What happens when you convert CBZ to EPUB
- The CBZ is converted by Calibre, the widely used open-source e-book manager, on our conversion server.
- Each page image of the comic becomes a page of the EPUB, in file-name order, in full colour and without the edges being trimmed. Wide double-page spreads are split into two pages, as Calibre does by default, and the first page becomes the cover.
- Calibre scales every page to fit a typical six-inch e-reader screen, so large, detailed scans lose some resolution and very small lettering can get harder to read.
- The EPUB is a fixed sequence of page images for an e-reader. There is no text to reflow, so it reads best on a larger screen or a tablet.
- This conversion runs on our 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. Files up to 25 MB are accepted.
How to convert CBZ to EPUB online
- Press "Choose CBZ files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. Files up to 25 MB each can be converted.
- There are no settings to choose: the converter keeps everything the target format can hold.
- Press "Convert to EPUB". The file is uploaded to our conversion server, converted in a few seconds, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result is sent back.
- Save each EPUB with its download button. Our server has already deleted both your CBZ and the EPUB by then.
Why convert CBZ to EPUB?
CBZ files usually come from digital comics, manga and scanned magazines. People convert them to EPUB to read them in apps and on e-readers that do not open comic archives, such as Apple Books, Kobo and Google Play Books.
How to convert CBZ to EPUB on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your CBZ files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each EPUB is saved to your Downloads folder.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the CBZ files from Finder onto the drop zone and the EPUB files land in Downloads.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose CBZ files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted EPUB appears in Files, in the Downloads folder.
On Android
Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose CBZ files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The EPUB is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for CBZ to EPUB
There are no settings: pages keep their colours and edges, wide spreads are split into two pages, and the first page becomes the cover.
Name the page images so they sort in reading order (page-001.jpg, page-002.jpg), because that order is the order of the book.
CBZ vs EPUB: the differences
| CBZ | EPUB | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Comic Book ZIP archive | Electronic publication |
| Type | e-book | document |
| Created by | David Ayton, for the CDisplay comic reader | the International Digital Publishing Forum |
| First released | the late 1990s | 2007 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
| What it holds | page images, usually JPG or PNG, in a ZIP archive | chapters as XHTML pages, with images and a table of contents |
| In a browser | opens in comic readers such as CDisplayEx, YACReader and Panels, and in Calibre | opens in Apple Books, Google Play Books, Kobo and most e-reader apps; a Kindle needs it sent through Send to Kindle |
| Common uses | digital comics, manga and scanned magazines | e-books from stores other than Amazon and free e-book libraries |
| MIME type | application/vnd.comicbook+zip | application/epub+zip |
About CBZ and EPUB files
What is a CBZ file?
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.
What is an EPUB file?
An EPUB is a ZIP archive of web pages, one per chapter, plus a file that lists their order. That is why its text can be extracted with ordinary web tools.
CBZ to EPUB not working? Common problems
- "Files up to 25 MB can be converted." Server conversions have a size limit. Most of a large book is its pictures; a copy with smaller images will convert.
- "The conversion took too long and was stopped." Very long or complex files can pass the 90 second limit. Split the file and convert the parts.
- "This file is not really in CBZ format." The converter checks every file before it runs anything, so a file of another format renamed to .cbz is refused. Choose the page for its real format.
Convert CBZ to EPUB 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.epub --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 to EPUB converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting CBZ to EPUB?
The pages keep their full colour and are not trimmed, but Calibre scales them to an e-reader screen size, so large scans lose some resolution.
Why is the EPUB a different size from the CBZ?
Most of the size is the page images. Scaling to an e-reader screen makes large scans smaller, while splitting spreads and re-encoding pages can make small ones larger, so the EPUB may be larger or smaller than the CBZ.
Are my CBZ files uploaded?
Yes, for this conversion. A faithful CBZ to EPUB conversion needs Calibre, the open-source e-book manager, which cannot run in a browser. The file travels over an encrypted connection, is converted in a private temporary folder, and is deleted together with the EPUB as soon as the result has been sent back to you. We do not keep, read or share it.
Can I convert several CBZ files to EPUB at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many files as you like; they are converted one after another and each gets its own download button.
How do I open an EPUB file?
EPUB opens in Apple Books, Google Play Books, Kobo and most e-reader apps; a Kindle needs it sent through Send to Kindle. EPUB is common for e-books from stores other than Amazon and free e-book libraries.
Is this CBZ to EPUB converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no watermark. Because this conversion uses our server, there is a fair-use limit of 25 MB per file and a number of files per hour, which stops the service being overloaded.
Can I convert CBZ to EPUB on my phone?
Yes. It works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. The conversion happens on our server, so it is as fast on a phone as on a computer; the EPUB is saved to your Downloads folder.