Extract text from Apple Books files (IBOOKS)
To convert IBOOKS books to another format, you need Apple Books or other E-Book software.
To convert other file formats to the "Apple Multi-Touch Book" file type, you need software like Apple Books or a similar tool.
The .IBOOKS file format is a proprietary electronic book format created by Apple. It is designed primarily for rich, interactive, multi-touch books containing videos, galleries, and 3D objects. These files are typically built using the discontinued iBooks Author or Apple Pages.
Because the format is locked strictly to the Apple ecosystem, users typically open these files using Apple Books on macOS or iOS devices. This creates a major problem for users outside this ecosystem. If you do not own an Apple device, you cannot natively open, read, or edit an .IBOOKS file on Windows, Linux, or Android. Furthermore, you cannot transfer these files to standard e-readers like a Kindle.
To read the content on other devices, you must convert the .IBOOKS file to a universally supported format like EPUB or PDF. However, be aware that any interactive widgets, quizzes, or multimedia galleries will likely be lost or converted to static images during this process.
This format is notoriously difficult to convert because it relies on undocumented, proprietary CSS extensions and often includes Apple FairPlay DRM (Digital Rights Management). Standard online converters fail to process it because they cannot interpret these Apple-specific codes. However, under the hood, an .IBOOKS file is internally just a standard ZIP archive. Just drag and drop your file onto convert.guru to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. Even if full layout conversion fails due to proprietary formatting, our analysis detects the underlying archive and can help extract internal assets like text, video, and raw images.
Convert.Guru analyzes your IBOOKS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted EPUB, ZIP, BCCK, BUNDLE and PDF files.
If you want to convert IBOOKS file to PDF, EPUB, MOBI, AZW, AZW3, KFX, PRC, LIT, OPF, CBZ, CBR or CB7, you can use Apple Books or similar software from the "Interactive Multi-Touch eBook" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert FB2, MOBI, CBT, RTF, CB7, DOCX, DJVU, AZW, CBA, PDF, DOC or EPUB files to IBOOKS, try Apple Books or another comparable tool in the "Interactive Multi-Touch eBook" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our IBOOKS converter.