An EPUB has no pages. It is a ZIP package of XHTML chapters, CSS and images, and the reading app lays the text out on the fly for the screen in front of it. A PDF is the opposite: every line sits at a fixed position on a page of a fixed size. Converting EPUB to PDF therefore means choosing one layout and freezing it. Knowing which layout our converter picks saves you surprises.
Why convert an EPUB to PDF
- Printing. Print shops, copy machines and school printers take PDF, not EPUB.
- Sharing with people who have no e-reader app. Every computer and phone opens a PDF.
- Annotating and studying. Highlighting tools, tablet note apps and many course portals work with PDF pages and page numbers that stay the same for everyone.
- Uploading to a system that only accepts PDF, such as a submission form or a document archive.
What our converter does with the book
Our converter lays out the XHTML chapters like a web browser would and cuts them into pages. The settings are fixed, which means:
| Property | Result in the PDF |
|---|---|
| Page size | US Letter, 8.5 × 11 in (215.9 × 279.4 mm), not A4 |
| Margins | 72 pt (1 inch, 25.4 mm) on every side |
| Table of contents | Becomes PDF bookmarks (the outline panel in your viewer) |
| Links | Internal links and footnote references stay clickable, web links too |
| Fonts | Fonts embedded in the EPUB are used; otherwise Liberation, DejaVu or Noto replace the requested family |
| Cover | The cover image becomes page 1 |
| Metadata | Title and author are written into the PDF properties |
The text is a real text layer, so you can search and copy it. Page numbers are assigned by the converter. They will not match a printed edition, because an EPUB simply does not carry one.
Reflowable vs fixed-layout EPUB
Most novels and non-fiction books are reflowable. They convert well, since paginating flowing text is exactly what an EPUB is designed for. Since 2012 EPUB 3 also allows fixed layout (rendition:layout set to pre-paginated), used for picture books, comics, cookbooks and textbooks where every element is placed on a page of a set size. Our converter has no separate mode for these. It renders each fixed page as HTML onto a Letter page, so absolutely positioned text boxes can shift, overlap or spill onto the next page, and two-page spreads come apart. For fixed-layout books, check the result page by page before you print it.
Common problems and how to solve them
"EPUB to PDF is not A4"
Our converter always uses US Letter. For printing on A4, choose "Fit to page" in the print dialog; the scaling is about 3 % and the text stays sharp because it is vector text.
"Text is too small" or "too large"
Font sizes come from the book's CSS. Publishers sometimes set them in absolute units for a phone screen, which then look odd on a full page. Our converter does not change the book's styles.
"Conversion fails with a DRM-protected EPUB"
EPUBs bought in many stores or borrowed from a library are encrypted (Adobe DRM, Readium LCP, Apple FairPlay). The converter detects the encryption and stops, and we cannot and will not remove DRM. Files that only carry a buyer's watermark ("social DRM") are not encrypted and convert normally.
"Every chapter starts on a new page"
An EPUB is split into separate XHTML files, usually one per chapter, and they are rendered one after another, each from a fresh page. The book's CSS can add further breaks (page-break-before). Half-empty pages at chapter ends are therefore expected and not an error.
Format background
EPUB 2 was published by the International Digital Publishing Forum in 2007 and EPUB 3.0 followed in 2011. Since the IDPF merged into the W3C in 2017, the format is maintained there; the current version is EPUB 3.3. EPUB 3.0.1 is also the international standard ISO/IEC 23736:2020. PDF was created by Adobe in 1993 and became ISO 32000-1 in 2008. The Library of Congress keeps detailed descriptions of both, see EPUB and PDF 1.7.
When another tool is the better choice
If you need A4, different margins or a larger base font, install calibre on your computer and set the paper size in its PDF output options; the calibre manual explains every setting. Some reading apps can also print a book through the system PDF printer. Our converter makes sense for a quick one-off conversion, on a phone or a computer where you cannot install software, or for up to 10 books at once with the results as a ZIP. Going the other way is harder: see PDF to EPUB for what to expect, and MOBI to EPUB for older Kindle files.