EPUB to Text
Extract readable plain text from an EPUB ebook in spine order. Includes optional title and author metadata, but does not preserve page layout or styling.
About EPUB to Text
EPUB to Text extracts the readable text from an ebook — chapters in reading order, with the title and author up top — so you can search it, analyze it, or feed it to other text tools. It completes the document trio next to PDF to Text and DOCX to Text. Extraction happens in your browser; your books stay on your device.
- Category
- convert
- Input
- Accepts: application/epub+zip.
- Output
- Outputs: text/plain.
- Cost
- Free, runs in your browser
- Memory
- low
Common uses
- Extract an ebook's text to search or quote from it
- Get a word count or reading-time estimate for a manuscript EPUB
- Feed a chapter into the summarizer or keyword extractor
- Convert a public-domain EPUB into plain text for editing
- Pull text out of your own exported book to re-edit it
Frequently asked questions
What comes out?
Plain text: the book's chapters in spine (reading) order, joined with blank lines, optionally prefixed with the title and author. Formatting, images, and layout are not preserved — this is text extraction, not conversion.
Does it handle DRM-protected books?
No. DRM-encrypted EPUBs can't be read by design. It works with DRM-free books — your own exports, public-domain titles, and DRM-free purchases.
Are footnotes and links kept?
Their text is kept; the linking itself is not, since the output is plain text.
Is my book uploaded?
No. The EPUB is unpacked and parsed entirely in your browser.
Can I turn the text back into an ebook?
Not here yet — this tool goes one way. Markdown-to-EPUB is on the candidate list.
Keywords
- epub
- ebook
- convert
- text
- extract
- book
- xhtml
- spine