What is a CBZ file?
CBZ stands for Comic Book ZIP archive. It was created by David Ayton, for the CDisplay comic reader and first released in the late 1990s. A CBZ is simply a ZIP archive of page images, JPG or PNG, named in reading order. Comic readers open it as a book, and renaming it to .zip shows the pictures inside.
| Type | e-book |
|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless |
| In a browser | opens in comic readers such as CDisplayEx, YACReader and Panels, and in Calibre |
| Common uses | digital comics, manga and scanned magazines |
| MIME type | application/vnd.comicbook+zip |
How to open a CBZ file
A CBZ 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 | CDisplayEx, YACReader and SumatraPDF (all free) open it. |
|---|---|
| Mac | YACReader and Simple Comic open it. |
| iPhone and iPad | Comic readers such as Panels and Chunky open it. |
| Android | Comic readers such as CDisplayEx and Moon+ Reader open it. |
Want the technical details? See what a .cbz file is, with its MIME type, file signature and a viewer.
CBZ compared with other e-book formats
How CBZ stacks up against the formats people most often convert it to or from:
| Format | Compression | Usually contains | Released | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBZ | Lossless | page images, usually JPG or PNG, in a ZIP archive | the late 1990s | digital comics, manga and scanned magazines |
| 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 CBZ converter
- Choose the format you want in the Convert to menu.
- Drop your CBZ files on the box, or press Choose CBZ 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 CBZ files
Converting a CBZ 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 CBZ files from the command line
This page uses Calibre. Installed on your computer, its ebook-convert command does the same conversion:
ebook-convert input.cbz output.azw3 --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.
CBZ converter FAQ
What is a CBZ file?
CBZ stands for Comic Book ZIP archive, an e-book format created by David Ayton, for the CDisplay comic reader in the late 1990s. A CBZ is simply a ZIP archive of page images, JPG or PNG, named in reading order. Comic readers open it as a book, and renaming it to .zip shows the pictures inside.
How do I open a CBZ file?
CBZ opens in comic readers such as CDisplayEx, YACReader and Panels, and in Calibre. If the program you need will not open it, convert it to a more widely supported format above.
What is the most common CBZ conversion?
CBZ to AZW3 is the conversion people search for most. The CBZ is converted by Calibre, the widely used open-source e-book manager, on our conversion server.
Does converting CBZ files here upload them?
Yes. CBZ 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 CBZ 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 CBZ files on iPhone or Android?
Yes. Open this page in Safari on iPhone and iPad, or in Chrome on Android, choose your CBZ files and download the results to your Downloads folder.
Can I convert several CBZ files at once?
Yes. Drop as many as you like; they are converted one after another, each with its own download button.