EPUB is an abbreviation for Electronic Publishing and a standard e-book format issued by the International Digital Publishing Forum.
Files with the .epub extension are used by all the common e-book readers on the market. The EPUB format is an open XML based one which is also used for online digital publications.
The International Digital Publishing Forum first issued the Open eBook structure (OEB) in 1999 around the creation of HTML. Since then, the IDPF also issued three open standards: OPS - the Open Publication Structure for defining the content markup, OPF - the Open Packaging Format for describing the e-book structure and OCF - the Open Container Format for compressing all the e-book files together in the same archive. All these three standards are at the base of the current EPUB format.
How to open EPUB Files
Since EPUB is the most common electronic publication format, files with the .epub extension can be opened with e-book readers like the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook or Sony Reader.
Besides these devices, EPUB files can also be opened in Firefox after installing the EPUB add-on or by using standalone applications such as Apple iBook, Sony Reader, Calibre (Linux) or Geometer Plus FBReader.
Some books may come with Digital Rights Management protection (DRM), making them available for viewing only on certain authorized devices.
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