# Is there any benefit to using azw3 vs mobi?



## trapperjohn

Hi, 
    I usually convert my books from epub to mobi. Would there be any advantages or disadvantages to using Azw3 instead of mobi?

Thank you for your help, 
Bryan


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## northofdivision

Gonna put most of my money on the answer being no. Its root is a MobiPocket file (MOBI) anyhow that allows Amazon to slap DRM protection on a file. Suppose your benefit would be to lock someone out of your book but other than that, same functionality of bookmark, highlight, page number correlations, annotations, last read, HTML5 and CSS3, etc.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

If you are converting from ePub to the Kindle, best use the AZW3 (KF format. AFAIK, It allows many of the more complex formatting options that ePub has had for a long time to be transferred to the Kindle. Such as indenting block quotes, proper table formatting, etc.


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## INFINUS

If I've to convert epub for kindle I prefer KFX format because ... 

I can see book cover
Enhanced typesetting
Advanced page flips with 9 pages in one screen


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## northofdivision

Great points. I stand corrected. Awesome for Calibre users.


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## trapperjohn

Appreciate the info! 
For now on will convert to azw3! 

Thank you for your help, 
Bryan


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## Veena

Don't download MOBI! Download EPUB and use Calibre to convert to AZW3, or whatever format you may need to use now or in the future.
AZW3 has better performance than MOBI, is much smaller, and shows up on your Kindle as a book and not a personal document.


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## Gone 9/21/18

Veena said:


> Don't download MOBI! Download EPUB and use Calibre to convert to AZW3, or whatever format you may need to use now or in the future.
> AZW3 has better performance than MOBI, is much smaller, and shows up on your Kindle as a book and not a personal document.


And how recent does a Kindle have to be to read AZW3? I still have a Kindle Keyboard and know I could test on that, but I wonder about the original K1 I gave a friend.


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## Ann in Arlington

ellenoc said:


> And how recent does a Kindle have to be to read AZW3? I still have a Kindle Keyboard and know I could test on that, but I wonder about the original K1 I gave a friend.


Pretty sure any kindle will handle .mobi just fine . . . . . I don't have a problem with it listed as a 'doc' vs a 'book' as I have both the voyage and oasis set to show all items. So for me it's a distinction without a difference.

When I have mobi files I send them via Send to Kindle and it works great -- the file is even archived at Amazon so available for downloading to other devices if I want. Again, a distinction without a difference.

So, all that is just to say that I don't think there's a need to make a file .azw3 for it to work just fine on any eInk kindle that still works. 

I think all kindles have used .azw, but older models may not be able to use newer formats (azw2 and azw3) because it incorporates features that are not available on the earlier models. OR, they may be able to read them just fine but, of course, the newer features won't work. Maybe someone who still has an original Kindle can answer more completely.

I think I recall that if the file is originally in .azw of some sort, if you try to use Send to Kindle it doesn't work. Because Amazon sees that as a copy protected file. For that reason, assuming you're not violating terms of use, .mobi would be better.


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