How to Remove DRM from Kindle Books

The Kindle books that you buy from Amazon are DRM-protected meaning you can only read them on a Kindle Reader or an official Kindle App. It is not possible to read your purchased Kindle books in other ebook readers like the Nook.

Amazon has these DRM based copy-protection measures in place to protect Kindle ebooks against online piracy but, as a consumer, the DRM scheme does limit your options.

For instance, you cannot create backups of Kindle ebooks that you already own and second, you cannot convert DRM protected books into other ebook formats like EPUB or PDF that can be read in other non-Amazon apps.

Remove DRM from Kindle Book Strip DRM from Kindle ebooks and convert them to other formats like EPUB or PDF

Remove DRM from Kindle eBooks

Whether removing DRM is legal or not is a debatable topic, there are simple ways by which anyone can bypass DRM from Kindle eBooks. Google for “Kindle DRM Removal Tools” and you’ll find several paid options that allow you to remove DRM from ebooks with a click.

Alternatively, you can strip DRM using free tools as well as detailed below:

  1. Download and install the free Kindle for PC software onyour Windows computer.
  2. Open the Kindle for PC app and sign-in using your Amazon Account that you use to purchase and downloadKindle ebooks. Download the books that you are looking to convert to other formats.
  3. Download and install the free Calibre software.
  4. Download tools.zip and extract the contents of this file on to your desktop.
  5. Launch Calibre and press Ctrl+P to open the Preference window. Choose Plugin under the Advanced group and then choose Load Plugin from File.
  6. Browse to the folder where you extracted the tools.zip file and, under CalibrePlugin, choose the _K4MobiDeDRM_plugin.zip file.
  7. Accept the security risk and the Kindle DRM plugin is now installed inside Calibre. Restart thesoftware.
  8. Open the My Documents folder in Windows Explorer and switch to the folder that says My Kindle Content.You’ll find a bunch of *.AZW files here that are actually DRM protected Kindle ebooks.
  9. Drag and drop any of these AZW file into the Calibre window and then choose the Convert Books option.Select a different output format - like MOBI, EPUB or PDF - and click OK to begin the conversion process.

Once the AZW ebook has been successfully converted, you can find the exported file inside your Calibre library. The DRM protection has finally been stripped from your Kindle ebook.

Amit Agarwal

Amit Agarwal

Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud Champion

Amit Agarwal is a Google Developer Expert in Google Workspace and Google Apps Script. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (I.I.T.) and is the first professional blogger in India.

Amit has developed several popular Google add-ons including Mail Merge for Gmail and Document Studio. Read more on Lifehacker and YourStory

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