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It's thanks to this site that I learned that Kobo uses a really bad renderer for epubs unless converted to their own ebook format (Kepub). It make a huge differ

It's thanks to this site that I learned that Kobo uses a really bad renderer for epubs unless converted to their own ebook format (Kepub). It make a huge difference in appearance and performance on a Kobo device. https://standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-our-ebooks#kobo-faq https://standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-our-ebooks#kobo-f...

RVuRnvbM2e 1y ago
Wow I never knew this!
- robin_reala 1y ago
  Yeah, if you just load normal epubs it defaults to an old version of Adobe Digital Editions unfortunately.
  - wyclif 1y ago
    Yes, though I understand Kobo is working on correcting these issues with the epub format.
    - crashingintoyou 1y ago
      Are they? Where have you heard that? Recently Calibre was updated to convert things to kepub when loading to Kobo devices - see https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/03/calibre-update-convert-kobo-kepub-files https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/03/calibre-update-convert-k... - but I haven't anything about Kobo itself doing anything to improve this.
crtasm 1y ago
I assume KOReader has a better renderer for epub but will have to test how it compares to the stock software+kepub. So far I've only used KOReader on my device.
- contact9879 1y ago
  the only issues i've found with koreader is its default margin size and its display of standard ebooks' titlepages but (I believe) these can be fixed with a fairly simple user tweaks css
  - _emacsomancer_ 1y ago
    You can set default margins in the user interface of KOReader too.
stog 1y ago
I discovered this too. However, I now use Plato Reader on my Kobo with standard ePub and it’s lovely.
Uvix 1y ago
You don't even have to convert it, just rename the extension to .kepub.epub. https://github.com/kobolabs/epub-spec?tab=readme-ov-file#sideloading-for-testing-purposes https://github.com/kobolabs/epub-spec?tab=readme-ov-file#sid...
- acabal 1y ago
  This is not entirely correct - Kobo also expects a bunch of special <span>s inserted for things like highlighting and page numbers to work. It kills me that Kobo is so close to having plain epubs rendered with Webkit but for some reason they just won't take the leap!
lazyeye 1y ago
You can use kepubify to convert epubs to kepubs (and calibre will do this as well) https://pgaskin.net/kepubify/ https://pgaskin.net/kepubify/
- _shantaram 1y ago
  And https://send.djazz.se https://send.djazz.se automatically performs the conversion for you with kepubify and sends it to your ereader! No affiliation, just a happy camper chiming in

RVuRnvbM2e 1y ago

Wow I never knew this!

robin_reala 1y ago
Yeah, if you just load normal epubs it defaults to an old version of Adobe Digital Editions unfortunately.
- wyclif 1y ago
  Yes, though I understand Kobo is working on correcting these issues with the epub format.
  - crashingintoyou 1y ago
    Are they? Where have you heard that? Recently Calibre was updated to convert things to kepub when loading to Kobo devices - see https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/03/calibre-update-convert-kobo-kepub-files https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/03/calibre-update-convert-k... - but I haven't anything about Kobo itself doing anything to improve this.

crtasm 1y ago

I assume KOReader has a better renderer for epub but will have to test how it compares to the stock software+kepub. So far I've only used KOReader on my device.

contact9879 1y ago
the only issues i've found with koreader is its default margin size and its display of standard ebooks' titlepages but (I believe) these can be fixed with a fairly simple user tweaks css
- _emacsomancer_ 1y ago
  You can set default margins in the user interface of KOReader too.

stog 1y ago

I discovered this too. However, I now use Plato Reader on my Kobo with standard ePub and it’s lovely.

Uvix 1y ago

You don't even have to convert it, just rename the extension to .kepub.epub. https://github.com/kobolabs/epub-spec?tab=readme-ov-file#sideloading-for-testing-purposes https://github.com/kobolabs/epub-spec?tab=readme-ov-file#sid...

acabal 1y ago
This is not entirely correct - Kobo also expects a bunch of special <span>s inserted for things like highlighting and page numbers to work. It kills me that Kobo is so close to having plain epubs rendered with Webkit but for some reason they just won't take the leap!

lazyeye 1y ago

You can use kepubify to convert epubs to kepubs (and calibre will do this as well) https://pgaskin.net/kepubify/ https://pgaskin.net/kepubify/

_shantaram 1y ago
And https://send.djazz.se https://send.djazz.se automatically performs the conversion for you with kepubify and sends it to your ereader! No affiliation, just a happy camper chiming in