EPUB to TXT uses our document engine, so the output is a plain reading-order transcript rather than a zipped ebook package.
From real runs
| Element | Result | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Reading order | Kept | Our document engine followed the EPUB spine, placing the title page and table of contents before Chapter One in the rich fixture. |
| Images | Changed | The embedded PNG became the bracketed alt text Tiny checker because TXT cannot carry image bytes. |
| Tables | Changed | Tables were flattened into aligned plain text columns, which stayed readable but lost cell boundaries as data. |
| Footnotes | Kept | The Markdown footnote became a numbered plain-text note after the chapter body. |
| Emphasis | Lost | Italic and bold styling were stripped, leaving only the emphasized words in ordinary text. |
| Metadata | Lost | Title and author did not remain as machine-readable fields; only visible title text appeared in the transcript. |
Our document engine followed the EPUB spine, placing the title page and table of contents before Chapter One in the rich fixture.
The embedded PNG became the bracketed alt text Tiny checker because TXT cannot carry image bytes.
Tables were flattened into aligned plain text columns, which stayed readable but lost cell boundaries as data.
The Markdown footnote became a numbered plain-text note after the chapter body.
Italic and bold styling were stripped, leaving only the emphasized words in ordinary text.
Title and author did not remain as machine-readable fields; only visible title text appeared in the transcript.
We converted our EPUB sample (5 KB) with Document engine on 2026-09-11. It took 15 ms and produced a 515 B Plain text file, 91% smaller than the input. The engine raised no warnings.
Input · sample.epub · 5 KB
EPUB 3.0: 3 content documents, 0 images, EPUB 3 nav, no cover
Output · sample.txt · 515 B
13 non-empty lines, 73 words
First lines of the output
Feedback Atlas — Q3 activity trail
Prepared for: Board of Directors · 12 Sep 2026
Headline numbers
Metric Q2 Q3
----------------------- ------- -------
ARR $4.1M $4.9M
Net revenue retention 108% 113%
What went well
- Enterprise pipeline doubled after the SOC 2 report shipped.
- Support CSAT held at 94% while ticket volume rose 31%.
Two renewals slipped into October. Owner: VP Sales.
…Pandoc
pandoc in.epub -t plain -o out.txtPlain text is good for indexing and review, but it discards visual emphasis, image files, and EPUB navigation assets.
The HTTP API and the MCP server run the exact engine this page uses (Document engine); the response carries the same warnings the web converter shows. Check support first with GET /api/v1/pairs?from=epub&to=txt.
curl -X POST https://filetypeconverters.com/api/v1/convert \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FTC_API_KEY" \
-F "file=@input.epub" -F "from=epub" -F "to=txt" \
--output output.txtYes, when the headings are real EPUB headings. In our run, Chapter One and Chapter Two remained as plain lines, but they no longer carried heading levels.
TXT cannot store images. Our document engine wrote the image alt text in brackets, which is useful for review but not a replacement for the original media file.
The rich sample kept the footnote as a numbered note after the paragraph content. Cross-reference behavior is gone because plain text has no link target model.