I have a book in .mobi and .epub formats. Should I convert to .azw3?

[readeer]

Basically just wondering if I should just use .mobi on my Kindle Paperwhite 3 or convert to azw3. If I should convert, should I convert the epub or the mobi to azw3? Thanks a ton!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by readeer

Basically just wondering if I should just use .mobi on my Kindle Paperwhite 3 or convert to azw3. If I should convert, should I convert the epub or the mobi to azw3? Thanks a ton!

Do the Mobi look OK to you on a Kindle?
Does the EPUB version look much better (on a EPUB device), the Yes, that book might LOOK better if the EPUB was converted.

Converting a MOBI to AZW3 gains nothing, because the extra styling is NOT there. If you THEN edit the AZW3, you can ADD style, but is it worth the effort?

[readeer]

Originally Posted by theducks

Do the Mobi look OK to you on a Kindle?
Does the EPUB version look much better (on a EPUB device), the Yes, that book might LOOK better if the EPUB was converted.

Converting a MOBI to AZW3 gains nothing, because the extra styling is NOT there. If you THEN edit the AZW3, you can ADD style, but is it worth the effort?

I dont have an ereader that will use epub. Would epub--->azw3 look better than mobi? Or do i just have to try and see? Thank you very much for your reply!

[eschwartz]

Always convert EPUB to AZW3. AZW3 is the new-and-improved MOBI.

Converting the EPUB to AZW3 is if nothing else an important part of future-proofing your library.
If you already have a MOBI, then that MOBI definitely doesn't have the features unique to AZW3 and the markup is already garbled... so I wouldn't bother converting to AZW3. It doesn't hurt, but it doesn't really help either.

[readeer]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Always convert EPUB to AZW3. AZW3 is the new-and-improved MOBI.

Converting the EPUB to AZW3 is if nothing else an important part of future-proofing your library.
If you already have a MOBI, then that MOBI definitely doesn't have the features unique to AZW3 and the markup is already garbled... so I wouldn't bother converting to AZW3. It doesn't hurt, but it doesn't really help either.

So basically, if I have a mobi and a epub (separate files), there's no reason to convert to azw3 and I should just use the mobi? The epub converted to azw3 wouldnt be better? Sorry for the confusion!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by readeer

So basically, if I have a mobi and a epub (separate files), there's no reason to convert to azw3 and I should just use the mobi? The epub converted to azw3 wouldnt be better? Sorry for the confusion!

The EPUB to AZW3 WOULD (usually) be better on a Kindle than a Mobi

Unless it WAS a Mobi or simple text that was converted to EPUB

You can't GAIN improvement from a weak source

[readeer]

Originally Posted by theducks

The EPUB to AZW3 WOULD (usually) be better on a Kindle than a Mobi

Unless it WAS a Mobi or simple text that was converted to EPUB

You can't GAIN improvement from a weak source

Ahhh, gotcha, thanks! The epub is 12 or so mb and the mobi is 8 or so mb so I'm assuming it's not the same. Unless the file size expands converting from mobi to epub. Well, thank you!

[eschwartz]

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

MOBI to AZW3 doesn't hurt, but doesn't really help much either.
EPUB to AZW3 (or starting with an AZW3) is always best, regardless of whether you have a MOBI already.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by readeer

Ahhh, gotcha, thanks! The epub is 12 or so mb and the mobi is 8 or so mb so I'm assuming it's not the same. Unless the file size expands converting from mobi to epub. Well, thank you!

Possibly the EPUB has an embedded font. MOBI doesn't support those (this is but one of the many ways that AZW3 improved on the old-mobi format) and conversion drops the font files from the resulting ebook archive.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by readeer

Ahhh, gotcha, thanks! The epub is 12 or so mb and the mobi is 8 or so mb so I'm assuming it's not the same. Unless the file size expands converting from mobi to epub. Well, thank you!

A lot depends on how these files were created. The fact that the MOBI would lack any embedded font and that the EPUB might contain fonts is one possibiity.

It is possible that both were generated from the same root source. The tool used to create each may have made different alterations to the original source document. Long ago and far away, MOBI files would need to have more moderately sized images than newer EPUB files.

If the original source was used to create only the EPUB and then a tool (e.g. calibre, ...) was then used to create the MOBI from the EPUB options in that conversion process by have resized the images and possibly changed their format in addition to other alterations necessary to skip over formatting tags in the EPUB that don't "translate" into the older MOBI format.

If the original ebook format was MOBI and the EPUB was created from it, it's quite possible for the conversion tool to be rather verbose in its creation of style tags. This can actually make the resulting EPUB larger than the MOBI.