Calibre (, stylised calibre) is a

cross-platform In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software r ...

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

suite of

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

software. Calibre supports organizing existing e-books into virtual libraries, displaying, editing, creating and converting e-books, as well as syncing e-books with a variety of e-readers. Editing books is supported for

EPUB EPUB is an e-book file format that uses the ".epub" file extension. The term is short for ''electronic publication'' and is sometimes styled ''ePub''. EPUB is supported by many e-readers, and compatible software is available for most smartphones ...

and

AZW3 Kindle File Format is a proprietary e-book file format created by Amazon.com that can be downloaded and read on devices like smartphones, tablets, computers, or e-readers that have Amazon's Kindle app. E-book files in the Kindle File Format ...

formats. Books in other formats like

MOBI Mobi or MOBI may refer to: Companies * Mobi (company), an American wireless provider Computing * .mobi, internet top domain name * .mobi, a file extension of the deprecated Mobipocket e-book format People * Mobi Fehr (born 1994), American socce ...

must first be converted to those formats, if they are to be edited.

History

On 31 October 2006, when

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

introduced its PRS-500 e-reader, Kovid Goyal started developing ''libprs500'', aiming mainly to enable use of the PRS-500 formats on

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

. With support from the MobileRead forums, Goyal reverse-engineered the proprietary Broad Band eBook (

BBeB BBeB (for Broad Band eBook) is a proprietary eBook file format developed by Sony and Canon. Although initially designed for the Sony Librié, it is also supported by other Sony e-book readers. BBeB files have the following extensions: LRS and LR ...

) file format. In 2008, the program, for which a graphical user interface was developed, was renamed "calibre", displayed in all lowercase.

Features

Calibre supports many

file format A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary or free. Some file formats ...

s and reading devices. Most e-book formats can be edited, for example, by changing the font, font size, margins, and

metadata Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...

, and by adding an auto-generated table of contents. Conversion and editing are easily applied to appropriately licensed digital books, but commercially purchased e-books may need to have

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...

(DRM) restrictions removed. Calibre does not natively support DRM removal, but may allow DRM removal after installing plug-ins with such a function. Calibre allows users to sort and group e-books by metadata fields. Metadata can be pulled from many different sources, e.g., ISBNdb.com; online booksellers; and providers of free e-books and periodicals in the US and elsewhere, such as the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

, ''

Munsey's Magazine ''Munsey's Weekly'', later known as ''Munsey's Magazine'', was a 36-page quarto United States, American magazine founded by Frank Munsey, Frank A. Munsey in 1889 and edited by John Kendrick Bangs. Frank Munsey aimed to publish "a magazine of the pe ...

'', and

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...

; and

social networking A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

sites for readers, such as

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...

and

LibraryThing LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by authors, individuals, libraries, and publishers. Based in Portland, Maine, LibraryThing was developed by ...

. It is possible to search the Calibre library by various fields, such as author, title, or keyword; however , full-text search has not yet been implemented. E-books can be imported into the Calibre library, either by sideloading files manually or by wirelessly syncing an e-book reading device with the

cloud storage Cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools, said to be on "the cloud". The physical storage spans multiple servers (sometimes in multiple locations), and the physical environment is t ...

service in which the Calibre library is backed up, or with the computer on which Calibre resides. Also, online content can be harvested and converted to e-books. This conversion is facilitated by so-called ''recipes'', short programs written in a

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

-based

domain-specific language A domain-specific language (DSL) is a computer language specialized to a particular application domain. This is in contrast to a general-purpose language (GPL), which is broadly applicable across domains. There are a wide variety of DSLs, ranging f ...

. E-books can then be exported to all supported reading devices via

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...

, Calibre's integrated

mail server Within the Internet email system, a message transfer agent (MTA), or mail transfer agent, or mail relay is software that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another using SMTP. The terms mail server, mail exchanger, and MX host ...

