Convert CBZ for your Kobo
Kobo readers open EPUB natively, and they're the manga community's favorite hardware for a reason: proper right-to-left support and great screens. Tanko converts your CBZ into a fixed-layout EPUB sized for your exact Kobo model, with manga reading order declared correctly so pages turn the right way.
Drop the file on the converter below, pick your Kobo, and copy the EPUB onto your device or into Calibre.
How to convert CBZ to Kobo EPUB and load it
- Select your Kobo in the profile menu. Clara BW and Clara 2E share a 1072x1448 panel, Libra 2 and Libra Colour are 1264x1680, and Elipsa 2E is 1404x1872. The Libra Colour profile keeps color; the others produce dithered grayscale.
- Confirm the reading direction. This page preselects right to left for manga. Switch to left to right for Western comics, or the pages will turn from the wrong edge.
- Convert and download. The EPUB is named after your CBZ and lands in your downloads folder. It is a plain .epub, not a .kepub.epub, and does not need renaming.
- Copy it to the Kobo over USB. Connect the reader, tap Connect on its screen, and copy the file to the root of the drive or any folder except the hidden .kobo folder. Eject, and the Kobo imports it as the cable comes out.
- Or use cloud sync on newer models. Kobos from the Libra 2 and Clara 2E onward can link a Dropbox or Google Drive account in the reader's settings; drop the EPUB in the linked folder and pull it down from the reader.
Kobo already opens CBZ files — so why convert
Kobo firmware includes a comic reader, and a CBZ copied over USB opens without any conversion. What it doesn't give you is reading-order control from the file itself: a plain CBZ carries no direction metadata, so a manga volume can page through from the wrong side, and double-page spreads are shown whole and small.
There is also the matter of what the reader has to do per page. A raw CBZ full of 2,500-pixel scans makes the Kobo decode and downscale each image as you turn to it, which shows up as slow page turns and a battery hit on long sessions. Pre-sized, pre-dithered pages at the panel's own resolution remove that work.
Converting to EPUB also gets you the levels correction and 16-level dithering that a raw scan never had. The trade-off is one extra step on the desktop, which is why tanko keeps it to a drag and a download.
Profiles for Kobos that are not in the list
The profile list covers the Clara BW and 2E, Libra 2, Libra Colour, and Elipsa 2E. The Sage is not there yet; its 1440x1920 panel is closest to the Elipsa 2E profile, and the reader scales the slightly smaller page to fit, which on a fixed-layout book is hard to notice.
The Clara Colour shares its 1072x1448 panel with the Clara BW, so the Clara BW profile gives the right page size but outputs grayscale — there is no color profile at that resolution yet. Older Kobos such as the Clara HD (1072x1448) and the Libra H2O (1264x1680) map onto the Clara and Libra 2 profiles directly, since only the panel size matters.
Whatever profile you choose, pages are only ever scaled down. If your source pages are smaller than the panel they are left alone and the Kobo centers them; picking a bigger profile does not add detail.
Frequently asked questions
- Does right-to-left reading work on Kobo?
- Yes — the EPUB declares right-to-left page progression, which Kobo firmware honors: the book opens from the correct side and page-turns flow like the original Japanese edition.
- Which Kobo models are supported?
- Clara BW and 2E, Libra 2, Libra Colour, and Elipsa 2E — each profile matches the panel's exact resolution.
- Can Kobo read CBZ files directly?
- Yes, current Kobos open CBZ and CBR archives copied over USB. Convert anyway when you need right-to-left page turns, split spreads, or pages that are already sized and dithered for the panel so page turns stay fast.
- Where do I put the EPUB on my Kobo?
- Anywhere on the drive that appears when you connect over USB — the root or a subfolder of your choosing. Avoid the hidden .kobo system folder. The reader scans for new books after you eject it and lists them in My Books.
- What size should comic pages be for a Kobo Libra?
- Libra 2 and Libra Colour both have 1264x1680 panels, so a portrait page at that size fills the screen edge to edge. The Libra profiles produce exactly that, and pages with a different aspect ratio are fitted inside those bounds with their proportions kept.
- Do my files get uploaded anywhere?
- No. Conversion runs entirely in your browser — the file never leaves your device. That's also why there are no size limits or queues.
- Is this really free?
- Yes. Single-file conversion with every device profile and every option is free, with no sign-up and no watermarks.