Getting started · 7 min read

By Mohamad Mohamad · 29 October 2026

How to open EPUB files on a computer or e-reader

EPUB is the standard format for e-books, and yet most computers do not open it out of the box. A Mac does; Windows, ChromeOS and many Linux installations do not; and Amazon's Kindle needs the file converted first. Here is what to use on each, and what to do when the file is protected. If you are on a phone, read how to open EPUB files on iPhone and Android instead.

The short version

• Windows — install a reader: Thorium Reader, calibre or SumatraPDF.
• Mac — Apple Books is already there. Choose File → Import.
• Chromebook — upload it to Google Play Books, or install an Android or Linux reader.
• Linux — Foliate, calibre or Thorium Reader.
• Kindle — send it through Amazon's Send to Kindle, which converts it.
• Kobo, Tolino, PocketBook — they read EPUB directly. Copy it over USB.
• An .acsm or .lcpl file — that is a protected book. It needs Adobe Digital Editions or Thorium Reader respectively.

On Windows

Windows has no EPUB reader of its own. Microsoft Edge used to open EPUB files, but the feature was dropped when Edge was rebuilt on Chromium in 2020. A new viewer appeared in test builds in 2023, switched on only with a command-line flag, which is not something to build your reading on. Install a reader instead — all of these are free:

• Thorium Reader, from the non-profit EDRLab. It opens EPUB 2 and EPUB 3, including fixed-layout books, with no ads and no account. It is also the app many libraries now use for protected loans (more on that below).
• calibre, the long-running open-source e-book manager. It has a viewer, but its real strength is everything else: organising a library, converting between formats and sending books to e-readers. It is more program than you need to read one novel.
• SumatraPDF, a small Windows-only viewer that opens EPUB as well as PDF. Good if you want something light.

After installing, right-click an EPUB and use Open with to make your new reader the default, so the next one opens with a double-click.

On a Mac

macOS comes with Apple Books, which reads most EPUB files. Open Books, choose File → Import and pick the file, or drag it into the library window. If iCloud is turned on for Books, the imported book also appears on your iPhone and iPad.

Books does not open EPUBs locked to another store. Apple's help page says .acsm, .azw and .odm files can only be opened in the app they belong to. Thorium Reader and calibre both have Mac versions if you prefer a reader that is not tied to an Apple account.

On a Chromebook

ChromeOS has no EPUB reader built in. There are three ways round it:

• Google Play Books in the browser. Open your Play Books library, click Your books, then Upload files, and choose the EPUB. It then reads in the browser and syncs to Play Books on your phone.
• An Android app. Only some Chromebooks run Android apps. Look in Settings → Apps for Google Play; if the option is there, any Android EPUB reader installs as it would on a phone.
• A Linux app. Turn on the Linux development environment in Settings → About ChromeOS → Developers, then install Foliate or calibre. More setup, but you get a full desktop reader that works offline.

On Linux

Foliate is a clean, simple e-book reader for the Linux desktop, available from Flathub and most distributions' own repositories. calibre and Thorium Reader both publish Linux builds, and Thorium is the one to use for library loans protected with Readium LCP.

On a Kindle

A Kindle does not read EPUB itself. Its own formats are Amazon's — AZW3 and the older AZW and MOBI — plus PDF and plain text. Copy an EPUB onto it by USB and it will not appear as a book.

The route Amazon supports is Send to Kindle, which accepts EPUB and converts it to the Kindle format on Amazon's servers. The book then arrives in your library as a personal document and downloads to the Kindle over Wi-Fi. There are several ways in:

• In a browser at amazon.com/sendtokindle, for files up to 200 MB.
• With the Send to Kindle app for Windows or Mac.
• By email to your Kindle's own Send to Kindle address. The sending address must first be added to your Approved Personal Document Email List, and one email can carry up to 25 attachments and 50 MB in total.
• From the Kindle app on an iPhone or Android phone.

What it will not take is a protected file: Send to Kindle rejects password-protected and encrypted documents, so an EPUB with DRM from another shop will not go through. Some unprotected files do not convert cleanly either. Amazon's help pages name audio, video, SVG images, mathematical equations and very large tables as things that can stop a document from converting fully, and calibre's FAQ says bluntly that Amazon rejects some EPUB files that work everywhere else.

If you would rather use a cable, convert the book first. calibre turns an EPUB into AZW3, which you can then copy into the Kindle's Documents folder. On Windows the Kindle appears in File Explorer (older models as a drive, newer ones as a portable device). On a Mac, the Kindle Scribe and Kindles released from 2024 onwards need Amazon's Send to Kindle app for USB transfers.

On Kobo, Tolino and PocketBook

The other big e-reader families read EPUB natively, so there is nothing to convert.

• Kobo. Connect the reader by USB and tap Connect on its screen. A drive called KOBOeReader appears on the computer; drag the EPUB into it, eject, and the book shows up under My Books. All but the earliest Kobo models read EPUB 3. This route is for unprotected files only.
• Tolino. Tolino readers open EPUB and PDF, whether unprotected, watermarked or protected with Adobe DRM. Copy files over USB into the Books folder. The newer vision 6, shine 4 and epos 3 connect as Android-style (MTP) devices, which Adobe Digital Editions no longer recognises; for those, books bought from tolino shops come down through the tolino cloud instead, with the Adobe protection not active.
• PocketBook. PocketBook readers open EPUB directly, including Adobe-protected EPUB, and some recent models also list Readium LCP.

When the EPUB is protected

If none of the above works, check what you actually downloaded. A protected book often arrives not as the EPUB but as a small licence file that fetches it.

• An .acsm file is Adobe DRM. Install Adobe Digital Editions (version 4.5.12, for Windows and Mac; there is no Linux version), authorise it with an Adobe ID, and open the .acsm with it. It downloads the real book. To move that book to a Kobo or an older Tolino, connect the reader and copy it across from Digital Editions. On a Kobo, this works with the e-reader only, not with the Kobo app.
• An .lcpl file is Readium LCP, used by a growing number of library services; EBSCO moved its offline e-book downloads to it, and to Thorium Reader, in May 2026. Open the file in Thorium and enter the passphrase your library gives you. There is no Adobe ID involved, and the loan returns itself when it expires.
• A book bought in a store is usually locked to that store's apps and devices — Kindle books to Kindle, Apple Books purchases to Apple's apps. calibre's FAQ is plain about it: most purchased EPUB books have DRM, and DRM prevents calibre from opening them.

None of this applies to public-domain books, which are free of DRM by nature and open in every reader on this page. The ClickBook library lists a few hundred of them with word counts and reading levels, and where to find free EPUB books, legally covers the larger collections.

Reading on a phone instead

A computer is a fine place to manage books and a poor place to read them for long. If the e-book ends up on your phone anyway, the setup is different again — the phone guide covers iPhone and Android, and EPUB vs PDF on a phone explains why the EPUB is usually the copy to keep.