Is there an application for reading mobi files?

Question

Is there e-book reader on Ubuntu that read mobi file format?

Solution 1

calibre

Overview

calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books.

Calibre is primarily a ebook cataloging program. It manages your ebook collection for you. It is designed around the concept of the logical book, i.e. a single entry in the database that may correspond to ebooks in several formats. It also upports conversion from a dozen different ebook formats to LRF and EPUB. A graphical interface to the conversion software can be accessed easily by just clicking the "Convert E-books" button.

Supported input formats are: MOBI, AZW, LIT, PRC, EPUB, ODT, HTML, CBR, CBZ, RTF, TXT, PDF and LRS.

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Starting calibre's ebook viewer as a standalone application

In certain cases you will not want to add an epub or mobi file to calibre's library before reading it. Luckily calibre's ebook viewer can be started independently via ebook-viewer. This makes it possible to create a standalone launcher:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Icon=calibre
Exec=ebook-viewer %f
Name=Ebook Viewer
Comment=Display .epub files and other e-reader formats
StartupWMClass=ebook-viewer
MimeType=application/x-mobipocket-ebook;application/epub+zip;

See here for more information on adding launchers to your system.

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To click an ebook and open in ebook-viewer, make this application (/usr/bin/ebook-viewer) the default for that type of file.

Solution 2

Use FBReader, which is available as 'Ebook Reader' in the Software Center (fbreader in Synaptic Manager). Less bulky than calibre.

It can open a variety of ebook types, including 'azw'.

To open ebook on single/double click, the executable file to be added is usr/bin/fbreader.

Solution 3

Another option is Okular.

You also need the kdegraphics-mobipocket package.

sudo apt-get install okular kdegraphics-mobipocket

Solution 4

Foliate is one of the best applications for reading epub and Mobi files.

You can use your favorite method for obtaining it.

PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apandada1/foliate
sudo apt update
sudo apt install foliate

Flatpak

flatpak install flathub com.github.johnfactotum.Foliate

Snap

sudo snap install foliate

.deb file

Grab the latest version from here.

Website: https://johnfactotum.github.io/foliate/

For more information: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/07/install-foliate-ebook-reader-on-ubuntu

Solution 5

In Calibre:

Click on the view button (looks like an hourglass)...

The ebook viewer will open up a separate window...

Click on the the open ebook button...

You will be given a screen that asks you what file you want to open...

Choose your .mobi file and it will open in ebook viewer.

Note: I couldn't make any other option work for me and I stumbled on this method by mistake. Soooo easy and the ebook reader is better than any other Ubuntu reader.

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Comments

[David]

Yeah, it installs Django (a web framework) for some reason...

[NikolaiDante]

Couldn't follow these instructions in 12.04

[M. Toya]

You propably meant magnifying glass.

[Glutanimate]

@cipricus updated the answer

[Admin]

@MHC - thanks, I have also added some info, as I had difficulties making ebook-viewer the default reader - i didn't know its name in fact. ebook-viewer is able to display more elements of the ebook than fbreader. also, latest versions can handle azw/kindle extension.

[Admin]

i find ebook-viewer very heavy with large files

[Admin]

the fact that it installs Django web framework may be related to it being able to search network libraries. fbreader displays slightly fewer elements of an ebook (like cover) than calibre's ebook-viewer, but it is much faster and lighter. (Opening a large and complex mobi file in both these readers, the Task Manger records 377 MiB for Calibre's ebook-viewer and 39 MiB for FBReader.)

[gacrux]

Sorry yes, accidentally left -s in the apt-get command. Fixed.

[xji]

This seems to be neat. Okular is the best PDF viewer out there and to reuse it for multiple purposes is good.