub('output.epub', book, {})

Validation and Quality

EPUB Validation 

# Using EPUBCheck
java -jar epubcheck.jar book.epub

# Online validation
# http://validator.idpf.org/

Accessibility Features 

<!-- Semantic markup for accessibility -->
<section epub:type="chapter" role="doc-chapter">
    <h1>Chapter Title</h1>
    <p>Chapter content with proper semantic structure.</p>
</section>

<!-- Alternative text for images -->
<img src="chart.png" alt="Sales data showing 25% increase over last quarter"/>

<!-- Language specification -->
<span xml:lang="fr">Bonjour</span>

Best Practices

Content Structure

  • Use semantic HTML5 elements for better accessibility
  • Implement proper heading hierarchy (h1, h2, h3...)
  • Include alternative text for all images
  • Use relative links for internal navigation

CSS Guidelines

  • Create responsive designs for various screen sizes
  • Use relative units (em, rem, %) instead of fixed pixels
  • Test with different font sizes and reading modes
  • Provide fallbacks for advanced CSS features

File Organization

  • Keep file sizes reasonable (< 300KB per HTML file)
  • Optimize images for web display
  • Use consistent naming conventions
  • Organize content logically in folder structure

The EPUB format provides a flexible and standardized way to create digital publications that work across multiple devices and reading systems while supporting rich content, multimedia, and interactive features.

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