.mobi files
.mobi file
Mobipocket Ebook
Amazon's older Kindle format, retired for new content in 2022.
What opens a .mobi file
- Windows
- Calibre, Amazon Kindle app
- macOS
- Calibre, Amazon Kindle app
- Linux
- Calibre, Foliate
What a .mobi file is
MOBI came from Mobipocket, which Amazon bought in 2005 and built the original Kindle around. Amazon stopped accepting MOBI for Send to Kindle in August 2022 in favour of EPUB, so the format is legacy — existing files still work on older Kindles and in Kindle apps. Calibre reads and converts them on every platform.
Converting it
A .mobi file is commonly converted to .epub, .pdf, .azw3, .txt or .docx. It is a binary format, so a text editor will show unreadable characters rather than its contents.
Details
- Extension
- .mobi
- Full name
- Mobipocket Ebook
- Category
- E-books
- MIME type
- application/x-mobipocket-ebook
- Created by
- Mobipocket / Amazon
- Format
- Binary
Common questions
- How do I open a .mobi file?
- On Windows use Calibre; on macOS use Calibre; on Linux use Calibre. Amazon's older Kindle format, retired for new content in 2022.
- What is a .mobi file?
- Mobipocket Ebook. MOBI came from Mobipocket, which Amazon bought in 2005 and built the original Kindle around. Amazon stopped accepting MOBI for Send to Kindle in August 2022 in favour of EPUB, so the format is legacy — existing files still work on older Kindles and in Kindle apps.
- Can I convert a .mobi file?
- Yes. It is usually converted to .epub, .pdf, .azw3, .txt or .docx, either by exporting from one of the programs listed above or with a format converter.
Related pages
- .epub — Electronic Publication The open ebook standard — reflowable text that adapts to any screen size.
- .azw3 — Kindle Format 8 The Kindle ebook format with modern layout support — usually DRM-locked.
- .cbz — Comic Book Archive (ZIP) A zip file full of page images, renamed so comic readers pick it up.
- .cbr — Comic Book Archive (RAR) The same idea as CBZ but built on RAR, so it needs a RAR-capable reader.
- .djvu — DjVu Scanned Document A scanned-document format that compresses text pages far better than PDF.
Sources
- Media Types Registry — IANA
- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place