Convert EPUB to TXT in your browser: drop the ebook and download its text as one plain UTF-8 file, chapter by chapter in reading order. Plain text is what nearly every other tool accepts: a text-to-speech app, a word counter, a translation tool, a script that searches or analyses the book, or an old e-reader with no EPUB support. The EPUB is unzipped and read on your own device and is never uploaded. Headings stay visible, paragraphs are separated by blank lines, and pictures are left out entirely, so the result is text only, with no HTML left in it.
How it works
- Drop the EPUB, or several, mixed with MOBI files if you like. Each card shows the title, the author and how many chapters were found.
- Untick any chapters you don’t want in the text, such as the copyright page or the index. The Output is already set to Text.
- Press Convert & download to save a .txt named after the book file, ready for any editor, app or script.
Questions
- How is the text laid out in the .txt file?
- Each paragraph is a single line with a blank line after it, so it rewraps to any window width; only line breaks the book itself uses, as in poems, are kept inside a paragraph. Headings are underlined with = or - signs, list items start with a dash, quotations with a > sign, and chapters are separated by two blank lines.
- What happens to the images and formatting?
- Images are dropped without a placeholder, and bold, italics, fonts and links reduce to plain words. Tables are not kept as tables, and text placed directly in table cells can be lost. If you need the pictures as well, convert to PDF instead, which keeps them in place on the page.
- Can I get the text of a single chapter?
- Yes. Every book card has a chapter list: press None, tick the chapter you want, and only that chapter is written to the file. Chapters are named after their first heading, and a section without one is listed as an untitled section with its number, so you can still find it.
- Does my file get uploaded?
- No. The models and all processing run inside your browser on your own device. You can verify this yourself: open your browser’s DevTools, watch the Network tab, and process a file: there are no uploads. After the first visit most tools also work fully offline.
- Does this work on books with DRM?
- No. DRM-protected books (most storefront purchases) are encrypted, and this tool does not and will not break that encryption. DRM-free books (self-published, converted, or from DRM-free stores) convert fine.
- Will the PDF look exactly like my e-reader?
- EPUB is reflowable, with no fixed pages, so the PDF is one honest pagination of the book at a readable size: chapters, paragraphs and images in order. Complex fixed layouts may differ from a particular reader’s rendering.