10 best free computer readers

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Reading e-books is convenient not only on smartphones and tablets.

1. Google Play Books

• Platforms: Web, Chrome.
• Supported formats: ePub, PDF.

On the site of the popular Google Play Books service, you can add and read texts online. At the same time, the project has an extension for the Google Chrome browser, which provides access to downloaded books on a computer even without an Internet connection.

The plugin interface almost completely repeats the design of the web version. You can open books from your library, view their content, search by text, customize fonts and markup. To read offline, you must first load the necessary books into the computer memory. Bookmarks, reading positions and other data are synchronized between all devices connected to your Google account.

2. iBooks program

• Platform: macOS.
• Supported formats: ePub, PDF.

Mac users who are fond of books are in luck: they get one of the best desktop readers out of the box. IBooks looks stylish, supports data synchronization between iOS devices, and offers only the tools you need - for those who love to read, not dig into settings.

On the other hand, iBooks does not work with the very popular FB2 format, which may not suit some users. But you can always convert FB2 to ePub.

3. Bookmate

• Platforms: Web, Windows.
• Supported formats: FB2, ePub.

This service, like Google Play Books, invites computer owners to read works on the site. In addition, Windows users can install the Bookmate desktop client, which allows them to add texts to their personal library and open them offline.

In both versions of the program, you can customize the font, background, indents and other visual elements. Bookmarks, reading positions, and other metadata are synced across devices. The application may slow down slightly, but overall it is comfortable to use.

The texts added to the service by you can be read for free. Bookmate also offers a paid subscription to books from its online library, but you can opt-out.

4. Caliber

• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.
• Supported formats: FB2, ePub, DjVu, DOCX, HTML, AZW, AZW3, AZW4, CBZ, CBR, CBC, CHM, HTMLZ, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT, TXTZ.

Caliber is known primarily as a powerful free e-book editor. With it, you can edit metadata, text and other elements of book files, as well as convert documents from one format to another. But the program also allows you to simply read the books added to it. The built-in reader has background and text settings, content viewer, search form and other tools for user convenience.

5. Sumatra PDF

• Platform: Windows.
• Supported formats: PDF, eBook, MOBI, XPS, DjVu, CHM, CBZ, CBR.

Despite its name, the program handles not only PDF files, but also a wide variety of ePub and MOBI books. And in addition - with comics CBZ and CBR. Sumatra PDF can work in portable mode, so you can save it to a USB flash drive and read different files anywhere.

Books open in tabs. This allows you to read multiple files in parallel, switching between them. Minimum settings: font size and page display. The rest of the application parameters are adjusted via a text INI file - it is difficult, but useful for advanced users.

6. STDU Viewer

• Platform: Windows.
• Supported formats: TIFF, PDF, DjVu, XPS, JBIG2, WWF, FB2, TXT, CBR, CBZ, TCR, PDB, MOBI, AZW, ePub, DCX, BMP, PCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, WMF, EMF, PSD.

One of the most multi-format programs can open not only books, but also images, and even Photoshop layouts. He copes with reading texts excellently. There are a lot of settings and parameters that can satisfy even the most sophisticated user.

The program is optimized to work with both conventional computers and devices with touch screens. It can export individual pages as graphic files, search by text, change the display options for book pages, and so on. At the same time, it consumes very modest system resources.

7. Freda

• Platform: Windows.
• Supported formats: ePub, MOBI, FB2, HTML, TXT.

This program can be recommended for owners of Windows 10 tablets, because its interface is most optimized for touch screens. For those reading from a laptop or desktop PC, it is better to take a look at other applications.

Freda integrates with online directories such as Feedbooks, Smashwords, and Project Gutenberg. It provides free access to over 50,000 public domain classics. Freda also easily opens any books you've manually saved, and lets you sync your library with OneDrive, Dropbox or Caliber.

8. Icecream Ebook Reader

• Platform: Windows.
• Supported formats: ePub, MOBI, PDF, FB2.

An extremely popular reader that supports common e-literature formats. An interesting feature of Icecream Ebook is the ability to import and export your library, saving not only the books, but also the progress of reading them. This is useful when transferring information from computer to computer.

There are several page themes (day, night or sepia), font settings and a convenient table of contents. However, some features - adding notes, importing multiple e-books at the same time, editing file metadata and copying text - are only available in the Pro version of Icecream Ebook Reader.

9. Foliate

• Platform: Linux.
• Supported formats: ePub, MOBI, AZW, TXT, CBR, CBZ, CBT, CB7, FB2, AZW3.

A new e-book reader that provides all the functions the user needs, but also has a nice and modern interface. Many page themes, and you can add your own. There is a built-in translator using Google Translate. Foliate works with laptop touchpads - you can flip through pages by sliding two fingers across the touchpad. Finally, here you can create notes by highlighting text in books and leaving your comments.

10. Okular

• Platform: Linux.
• Supported formats: G3, CHM, DDS, DjVu, DJV, EPS, EPSI, EPSF, EXR, FB2, GIF, XCF, HDR, PIC, JPEG, JPG, JPE, JP2, JPG2, MNG, MOBI, PRC, ODT, OKULAR, PBM, PCX, PDF, PGM, PNG, PPM, PS, PSD, RGB, TGA, ICB, TPIC, VDA, VST, TIF, TIFF, DVI, WWF, BMP, DIB, ICO, XBM, XPM, OXPS, XPS, CBZ, CB7, CBR, CBT, ePub, DOC.

If you are using the KDE graphical environment, then you do not need to install anything - the cool Okular reader is already on your computer. This program is used as a file viewer and opens not only all popular e-book formats, but also PDF, images, and documents.

In the presence of many settings for the appearance of pages, the ability to comment and highlight fragments of text, several options for scrolling files and other functions. Okular can be installed in any graphical environment - the program is in the repositories of most popular distributions.

The text of the article was last updated on March 17, 2021.