---
id: ebooklib
version: "0.20"
license: GNU Affero General Public License
license_treatment: agpl
maintenance: active
---

# EbookLib — Ebook library which can handle EPUB2/EPUB3 format

License: agpl · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 1.3M/mo

## What it is and what it does

EbookLib is a Python library for reading and writing EPUB2 and EPUB3 e-book files. It provides a straightforward API to parse EPUB archives, extract content (text, images, metadata), and programmatically construct new e-books from scratch. The library handles the underlying XML structure and ZIP packaging that EPUB files use, exposing a higher-level interface for chapters, metadata, covers, tables of contents, and styling.

The package depends on lxml for XML processing and six for Python 2/3 compatibility (though version 0.20 is the final release supporting Python 2.7). It is actively maintained, supports modern Python versions (3.9–3.13), and is used in production by several open-source projects including Booktype, Marker, and Telemeta. The API is designed to handle both simple operations and complex e-book structures.

Use it for:

- Extract all images and text from an existing EPUB file for processing or conversion to another format.
- Programmatically generate EPUB e-books from structured data (e.g., converting Markdown or HTML content into a publishable e-book).
- Modify e-book metadata, add chapters, or rebuild the table of contents in an existing EPUB file.
- Build e-book generation pipelines that produce EPUB output as part of a larger publishing workflow.
- Parse and validate EPUB file structure for quality assurance or compliance checking.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

EbookLib reads and writes EPUB2/EPUB3 files programmatically, allowing you to extract, modify, and create e-book content with support for metadata, covers, tables of contents, and multimedia.

Yes. EbookLib is a mature, actively maintained library with low install friction, no known vulnerabilities, and a clear use case for anyone working with EPUB files programmatically. The AGPL license is a significant consideration for proprietary projects, but poses no barrier for open-source work. Install it if you need to read, write, or manipulate EPUB files in Python.

## Install

pip install ebooklib
uv add ebooklib
poetry add ebooklib

## Installing EbookLib

Before you install: Low install friction with only two runtime dependencies (lxml and six). The project is actively maintained with a recent commit on 2026-07-27 and 1802 repository stars. Version 0.20 is marked as the final release supporting Python 2.7; future versions will drop legacy support.

License in practice: Licensed under AGPL, which requires that any modifications or derivative works using this library must also be released under AGPL. This is a copyleft license with stronger obligations than permissive licenses—suitable for open-source projects but may conflict with proprietary software licensing strategies.

Quickstart:

from ebooklib import epub

# Read an EPUB file
book = epub.read_epub('test.epub')
for image in book.get_items_of_type(ebooklib.ITEM_IMAGE):
    print(image.get_name())

# Write an EPUB file
book = epub.EpubBook()
book.set_title('My Book')
epub.write_epub('output.epub', book)

Verify before relying:

- Whether the library handles all EPUB3 optional features (e.g., fixed layouts, media overlays, embedded fonts).
- Performance characteristics when processing large EPUB files or batch operations.
- Compatibility with non-standard or corrupted EPUB files in the wild.

## Package facts

- License: GNU Affero General Public License (agpl)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 1.3M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

read write epub files python, epub parser library, ebook format handling, epub2 epub3 support, programmatic ebook creation, extract epub content, ebook metadata management, epub-handling, ebook-generation

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