Book file guidelines

Important:

• Google Play Partners can sell eBooks and audiobooks in certain countries/regions. The features described here aren't available in every country/region.
  • Due to regulatory requirements, Google can't offer pre-orders in India. Your book will be available in the Google Play Store in India on the release date.
• Pre-orders allow customers to order, but not read, your book before its release date. On the release date, customers who pre-ordered your book are charged for the purchase and they gain access to the book.
• Before you upload any files, make sure that your content meets Google's guidelines. If you plan to sell your books on Google Play, review our publisher content policies for books on Google Play.
• Analytics charts and sales transaction reports use the date the customer placed the pre-order, so that you can measure customer anticipation level. Revenue shown in such orders isn't paid to you until the book is released. For a financial report that matches your payment, go to Google Play earnings reports.

Audiobook file formats

Google accepts the following audiobook file formats:

• Audio files: .mp3, .aac, .flac, .wav, .zip and .lpf.
• Cover files: .jpg and .png.
• Supplemental PDF: .pdf.
• We also accept zip files that contain only the file formats listed above.

Size and quality limits

• The audiobook must be at least five minutes long.
• M4A with AAC encoding (CBR preferred), >128 kbps (mono) or >=256 kbps (stereo).
• MP3 (CBR preferred), >=128 kbps (mono) or >=256 kbps (stereo).
• FLAC, 16 bits/sample, >=44.1 kHz sampling rate.
• WAV PCM encoded, 16 bits/sample, >=44.1 kHz sampling rate.

Cover image requirements

• Accepted file types: .png, .jpg.
• Resolution: Minimum 72 DPI.
• Pixel height and width: Minimum 1,024 pixels; maximum 7,200 pixels.
• Proportions: Square cover images are recommended.

Supplemental material

Google will accept supplemental material that is meant to accompany the audio content as long as the supplemental material meets the requirements below:

• Must be a PDF file
• Non-PDF supplements aren’t supported
• One PDF file for each audiobook. Multi-file PDFs aren’t supported
• Under 100 MB in size

Audiobook filenames for bulk uploads

Audiobook file naming is only important when you upload audiobooks in bulk.

Submission	How to name the files	Example
Single audio file for an entire audiobook	ID_1of1.mp3 (Recommended) ID.mp3 (24-hour processing delay)	9783000422560_1of1.mp3 9783000422560.mp3
Multiple audio files for a single audiobook	ID_XofY.mp3 (Recommended) A single ZIP file that contains all audio files. The ZIP is named as ID.zip, and all audio files in the ZIP are in alphabetical order. Any other naming convention will result in a 24-hour processing delay while we wait to collect all your files.	9783000422560_1of2.mp3 9783000422560_2of2.mp3 9783000422560.zip disk_a.mp3 disk_b.mp3
Cover files	<ISBN>.jpg, <ISBN>_frontcover.jpg Front covers, back covers and interiors can be sent separately as JPEG or PNG files. TIFF files aren't supported.	9783000422560.jpg 9783000422560_frontcover.jpg
Supplemental PDFs	<ISBN>.pdf Supplemental material (.pdf only) can be provided separately or zipped together with audiobook content.	9783000422560.pdf

Ebook file formats

Google accepts the following file formats:

• Ebook content files: .epub, .pdf.
• Cover files: .jpeg, .png, .tiff, .pdf.
• We also accept zip files that contain only the file formats listed above.

We do not accept .doc, .html or any other file formats.

To sell your book on Google Play, you must provide your book content in either .epub or .pdf format. We recommend that you provide both file formats to give your readers more reading options.

• Learn more about .pdf file configuration.
• Learn more about .epub files.

Tip: Even if the cover image is embedded within the .epub or .pdf file, you can submit the cover image as a separate file. We use this file to display a thumbnail of the book cover.

Size and quality limits

• The book should be at least four pages long.
• Each file must be less than 2 GB. This limit includes cover image files.
• Cover files must have a minimum resolution of 640 pixels. The maximum height and width are 7,200 pixels.

Cover image requirements

Cover files should be in .jpeg, .pdf, .tiff or .png format and have the appropriate filename extension.

Format-specific guidelines

.pdf

The .pdf file must consist of the complete book or be one of a set of specially named multi-part files.  Do not upload sample content such as an excerpt. You can control the number of pages that a user can preview in your Google Search preview settings. The .pdf file can’t be password protected. Password-protected files can’t be processed. To automatically generate a table of contents, include bookmarks in the .pdf file.

.epub

The .epub file must contain the front cover image. The .epub file must include the complete book.  Do not upload sample content such as an excerpt. You can control the number of pages a user can preview in Book info Settings. The .epub file must be validated by EpubCheck.

Ebook filenames

Check the table below for example filenames, depending on how you plan to submit your files.

Which identifier to use

• If you upload a single book in the book's Content tab: You don't need to include the identifier in the filename. The filename extension is used to determine what kind of file you've uploaded.
• If your books already have unique identifiers such as an ISBN or a Google-assigned GGKEY: Use the filename conventions above, but replace ISBN with the book's actual identifier. The identifier is required for us to associate the file with the correct book. 
  • For GGKEY identifiers, you don't have to include the GGKEY: prefix.
  • For print and electronic ISBNs:
    • Name your .pdf files using the print ISBN. 
    • Name the .epub files using the electronic ISBN. Learn more about ISBNs.
• If your books don't have unique identifiers: You can use your own filenames. Use the filename conventions above, but replace ISBN with the text of your choice. Follow these guidelines when you create filenames:
  • Don’t use 10-digit or 13-digit numbers as these can be confused with ISBNs. 
  • Don’t use underscores(_) except as noted in the example filenames. For example: _interior or _frontcover.

Important: Incomplete sets of files can’t be processed. Learn more about files and uploading.

A single .pdf file that includes the cover	Content and cover ISBN.pdf
A .pdf file that doesn't contain covers. Cover images provided in separate files	Required: Content, no cover  ISBN_interior.pdf Front cover  ISBN_frontcover.jpg File extensions differ. .tiff, .pdf and .png are allowed. Optional: Important: If you submit optional files, submit them first. Back cover ISBN_backcover.jpg File extensions may differ. .tiff, .pdf and .png are allowed.
A book split into multiple .pdf files	Content and cover ISBN_1of3.pdf ISBN_2of3.pdf ISBN_3of3.pdf Numbering in filenames can vary based on the number of files.
An .epub file	Required: Content and cover ISBN.epub Optional: Front cover  ISBN_frontcover.jpg File extensions may differ. .tiff, .png and .pdf are allowed