, or wirelessly. Mailing e-books enables, for example, sending personal documents to the

Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines and other digital media via wireless networking to the Kindle Store. ...

family of e-readers and

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...

s. This can be accomplished via a web browser, if the host computer is running and the device and host computer share the same network; in this case, pushing harvested content from content sources is supported on a regular interval (called 'subscription'). Also, if the Calibre library on the host computer is stored in a cloud service, such as Box.net, Google Drive, or Dropbox, then either the cloud service or a third-party app, such as Calibre Cloud or CalibreBox, can remotely access the library. Since version 1.15, released in December 2013, Calibre also contains an application to create and edit e-books directly, similar to the more full-featured editor tools of the Sigil application, but without the latter's

WYSIWYG In computing, WYSIWYG ( ), an acronym for What You See Is What You Get, is a system in which editing software allows content to be edited in a form that resembles its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product, such as a printed d ...

editing mode.

Associated apps

* ''Calibre Cloud'' (free) and ''Calibre Cloud Pro'' (paid), apps by Intrepid Logic that let one "access your Calibre e-book library from anywhere in the world. Place your calibre library in your Dropbox, Box, or Google Drive folder, and be able to view, search, and download from your library anywhere". As Jane Litte at ''Dear Author'' and John Jeremy at ''Teleread'' observe: This tool can be used to "create ne'sown Cloud of eBooks" and thereby read and allow downloads and emails from one's Calibre library via the Calibre folder in Box.net, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Because the Calibre-generated local wireless feed (

OPDS OPDS may stand for: *Open Publication Distribution System, a syndication format for electronic publications *Offshore Petroleum Discharge System, a U.S. Navy system for use with the Inland Petroleum Distribution System See also

*OPD (disambigu ...

) can only be accessed on devices sharing the same network as the Calibre library, this feature of the Calibre Cloud apps is particularly useful when away from one's home network, because it allows one to download and read the contents of one's Calibre library via the Calibre folder in Box, Dropbox, or Google Drive. * ''Calibre Companion'' (paid), an app by MultiPie, Ltd., recommended by calibre's developers, "brings complete integration with calibre on your desktop, giving you total control over book management on your device." John Jermey at ''Teleread'' notes this app can manage Calibre/device libraries as if one's mobile device were plugged into computer; however, unlike Calibre Cloud, Calibre Companion requires users to be at a computer and use the Calibre-generated local wireless feed (

*OPD (disambigu ...

). * ''Calibre Library'' (paid), an app by Tony Maro that allows one to "Connect wirelessly to your Calibre e-book library or other Stanza source. Browse and download your e-books on the go." This app's operations and benefits are similar to those offered by Calibre Cloud. * ''Calibre Sync'' (free), an app by Seng Jea Lee that "seamlessly connects to your Calibre Library and shows up as a connected device on Calibre. If Auto-Connect option is enabled, your device will attempt to connect to the Calibre Library when it is within the home Wi-Fi network. This allows Calibre to automatically update your device with the latest newspaper or magazines you have scheduled for download!" As with Calibre Companion, this app requires the device to be on the same network as the Calibre library. * ''CalibreBox'' (free and paid), an app by Eric Hoffmann that, like Calibre Cloud, accesses Calibre libraries from cloud storage. Unlike Calibre Cloud, it is limited to Dropbox, but CalibreBox supports more than one library at a time, and flexible sorting and filtering. Custom column support for the book detail view, sorting, and filtering by custom columns, and adding more than two libraries are restricted to paid users. The app is built on the design principles of Google's

Material Design Material Design (codenamed Quantum Paper) is a design language developed by Google in 2014. Expanding on the "cards" that debuted in Google Now, Material Design uses more grid-based layouts, responsive animations and transitions, padding, and d ...

and is under active development. * ''Calibre-go'' (free), app by Litlcode Studios lets you access your Calibre e-book library from cloud storage and access the library through Calibre-go to browse, sort, search and read books on your mobile. Calibre-go supports multiple libraries across multiple accounts simultaneously. *Calibre Sync (paid), an Android app by BIL Studio that lets you access Calibre libraries from cloud storage ( Dropbox, OneDrive,

Box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

, and pCloud), or from SD card. Calibre Sync supports multiple libraries across multiple accounts simultaneously, also allows users to browse, sort, search, filter and download books to read on devices.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Calibre (Software) 2008 software Cross-platform free software EPUB readers Free and open-source software Free software programmed in C Free software programmed in Python Linux text-related software Reference management software Software that uses Qt

History

Features

Associated apps

See also

References

Further reading

External links