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Never had an issue with a EPUB on a kobo or a Nook reader, I clearly never tried any edge case.

Not saying there might not be any issues with EPUB but the fact that in 10 years they can't be bothered to add at least a basic reader for me just mean they want to keep this incompatibility and keep people in this separated ecosystem with amazon/Kindle. I believe this choice is anything but a technical one.

Since I never had much trouble using Calibre it means I'll probably never buy a Kindle just because of it but many people can't be hassled to do that.

EPUB is like PDF.

If you're going with just the very basic stuff: text, maybe a few images - it really doesn't matter what kind of bare-bones reader you use.

BUT when you're opening a PDF that actually uses the features it's a different story. You've got a file with umpteen layers of information that needs to be displayed in a very specific way (I've seen blueprints do this for example). Most bare-bones PDF viewers either choke completely or display everything wrong.

Not sure where you are going with this :), it seems you imply that a bare bone EPUB reader is way more useful than a PDF one.

Which I completely believe, PDF support on readers is always an issue (there is even a discussion on it in this thread).

Then it support the position that if they added support for PDF but not a basic EPUB then this choice was not made for technical reason.

There's two different question here.

1) Why Amazon keep re-inventing the wheel?

As I explained in my original comment, KFX does have technical advantages over EPUB.

2) Why doesn't Kindle support EPUB natively?

Probably because there isn't a need for one, as they are using KFX anyway. Why invest time in something that is only for people who aren't using your platform?

I was reacting to (should have added a citation) : > I think there is actual technical reason why Amazon don't adapt EPUB natively

Kindle is out since 2007, KFX was released in 2015, hopefully when you create your own format there is some advantages.

In the end it appears we agree that the position of Amazon is : "Why invest time in something that is only for people who aren't using your platform?" But we probably disagree on the answer to it :D.

I was saying it's a technical reason that Amazon didn't adapt EPUB, not a technical reason why they don't implement EPUB support.

Then surely, Amazon will show good faith and open source their superior, albeit, proprietary format and back it with a standards body that makes it less monopolistic, no?

The feature that is missing and most important is called out in the article: a standardized form of DRM. If you're selling a subsidized product and depending on consumable content (like razors and blades), DRM seems like something you would want. Likewise, if you sell a digital product that can be copied, DRM would be seen as an advantage.

Other online media, notably streaming services and Xbox, DRM everything. I don't think Amazon is an outlier here.

> The new KFX format has one major advantage over EPUB. The images can be stored out-of-band.

EPUB is just a ZIP file. It's perfectly feasible to read the HTML/CSS and image portions separately.

Then you need to preprocess EPUB to know which order to load images, along with complicated client side download to download part by part and reassemble the .EPUB after all download are done.

Not sure if that is strictly easier than just new format (which allow you to add more features you wanted too)

That just depends on how the client consumes it. I'm the developer of Kavita and our reader doesn't download the epub at all. We read one page of the epub and rewrite the html and send it to the UI to be rendered. This way it loads like a normal html page (without having the iframe mess), images can load later, Javascript can still work within it, etc.

https://kavitareader.com for those interested.

But at that point your client isn't really reading EPUB isn't it?

Amazon backend accept EPUB (either from KDP or from Send to Kindle). Amazon then process EPUB into Amazon own format, and deliver that to Kindle device. Which sounds a lot like what you described.

Btw your project is interesting. Does it support vertical-rl EPUB? After finding out Moon Reader+ doesn't it make me doubting everything now.

And yet Apple Books have no qualms about it and support epub.