EpubCCRead a PDF on Kindle without zooming
A PDF opens on a Kindle as fixed pages, so small screens force you to zoom and pan. Convert it to a reflowable EPUB and send it with Amazon's Send to Kindle, and the text adapts to your font size.
Try five pages from your PDF before converting the full book.
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Why a PDF makes you zoom on a Kindle
A PDF stores where every character sits on a printed page. The Kindle can only scale that whole page, not re-flow it, so a letter-size or A4 page shrinks to fit a 6-inch screen and the text becomes too small to read without zooming and panning line by line.
Changing the font size doesn't help, because a PDF has no running text for the Kindle to lay out again. An EPUB stores the text and its structure instead: paragraphs, headings, chapters and notes, which the Kindle lays out for its screen and the font size you choose.
Get the EPUB onto your Kindle, step by step
- Upload the PDF here and check the free sample of up to 5 pages: chapters, paragraphs and notes.
- Convert the whole book and download the EPUB file.
- Send the EPUB with Amazon's Send to Kindle: its web page, its app for your computer or phone, or your Kindle's personal email address.
- Amazon converts the EPUB for the device, and the book appears in your Kindle library.
Send EPUB, not MOBI
Amazon's Send to Kindle takes EPUB files through its Personal Documents Service, and Amazon has stopped accepting MOBI files there, so EPUB is the format to send.
Amazon converts every EPUB again for the Kindle, so a valid file matters: EpubCC writes EPUB 3, and the EPUBs of its public benchmark are validated with EPUBCheck. Amazon also limits the size of each file it accepts; very large books with many images are the ones that run into it.
When to keep the PDF instead
Keep the PDF when the layout is the content: comics, sheet music, forms, or pages full of formulas and tables. EpubCC rebuilds running text, not page designs.
For those, k2pdfopt is a free, open-source tool that re-cuts PDF pages for small e-reader screens. Its output is still a PDF, so it keeps the layout instead of re-flowing the text.
Fix a specific problem
PDFs with selectable text only. Scanned PDFs are not supported yet.
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FAQ
Can a Kindle open EPUB files?
Not when you copy an EPUB onto it over USB, but Amazon's Send to Kindle accepts EPUB files and delivers them to the Kindle in Amazon's own format.
Why do I have to zoom into a PDF on my Kindle?
Because a PDF is a fixed page. The Kindle can only scale the whole page to the screen, so the text gets small; changing the font size can't re-flow it. A reflowable EPUB can.
Should I send a MOBI file instead?
No. Amazon has stopped accepting MOBI files through Send to Kindle. Send the EPUB, and Amazon converts it for your Kindle.
What if my PDF is a comic or full of formulas?
Keep it as a PDF, or re-cut its pages for a small screen with a tool such as k2pdfopt. EpubCC is built for running text: chapters, paragraphs and notes.