eReader Aspect Ratios – Kindles, Nooks, iPads, tablets, phones, and more

eReader devices, which include Kindles, Nooks, iPads, tablets and phones from various manufacturers, and more, have many different aspect ratios. Being aware of these differences is critically important to the design process of many types of eBooks, as well as eBook cover design. Over the years I have converted many books with “irregular” covers—for example, square covers, extra tall covers, landscape covers, etc. For reflowable^* eBooks, these covers should generally be converted to a portrait-oriented design, especially if the book is intended to be published for Kindles.

The chart below lists the aspect ratios of some typical eBook readers released since 2011, as well as how they correspond to common print-on-demand sizes. (Note that the word “Kindle” is appended to some “Fire” devices that are officially just named “Fire”)

^* Reflowable books are books whose pagination changes depending on the device on which they are displayed. This is in contrast to “fixed layout” books, which act more like standard PDFs, in that what you design is exactly what you see. Most “standard” eBooks are reflowable.