What is a CBC file?
CBC stands for Comic Book Collection. It was created by the Calibre project and first released in the late 2000s. A CBC is a ZIP that holds several comics, CBZ or CBR, plus a comics.txt file listing them with a title each. Calibre turns it into one book with a table of contents entry per comic.
| Type | e-book |
|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless |
| In a browser | opens in Calibre; most comic readers do not support it |
| Common uses | comic series and volumes kept together as one file |
| MIME type | application/zip |
How to open a CBC file
A CBC file does not open in a web browser, and only some devices have a program for it. Here is what works on each. If none of these is to hand, converting the file to PDF here makes it open on any device.
| Windows | Calibre (free) opens it; most comic readers do not. |
|---|---|
| Mac | Calibre (free) opens it; most comic readers do not. |
| iPhone and iPad | iPhone and iPad comic apps do not open CBC. Convert it to PDF or EPUB here. |
| Android | Android comic apps do not open CBC. Convert it to PDF or EPUB here. |
CBC compared with other e-book formats
How CBC stacks up against the formats people most often convert it to or from:
| Format | Compression | Usually contains | Released | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBC | Lossless | several CBZ or CBR comics in one ZIP, with a comics.txt that names them | the late 2000s | comic series and volumes kept together as one file |
| EPUB | Lossless | chapters as XHTML pages, with images and a table of contents | 2007 | e-books from stores other than Amazon and free e-book libraries |
| AZW3 | Lossless | a book's text, images, styling and table of contents | 2011 | Kindle e-readers and books loaded onto them over USB |
| MOBI | Lossless | a book's text, images and table of contents | 2000 | older Kindle e-readers and e-books from the 2000s |
| FB2 | Lossless | a book's text, structure and metadata as a single XML file | 2004 | e-books from Russian and Eastern European libraries |
How to use the CBC converter
- Choose the format you want in the Convert to menu.
- Drop your CBC files on the box, or press Choose CBC files. Several files can go in at once.
- Adjust the settings if you need to; the defaults suit most people.
- Press Convert and save each file with its Download button. The file is converted on our server and deleted as soon as the result is sent back.
Tips for converting CBC files
Converting a CBC file keeps the book's text, chapters and images; what changes is how it is packaged for each reader. A few habits give the best result.
- For a current Kindle, send EPUB through Send to Kindle, or copy AZW3 over USB. MOBI is for older Kindles.
- Books with DRM cannot be converted. DRM-free books from Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks and independent authors convert normally.
- Keep the original file; each conversion rebuilds the book.
- For PDF to EPUB, a PDF made from a text document converts far better than a scan or a multi-column layout.
- Calibre, the engine used here, is free for your own computer too, and handles whole libraries at once.
Convert CBC files from the command line
This page uses Calibre. Installed on your computer, its ebook-convert command does the same conversion:
ebook-convert input.cbc output.pdf --dont-grayscale --disable-trimConverting on your own computer keeps the file entirely local, which is worth it for very large or very sensitive documents. For everything else, the converter on this page does it without installing anything.
CBC converter FAQ
What is a CBC file?
CBC stands for Comic Book Collection, an e-book format created by the Calibre project in the late 2000s. A CBC is a ZIP that holds several comics, CBZ or CBR, plus a comics.txt file listing them with a title each. Calibre turns it into one book with a table of contents entry per comic.
How do I open a CBC file?
CBC opens in Calibre; most comic readers do not support it. If the program you need will not open it, convert it to a more widely supported format above.
What is the most common CBC conversion?
CBC to PDF is the conversion people search for most. The CBC is converted by Calibre, the widely used open-source e-book manager, on our conversion server.
Does converting CBC files here upload them?
Yes. CBC conversions need Calibre, an open-source program that cannot run in a browser, so they run on our conversion server. The file is uploaded, converted, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result has been sent back to you. Nothing is kept.
Is the CBC converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no watermark. Conversions that use our server accept files up to 25 MB, with a fair-use limit per hour. The site is supported by advertising.
Can I convert CBC files on iPhone or Android?
Yes. Open this page in Safari on iPhone and iPad, or in Chrome on Android, choose your CBC files and download the results to your Downloads folder.
Can I convert several CBC files at once?
Yes. Drop as many as you like; they are converted one after another, each with its own download button.