The question “Have you seen the prices of books?” has already become rhetorical. The rise in the cost of printing, logistics and other expenses has turned books from a basic necessity of a cultured person into a “really good gift”. And instead of pleasing themselves with a brand new, freshly printed book with a special typographic smell of pages, many switch to electronic media in order to save money. Most often, this is a smartphone or tablet, which is always at hand. For such gadgets, books are often released in the .fb2 format.
The FB2 (FictionBook) format is used to store e-books, presenting them as XML documents structured according to certain rules. You can open fb2 in many ways, both through specialized applications and with the help of universal programs and online services. Let’s take a closer look at how to open an fb2 file on any device.
Cool Reader
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One of the most popular applications for reading FB2 on Windows is “Cool Reader”. This is free and easy-to-use software that supports many e-book formats, including FB2. After downloading and installing the program from the official website, you need to run it and select “Open” from the “File” menu, specifying the path to the FB2 file.
“Cool Reader” supports flexible text display settings: you can change the font size, background and line spacing, which makes the reading process convenient for every user.
Caliber
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Calibre is a versatile e-book tool. It not only opens FB2, but also allows you to manage your library, edit metadata, and convert books to various formats such as EPUB, MOBI, or PDF. Calibre also allows you to customize fonts, colors, and text spacing, making your reading experience more comfortable.
To open an FB2 file in Calibre, you need to download and install the program, then launch it and import the book by clicking the “Add books” button and selecting the FB2 file on your computer. The book will then appear in the library, and you can open it through the program’s built-in reader.
Sumatra PDF Windows
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Sumatra PDF is a program for reading PDF, DJVU and other formats, including FB2. It has a minimalist design and fast operation. After downloading and installing the program on Windows, you need to run it and open the file via the menu “File” → “Open”, specifying the path to the FB2 document. Sumatra PDF does not require large system resources, so it is especially convenient for use on older computers.
FBReader for Android
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For Android smartphones and tablets, the best app to use is FBReader. This is a popular free app that supports various e-book formats, including FB2, EPUB, and MOBI.
After downloading the app via Google Play, open it and add the FB2 file. This can be done in several ways: either by transferring the file via cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.), or by downloading it directly to the device. The app supports synchronization of books between devices and allows you to customize the interface for yourself.
PocketBook
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If you have an e-book reader from PocketBook, you are lucky – it natively supports the FB2 format. To open a book, simply download the file to the device via USB or Wi-Fi, and it will automatically appear in the library. PocketBook supports text display settings, book synchronization, and bookmarking.
Google Play Books
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For those who prefer to read books via Google Play Books, there is an option to upload a converted FB2 file there. To do this, you must first convert FB2 to EPUB or PDF using the Calibre program. After that, upload the file to Google Play Books via the web interface or mobile app, and the book will be available for reading on all your devices with synchronization of progress.
Bookmate
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This is an application that is part of the Yandex ecosystem with the Plus subscription. There you can find about 250,000 books, comics, audiobooks and children’s literature. If you did not find what you were interested in among this amount of downloaded information, the program allows you to download your own file in FB2 and EPUB formats.
To do this, go to the “My books” section, it is located at the bottom of the screen on the left side. Scroll down to the very end and find the “Download for free” button. The application will transfer you to the file system, where you must specify the path to the desired file. After some time, you will receive a notification that the book is ready to read.
iOS devices — KyBook for iPhone and iPad
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Apple device users can use the KyBook app, which supports the FB2 format. To start reading, first download the app from the App Store. Then you can upload files to the app in several ways: via cloud services (iCloud, Google Drive), or simply by dragging and dropping files via iTunes or AirDrop. KyBook offers a wide range of reading tools, from a night mode to flexible font and text margin settings.
Linux — FBReader and Calibre
On Linux systems, FB2 file support is implemented through the programs “FBReader” and “Calibre”, which are easily installed through package managers. For example, to install FBReader, you can use the command in the terminal: sudo apt install fbreader or sudo apt-get install calibre .
After installation, you can launch the application, go to the “Open file” section and specify the path to the FB2 document. The program allows you not only to read books, but also to save their progress, change the design and create bookmarks.
Cool Reader for macOS
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Although Cool Reader is most often used on Windows, there is a version of the program for macOS. To install it, you can use special builds or instructions provided on user forums.
Opening FB2 is done through the same interface: select the File menu, then Open and specify the path to the FB2 document. Cool Reader supports interface customization, including setting the background color, font and margin sizes, which makes the reading process convenient.
Online converters – Convertio and Online Convert
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If you don’t want to install additional programs, you can use online converters. Convertio and Online Convert are popular web services that allow you to convert FB2 to various formats: PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and others.
Simply open the site, select the file upload option, specify the desired format and click “Convert”. Once the process is complete, you can download the resulting file and open it with any supporting application. This method is especially convenient for occasional use.
Mobile Browsers and Extensions
Some mobile browsers, such as Chrome or Yandex.Browser, support extensions for reading e-books. For example, you can install the “EpubPress” extension, which supports reading FB2 files directly in the browser. To do this, go to the browser settings, find the “Extensions” section, install the desired plugin and open the FB2 file through it.
Yandex.Browser with add-ons for reading books
Yandex.Browser allows you to install various extensions for reading e-books. One of these extensions is “Readium”, which supports FB2. After installing the extension, you can open FB2 files directly in the browser without downloading additional programs. This method is especially convenient for those who do not want to download separate applications for reading books.
Viewing FB2 via text editors
Since the FB2 format is XML-based, it can be opened with text editors such as Notepad++ or Sublime Text. This will not allow you to read the book in the usual format, but will allow you to view its contents, edit or convert it manually.
Thanks to these methods, your reading of e-books will become more understandable and faster. You can help your parents put one of the listed sentences so that they can enjoy the new book by Alexandra Marinina during their vacation. The situation described above, by the way, is real for the author.