ePub is basically an abbreviation of electronic publication. It is mostly used in Tablets which is introduced by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). EPUB files have the extension “.epub”. In September 2007, it became an official standard of International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). On the other hand PDF is basically a well-known Portable Document Format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. But both EPUB and PDF are considered as the most popular eBook formats. Let’s compare both the file formats.
PDF 101:
As, I have already mentioned above, PDF is basically a product of Adobe Systems. It is an open standard format of exchanging the documents. It was officially released in 2008. This format helps in the easy printing of the documents. There are many other cool features of PDF format like you can create, edit and convert PDF files.
ePUB 101:
ePUB is a free and open format for eBooks and other documents. It provides optional style sheets. It is based on XML and HTML.
Comparison based on different characteristics:
Popularity: The plug-ins, support tools, solutions of PDF are offered by 1800 vendors all over the globe. On the other hand ePUB is still new in the market.
Layout: When you created PDF file, the visual aspects of PDF such as images, tables etc retains their original layout whereas EPUB supports the reflowable content. You can easily optimize the ePUB file.
Versatility: In PDF, you can highlight the text, take notes, and annotate files etc, whereas ePUB does not support editing.
Accessibility: PDF offers such technologies, by the help of which information becomes more accessible to disable people. ePUB does not have such type of feature.
Security: PDF has some advanced security features which includes digital signatures. You can easily protect your eBooks password protected. On the other hand ePUB file also has DRM. But it is not a mandatory requirement.
Interactivity: You can easily bookmark the PDF files. You can also inset different links in them. By the help of PDF, you can also create interactive PDF files. On contrast, ePUB does not support interactivity.
So, these are some of the advantages and disadvantages of ePUB associated with their use. You cannot say that one format is better than the other. But both have their own significance.