Formats

Bring the file you already have.

Kindle books, EPUBs, papers, textbook chapters, slide decks, LaTeX sources. Every one of them opened on your own device — the file is never uploaded, which is also why importing works with no internet connection at all.

Formats with an amber edge are the ones ReadKinetic does the most work for. If you only ever open two things, they are probably EPUB and PDF.

37

File extensions read

0

Bytes uploaded to anyone

0

Accounts required

Ebooks

7 formats

The formats books actually come in. Chapters, cover, title and author are read from the file itself rather than guessed from its name.

.epub

Electronic Publication

Chapters, embedded publisher font, opens at chapter one.

.mobi

Mobipocket

The original Kindle format. DRM-free files only.

.azw

Amazon Kindle

Mobipocket in an Amazon wrapper. DRM-free files only.

.azw3

Kindle Format 8

The newer Kindle format. DRM-free files only.

.prc

Palm Resource

Mobipocket under an older extension.

.fb2

FictionBook

Real chapter structure and proper author metadata. Widely used in Russian-language libraries.

.fbz

FictionBook, zipped

Also handles .fb2.zip.

Documents

6 formats

Papers, reports, chapters and the things you have to get through. Running headers, footers and page numbers are stripped before they reach your eyes.

.pdf

Portable Document Format

Headers and page numbers removed, hyphenated words rejoined, scans detected and reported.

.docx

Word (Open XML)

Also .docm, .dotx and .dotm — the same container underneath.

.doc

Word 97–2003

Legacy binary; text extraction only.

.odt

OpenDocument Text

LibreOffice and OpenOffice. Title and author read from the file.

.rtf

Rich Text Format

Markup stripped, text kept.

.abw

AbiWord

Plain .abw and zipped .zabw.

Presentations

2 formats

Every slide becomes a chapter, so progress through a deck means something.

.pptx

PowerPoint (Open XML)

One chapter per slide. Also .pptm, .ppsx, .potx and .potm.

.odp

OpenDocument Presentation

Impress decks, read the same way.

Markup and plain text

6 formats

Source formats read as prose — the markup comes out, the words stay in.

.txt

Plain text

Also zipped, as .txtz.

.md

Markdown

Also .markdown.

.html

Web page

Also .htm, .xhtml and zipped .htmlz. Navigation and adverts removed.

.tex

LaTeX

Preamble, maths and figure environments dropped; \title read as the title. Also .latex and .ltx.

.rst

reStructuredText

Directives and roles stripped.

.org

Org-mode

Drawers and keywords stripped; #+TITLE read.

What it will not open, and why

A tool advertising fifty-plus formats is almost always running a converter on a machine you do not control — which means your file is uploaded to it. These are the formats that genuinely cannot be read in a browser. Drop one in and ReadKinetic tells you exactly this, rather than unsupported file format.

Encrypted by design

DRM means the text is encrypted. This is not a limitation anyone can code around.

KFX

Amazon’s current DRM-protected Kindle format.

Any DRM’d MOBI / AZW3

Detected on import and reported as such.

LIT · LRX

Microsoft Reader and Sony, both DRM-protected and discontinued.

Images, not text

There is nothing to extract. Run the file through OCR and import the result.

CBZ · CBR · CB7 · CBC

Comic archives — folders of page images.

DJVU

Scanned pages. Export to PDF or TXT if it has an OCR layer.

Scanned PDF

Detected and reported rather than imported blank.

Needs a converter first

Proprietary or long-dead binary formats with no browser-side reader. One save-as away.

PPT · POT · PPS

Binary PowerPoint. Save as .pptx.

PAGES · KEY

Apple bundles. Export to PDF, EPUB or Office.

WPD · WPS · LWP

WordPerfect, Works, Lotus. LibreOffice converts them.

HWP

Older binary Hangul. Save as HWPX, DOCX or PDF.

RB · TCR · SNB · DPS

Discontinued readers. Calibre converts them.

Common questions

Are my files uploaded anywhere to be converted?

No. Every format on this page is parsed by JavaScript running in your own browser, and the result is stored on your device. Nothing is sent to a server, which is also why importing works with no internet connection.

Can you open my Kindle books?

If they are DRM-free, yes — MOBI, AZW, AZW3 and PRC all open. If a book is DRM-protected its text is encrypted, and no browser-based reader can decrypt it. ReadKinetic detects this on import and tells you outright rather than importing an empty book.

Why do you support fewer formats than some other readers?

Because they convert on a server and we do not. A tool advertising fifty-plus formats is almost always running Calibre on a machine you do not control, which means your file is uploaded. Everything here runs on your own device, and where a format genuinely cannot be read in a browser we say which one, why, and the shortest way to read it anyway.

What happens if I drop in something you cannot read?

You get a specific answer rather than 'unsupported file format' — which format it is, why it will not open, and what to do instead. A binary .ppt tells you to save it as .pptx; a comic archive tells you it is page images with no text.

Drop a file in and see.

Free, no account, nothing uploaded. If it cannot be read, you will be told why in one sentence.

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Reading without uploading · EPUB reader · PDF reader · Essays