How do I send an EPUB to my Kindle?

Which way should you use?

There are five ways to get a book onto a Kindle. Four of them go through Amazon’s free Send to Kindle service, which accepts EPUB and turns it into a Kindle book for you, so nothing needs converting. Only the USB cable needs a Kindle format, because a Kindle can’t open an EPUB file that is simply copied onto it.

Tip: Most people should use the Send to Kindle website. Use the cable when the book is bigger than 200 MB, when the Kindle has no Wi-Fi, or when you don’t want the book in your Amazon library.

Send an EPUB with the Send to Kindle website

1. Open amazon.com/sendtokindle and sign in with the Amazon account your Kindle uses.
2. Drag the EPUB onto the page, or click to choose it. Files up to 200 MB are accepted.
3. Turn on Add to your library, so the book reaches every Kindle and Kindle app on your account, and click Send.
4. Amazon converts the book, usually within minutes. It appears in your Kindle’s library the next time the Kindle connects to Wi-Fi.

Email an EPUB to your Kindle

Every Kindle and Kindle app has its own Send to Kindle email address. Find it on Amazon under Manage Your Content and Devices → Devices, by choosing your Kindle.

1. On Amazon, open Manage Your Content and Devices → Preferences → Personal Document Settings, and add the address you will send from to the Approved Personal Document E-mail List. Up to 15 addresses can be approved.
2. Write an email to your Kindle’s address and attach the EPUB. No subject or text is needed.
3. Send it, with the Kindle connected to the internet. Amazon keeps trying to deliver it for up to 60 days.

Tip: One email can carry up to 25 files and 50 MB in all; Amazon also accepts a ZIP of several books. Your own email provider may allow less (a personal Gmail account sends up to 25 MB), so use the website for bigger books.

Send an EPUB from an iPhone or Android phone

If Kindle doesn’t appear when you share, open amazon.com/sendtokindle in your phone’s browser instead: it works the same way on a phone.

1. Install the Kindle app and sign in with the same Amazon account as your Kindle.
2. Find the EPUB in the Files app (iPhone) or your Downloads (Android) and tap Share.
3. Choose Kindle and send. The book goes to your Kindle library and appears on the Kindle as well.

Copy books over a USB cable (convert to AZW3 first)

A cable needs no internet, works for books of any size, and keeps the book out of your Amazon library. But the Kindle only opens Kindle formats this way, so turn the EPUB into AZW3 first, with the converter at the top of this page.

1. Drop the EPUB at the top of this page (it’s already set to EPUB to AZW3), click Convert and download the AZW3 file.
2. Connect the Kindle to your computer with its USB cable. On Windows it appears in File Explorer as Kindle, with no app needed.
3. Open it and copy the AZW3 file into the documents folder.
4. Tap Disconnect on the Kindle’s screen, or simply unplug the cable. The book appears in the library, with its cover.

Tip: On a Mac, Kindle Scribe and Kindles released in 2024 or later need Amazon’s free Send to Kindle app for Mac to copy files: open it and choose Tools → USB File Manager (macOS 12 or newer). Older Kindles show up as a drive without it.

Which conversion do you need?

It depends on the file you have and how you will send it. Each link opens that converter.

We tested it: six classic books, EPUB to AZW3

To see what to expect, we converted six free books from Project Gutenberg from EPUB to AZW3 on ConvertKitty’s server, with the same settings your books get. All six converted at the first try, every one kept its cover, and the longest took 9.1 s. The AZW3 files are a little larger than the EPUBs: AZW3 stores the text in a Kindle-friendly way, and the pictures stay as they were.

Tip: Tested on 8 November 2026 with calibre 6.13.0. The time is the conversion itself; uploading the book comes on top and depends on your connection. A MOBI converted to EPUB in under a second.

AZW3, MOBI or KFX: which Kindle format?

AZW3 (also called KF8) is the Kindle format to make yourself. It keeps chapters, a working table of contents, embedded fonts and modern layout, and every Kindle sold in the last decade reads it.

MOBI is the older Mobipocket format. Kindles still open MOBI files copied over USB, but MOBI is no longer on Amazon’s list of files Send to Kindle accepts (Amazon dropped it in 2022), and it can’t do much of the layout AZW3 can.

KFX is the format Amazon uses for books bought in the Kindle store. Only Amazon’s own tools make it; for your own books, AZW3 gives the same reading experience.

Books that can’t be converted: DRM, Libby and store books

Most books bought from a store, and most library loans, are locked with DRM (copy protection). A locked book can’t be converted by ConvertKitty, and ConvertKitty does not remove DRM. Send to Kindle refuses password-protected and encrypted files too.

Library loans from Libby are a special case: in the United States, most of them can go straight to a Kindle. In Libby, open Shelf → Loans, tap Read With… and choose Kindle; Amazon’s site opens, and Get Library Book sends it to your Kindle (Libby Help). Outside the US, read them in the Libby app or on an e-reader that supports library loans.

What you can convert: books without DRM, such as free classics from Project Gutenberg or Standard Ebooks, books sold DRM-free by their authors or publishers, and your own documents.

Send to Kindle error codes, and what to do

When a book can’t be delivered, Amazon emails you an error code. These are the ones people meet most often, from Amazon’s own list.

When the book doesn’t arrive, or looks wrong

• The book never shows up: check that you sent it from an address on the approved list (otherwise you get error E014), that the Kindle is on Wi-Fi, and that “Add to your library” was on.
• Amazon says the file couldn’t be converted: the EPUB may be damaged or locked with DRM. Try converting it to AZW3 here and copying it over USB; if that fails too, the file itself is the problem.
• The text of a PDF is tiny: a Kindle shows a PDF page by page, at the page’s own size. Convert the PDF to AZW3 or EPUB so the words reflow to fit the screen; this works best for plain, one-column text.
• Pictures are missing or the layout is jumbled: the book uses features e-readers lack (large tables, SVG pictures, equations). AZW3 keeps more of the layout than MOBI.
• The Kindle doesn’t appear on a Mac: newer Kindles need the Send to Kindle app for Mac (Tools → USB File Manager), or use the website instead.

How the converter on this page works

E-books are converted on ConvertKitty’s server with calibre, the free e-book software, using its standard settings. Your file is sent over an encrypted connection, a conversion may run for up to 10 minutes (most books take seconds), and both the book and the result are deleted 72 hours later.

Books up to 1 GB are accepted, and you can convert several at once, then download them all as one ZIP. Everyone gets 50 free credits a day, with no account needed. Conversions on our server use one credit per started minute of work, so most cost a single credit. Credits reset at midnight UTC.