Walt Whitman with Monkey Wrench (c) by Michael Pastore.
This web page contains information that I am collecting about how to prepare images for ebooks in essential formats, for various reading systems and devices.
Important note: I am doing my best for accuracy, but I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information, due to the various file formats, devices, software updates, and so on. It is always essential to test your ebooks — on various devices and reading systems — before offering your ebooks for sale.
For more information, please consult these sites, forums, and blogs:
Ebook image experts, and ebook device makers, are welcome to contact me to help to fill in the gaps in these charts.
— Michael Pastore, Editorial Director, Zorba Press
Please email me using our Contact Form
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Tables of Ebook Image Information
There is, or will be, information for each of the ebook formats listed below.
Scroll down on this page to see the tables of information.
- Kindle AZW format
- EPUB, no DRM
- PDF, no DRM
- EPUB with Adobe DRM (for Adobe Digital Editions)
- PDF with Adobe DRM (for Adobe Digital Editions)
General Advice and Guidelines
Aspect Ratio 11:9
If you have provided some of these tidbits of advice I will be happy to credit you here: just contact me.
- If the aspect ratio of your interior images is 11 to 9 (11 is the height, 9 is the width), then your images will view nicely in the Kindle, and also in EPUB reading systems. [MP]
- Do not make the images any larger than 600 pixels (width) x 800 (height) [JSW]
- Interior images for EPUB ebooks can be hi-resolution, such as 600 dpi. Formatting ebooks for Kindle ebooks, be careful that this high resolution does not cause the image to exceed the size limit of 63 KB per image. [MP]
- Make sure that the images scale properly to fit the page. [JSW]
- If your image does not show up at all, try adjusting the aspect ratio: reduce the width. [MP]
- Always save the original formats (for example, TIFF files and Photoshop files) and the largest sizes of the image. [MP]
- For your ebook images and cover, use the most commonly accepted file formats: JPG or PNG. [MP]
- Learn the basics about how to scale an image: an introductory article is here. [MP]
- A test is always needed to see if the image shows up, if the image is still sharp, if it’s in the right location, and so on. [MP]
- In EPUB you can embed any image in an SVG wrapper, which can make it scale to fit the available space. [PD]
- Scanning Ratios: It is best to scan the image at the percentage it will be used in the document. [TS]
- Scanning Resolution for Paper Books. If you will be publishing an edition in paper as well as ebook, then your paper edition may need images with a higher resolution, For black and white line art in paper books, check with your printing company for their guidelines. As a general rule, scan line art images [TS]:
- 1200 ppi is the suggested scan resolution.
- At 600 ppi, these images may be somewhat “jaggy”.
- Some B&W line art images with fine detail may require scanning at 2400 ppi.
- To make a cover image for EPUB ebooks: Read this excellent article by Keith Fahlgren: Best Practices in EPUB Cover Images
- Jon Noring’s exemplary EPUB ebook edition of My Antonia uses the JPG format for the colorful book cover image; and uses the PNG format for the interior images, all line drawings.
- MobileRead Wiki’s page about PDF.
- Advice about Making Ebooks in the Format PDF:
- Tag your PDF files, for optimum reading. Although ADE (Adobe Digital Editions) can read untagged PDF files, full reflow on ADE is supported only when the PDF file is tagged.
- If you are designing PDF files for 6″ ebook reading devices (800×600 pixel), make your page size 5.24″ (width) x 6.63″ (height).
- In addition to the PDF format, offer your ebooks in the EPUB format.
- Use the Custom PDF settings from FeedBooks or ManyBooks.net to create PDFs for the SONY Readers, which also fit the Amazon Kindle. (Thanks to David Rothman for this shrewd tip.)
- Advice about Making Ebooks in the Format EPUB:
Tools
Kindle AZW Format
| Device (or Reading System) | Image File Formats | dpi ... | Dimensions (pixels) | Aspect Ratio (width over height) | Maximum KB per image | Maximum size of Ebook | Various Notes or Links to Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kindle 2 (interior images) | .jpg .png | 450 px (width) 550 px (height) | 9 to 11 | 63 KB | This size will ensure that the image will appear in the largest possible size. Amazon's Digital Text Platform https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin |
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| Kindle 2 (cover image) | |||||||
| Kindle DX (interior images) | |||||||
| Kindle DX (cover image) |
EPUB, no DRM
| Device (or Reading System) | Image File Formats | dpi ... | Dimensions (pixels) | Aspect Ratio (width over height) | Maximum KB per image | Maximum size of Ebook | Various Notes or Links to Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BookWorm (interior images) Online EPUB reading | JPEG, GIF, and PNG | "Since Bookworm runs in whatever browser the user has, i t will accept any of the valid formats used in epub. Likewise there is no particular size constraint." BookWorm: Online EPUB Ebook Reading http://bookworm.oreilly.com/ |
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| BookWorm (cover image) | JPEG, GIF, and PNG | "Since Bookworm runs in whatever browser the user has, it will accept any of the valid formats used in epub. Likewise there is no particular size constraint." BookWorm: Online EPUB Ebook Reading http://bookworm.oreilly.com/ |
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| Barnes & Noble nook (interior images) | JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP | nook by Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/ |
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| Barnes & Noble nook (cover image) | |||||||
| Calibre (interior images) | |||||||
| Calibre (cover image) | |||||||
| EPUBReader: Firefox Add-on (interior images) | |||||||
| EPUBReader: Firefox Add-on (cover image) | |||||||
| Linux OS | |||||||
| Mac OS | |||||||
| Windows OS | |||||||
| iPhone iPod Touch | |||||||
| Blackberry devices | |||||||
| Palm OS PDA | |||||||
| Sony Reader Daily Edition | |||||||
| Sony Reader PRS 900 | JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG | ||||||
| Sony Reader PRS 600 | JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG | ||||||
| Sony Reader PRS 300 | JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG | ||||||
| COOL-ER eReader | JPG | ||||||
| IREX DR 800 SG | JPG, BMP, PNG | ||||||
| Spring Design Alex | |||||||
| iriver Story | JPG, BMP, GIF | ||||||
| Bookeen Cybook Opus (interior images) | JPG, GIF, PNG | http://www.bookeen.com/specs/ebook-cybookopus.aspx | |||||
| Bookeen Cybook Opus (cover image) | |||||||
| Bookeen Cybook Gen3 (interior images) | JPG, GIF, PNG | ||||||
| Bookeen Cybook Gen3 (cover image) | 600 px (width) 800 px (height) | ||||||
| Plastic Logic QUE proReader | JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP | ||||||
| Lulu ebooks | |||||||
| SmashWords | |||||||
| DocStoc | |||||||
| Scribd | |||||||
| Apple iTablet |
PDF, No DRM
EPUB with DRM
PDF with DRM
Preparing Images For Ebooks Project (PIFEP) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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