Make a PDF readable on a Kindle
Turn a PDF into an EPUB, then send it to your Kindle as a real ebook with text you can resize.
- Nothing is uploaded
- Works offline after first visit
- Open source
- No watermark · limit is your device’s memory; phones hold less
PDFs on a Kindle show whole pages in tiny text. Convert the PDF to an EPUB here, then Send to Kindle turns it into a book whose text you can resize. It is free, needs no account and adds no watermark, and your files are not uploaded: everything runs in your browser on your device. The size limit is your device’s memory, and phones hold less; give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use, and then it works offline.
Done
Open the network tab. Your files never appear in it.
Add files and run the tool to see every request this tab makes.
Your files are processed on this device and never sent to a server. Reload the page to clear everything from memory.
Sending a PDF straight to a Kindle keeps its fixed pages, so a Letter or A4 page is shrunk onto a 6-inch screen and the font size buttons do nothing. Amazon’s Send to Kindle accepts EPUB files and converts them into Kindle books, whose text reflows and can be resized like anything bought from the Kindle store. This page makes that EPUB from your PDF.
A worked example: a 60-page research report, report.pdf, that you want to read on a Paperwhite. Drop it here and press Convert for Kindle; the running header with the report title and the page numbers are dropped, and each main heading becomes a chapter. Then send report.epub to Kindle: drag it onto amazon.com/sendtokindle, use the Send to Kindle app, or email it to your Kindle’s @kindle.com address from an approved sender. It arrives as a book with a table of contents.
Scanned PDFs have no text to convert: run them through OCR PDF first. Pictures and tables are not carried into the EPUB, so for a document that is mostly charts, reading the PDF itself on a tablet works better.
How it works
- Drop the PDF and press Convert for Kindle.
- Send the .epub with Send to Kindle (web, app or email).
- Open it on the Kindle and pick your font size.
In your browser, not on a server
pdf.js (Apache-2.0) reads the positioned text of every page in your tab. The same rebuilding as PDF to Word groups it into lines and paragraphs and spots headings by their size. Text that sits at the top or bottom of many pages and differs only in its numbers is treated as a running header or footer and dropped, bare page numbers too, and a paragraph that stops mid-sentence at a page break is joined to its continuation. The main headings start chapters. Each chapter is written as XHTML with a small stylesheet, with an EPUB 3 navigation file and an NCX contents list for older readers, and fflate (MIT) zips them with the uncompressed mimetype first, as the EPUB specification requires.
Compared with upload-based tools: Online converters upload the PDF and often queue it on a server; some email you the result. Here the PDF stays on your device and the book is ready in seconds.
Verify it yourself. Give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use, then turn off Wi-Fi or switch to airplane mode and run the tool again. Or open your browser's developer tools (F12, or Cmd-Option-I on a Mac), pick the Network tab, and watch it while you convert. The panel above does the same count for you.
Questions
Why EPUB and not MOBI or AZW3?
Amazon stopped accepting MOBI through Send to Kindle and now asks for EPUB, which it converts to its own format on the way to your device.
Where do I find my Kindle email address?
On amazon.com under Manage Your Content and Devices, then Preferences, Personal Document Settings. Add the address you send from to the approved list there too.
The chapters are called Pages 1 to 20. Why?
The PDF had no headings in larger type to split on, so the book is cut every 20 pages to keep each part quick to open. The text itself is complete.
Is the PDF uploaded?
Not here: it is converted in this tab. Sending it to your Kindle afterwards goes through Amazon, as every personal document on a Kindle does.
More PDF tools
PDF to EPUB
A PDF made for paper turned into an ebook that reflows on a small screen, on your own device.
Image to PDF
Turn photos, scans and screenshots into a single PDF. One image per page, in the order you choose.
PDF to Image
Export every page, or just some, as JPG or PNG at the resolution you need. Rendered on your device.
Reorder & Delete Pages
See every page as a thumbnail, drag them into the order you want, remove the extras. Saved on your device.
Other conversions
Guides
- How to convert EPUB to PDFA few tools do this conversion, each with a catch: an email delivery, a size cap, or an app to install. Here is a browser one with none of those: nothing is emailed, and the limit is your device’s memory (phones hold less).