How to convert an EPUB to a PDF

There are exactly three routes, and which one is right depends on how many books you have and whether the file is DRM-protected.

If you just want it done, the converter on this site handles the common case in one step and tells you plainly what happens to your file.

This decides whether any of the three routes will work. A book bought from a major store or borrowed from a library is usually encrypted so that only an authorised app can display it. No converter can read that text — not an online one, not Calibre, not a paid desktop app.

• Files with a .acsm extension are not books at all — they are download tickets for Adobe Digital Editions.
• If a converter reports that a book is encrypted, that is a fact about the file, not a bug in the tool.
• Books from Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks, most indie publishers and anything you exported yourself are normally DRM-free.

How to tell, and what your options are covers this in detail.

1. 1

   Open the converter and add your file

   Drag the .epub in, or use the file picker. On a phone, the picker reaches iCloud Drive, Google Drive and your Downloads folder.

2. 2

   Choose a page size if you care about printing

   Letter is right for the US, A4 for most of the world. If you are only going to read on a screen, the default is fine.

3. 3

   Convert, then download

   A typical novel finishes in a few seconds. A large illustrated book takes longer because every image has to be decoded and re-encoded.

Calibre is the long-standing free desktop ebook manager, and its ebook-convert engine is genuinely good. It is the right tool if you are converting a shelf rather than a book.

1. 1

   Add the book

   Install Calibre, then use Add books and select your EPUB files.

2. 2

   Convert

   Select the book, choose Convert books, and set the output format to PDF.

3. 3

   Adjust the PDF output settings

   The PDF Output section is where page size, margins and font sizes live. The defaults produce a readable but fairly plain result.

Worth knowing: Calibre’s PDF output is itself rendered by a Chromium-based engine, so the underlying approach is the same as a good online converter. The difference is where it runs and how much vocabulary you need.

Less than most guides claim. This is the single most common piece of outdated advice about EPUB conversion, so it is worth being specific:

• Windows has no built-in EPUB reader. Microsoft Edge removed native EPUB support years ago and it has not come back.
• macOS opens EPUBs in Apple Books, but Books provides no export and no print option for them — so there is no “Save as PDF” to reach.
• iPhone and iPad behave the same way: Books can print and share a PDF, but not an EPUB.
• Android has no system EPUB handler either; Google Play Books can display an EPUB you upload but will not export it as a PDF.

In practice, “use your operating system” means “install a reader app that has a print function”. The per-platform guides go through what is actually available: Windows, Mac, iPhone and iPad, Android.

• Decide up front whether this PDF is for reading on a screen or for printing. It changes the page size and the margins, and it is annoying to discover afterwards.
• If you will print it, choose wider margins than feel necessary — printers do not use the full sheet.
• For a book full of photographs, keep image quality high and accept the file size. For a text novel, image settings barely matter.
• Check that the contents page and bookmarks came through. A 400-page PDF with no navigation is much worse to use than the ebook you started with.