Microsoft Edge will no longer support ePub file format for e-books

By Sean Endicott
published

Microsoft bids farewell to another feature, this time, ePub books on Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft Edge logo on Start menu
Microsoft Edge logo on Start menu (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft Edge will no longer support e-books using the .epub format.
  • The Microsoft Store has a collection of ePub apps that Microsoft recommends.
  • Microsoft removed books from the Microsoft Store earlier this year.

Microsoft Edge users will no longer be able to read e-books directly within the browser. Microsoft is ending support for the .epub file extension for Microsoft Edge. Earlier this year, Microsoft removed books from the Microsoft Store. But now, users won't be able to read e-books they got from other sources through Microsoft's browser.

The Microsoft support page (opens in new tab) outlining the end of ePub support for Edge states that Microsoft collaborated with the DAISY Consortium to create a list of ePub applications. Those applications are expected to be in the Microsoft Store after September. For now, Microsoft recommends that users check out the "Reading room" collection (opens in new tab) of reading apps in the Microsoft Store.

Thanks to Nick for the tip.

Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com (opens in new tab).

8 Comments
  • Why, just why?
  • Why? Edge is going away anyway to be replaced by the Chromium version so why bother taking away what is a useful feature at least why exactly right now?
  • Not surprised when they discontinued their eBooks from Microsoft Store, which didn't get much success thanks for the lack of proper hardware which are 8 inches Windows tablets which is just a right size for reading. The smallest that Windows have are on 10 inches such as Surface Go, but it was released when eBook is already been discontinued. Also 10 inches can be still too large to many people for eBook reading. There are some lesser known Chinese-branded 8-inch Windows tablets, but they still have outdated specs and not well marketed. Big OEMs did not release any modern 8-inch Windows tablets and Microsoft never release Surface Mini to showcase this form factor for Windows. eBooks are odd for Windows now since it is mostly dominated by 2-in-1 or tablet convertibles that are typically from 12-inches to 15-inches in screen size, too big and also bulky for handheld reading.
  • The writing was on the wall, ever since this feature was first released in Edge. Support voor epub books was heavily limited to certain regional markets only. A strange project.
    On the other hand I like reading list, although it has far too many deprecated features compared to the windows 8 app, and misses local caching for full offline reading. And...After 3 years I am still missing some kind of folder management for my list. It is getting longer and longer, scrolling is getting longer and longer, it's becoming a pain to search the list.
  • I really wished that they had kept this feature. I used Onedrive to sync academic book PDFs that I used for my dissertation research between my tablet and desktop to annotate them. Edge was one of the few apps that could add highlights to Epubs in a standards respecting way AND save them to the file directly vs some sync service so I can see these annotations and edit them on any device. I really hope one of these apps they are going to recommend has similar features specifically standards compliant annotations.
  • Well they removed fm radio feature from windows 10 mobile. Lol... Can't they just leave it there? How much updates does a fm radio need anyway? Just leave it there lah, why must remove? 🤦‍♂️ It's akin to dropping your trousers and underwear just to fart. 😂
  • All they need is a chromium app to support it...
  • Is there a Chome extension to read ePub book thru the Brower?