Taking your e-books with you: from Kindle to Calibre and your own book server

Getting your e-books out of the Amazon ecosystem is a matter of three steps: downloading, removing DRM, and importing into Calibre. After that, you set up your own server that makes your library available on every device in your home. This article explains how that works, for those switching to Linux or simply wanting to own their books instead of renting them.

Requirements

• A computer with Linux, Windows, or macOS — Calibre 7.x runs on all three.
• The Kindle desktop app (version 2.x) on Windows or macOS, signed in with your Amazon account.
• Your Kindle device with a USB cable, if you want to get books directly from the device.
• Calibre 7.x, installable via your package manager or the official site.
• The DeDRM plugin (version 10.0.x) for Calibre — only needed if you have books with DRM.

Step 1: Download your Kindle library

Open the Kindle desktop app and log in with your Amazon account. All your purchases appear in the library view. Select the books you want to transfer and choose to download to the device. The files end up in a local folder, usually under Documents\My Kindle Content on Windows or ~/Library/Application Support/Kindle on macOS.

The file formats are AZW3 or KFX, both protected with DRM. Without removing that protection, you can only read them on Amazon devices. That is exactly what you want to bypass.

Step 2: Install Calibre and the DeDRM plugin

Install Calibre via your package manager or the installer from the site:

sudo apt install calibre

The DeDRM plugin is not part of Calibre itself. Download the latest version from the DeDRM-tools GitHub repository and install the plugin via Preferences → Plugins → Load plugin from file. You need to extract the plugin from the zip file — Calibre does not accept a zip with multiple files.

The legal status of DRM circumvention varies by country. In the Netherlands, it usually falls under the exception for personal use, but Amazon's EULA technically prohibits it. Calibre itself offers no built-in DRM removal and strictly adheres to licensing rules. The choice is yours.

Step 3: Import your books into Calibre

Start Calibre and click on Add books. Navigate to the folder where your Kindle files are and select them. Calibre reads the metadata — title, author, cover, ISBN — and stores everything in a database file called metadata.db, which sits in the same folder as your library.

Without that file, Calibre does not know what is in your collection. It is the technical core of your e-books. Back it up, just like the books themselves.

Step 4: Convert to open formats

Calibre supports EPUB, MOBI, PDF, AZW3, and many other formats. Select a book and click on Convert books. Choose EPUB as the target format — that is the standard for almost all e-readers except older Kindles.

The conversion settings give you control over fonts, margins, and pagination. For older Kindle models, convert to MOBI; newer models read EPUB fine. You can always rerun the conversion later with different settings, so experimenting costs nothing.

Step 5: Turn on the Calibre Content Server

Calibre's built-in web server makes your library available via your local network. Go to Connect/share → Start content server or via Preferences → Sharing → Sharing over the net. The server runs on port 8080 and stays active as long as Calibre is open.

That is the limitation of this approach: for 24/7 access, Calibre needs to keep running. A separate solution like Calibre-Web on a Linux server or NAS is then better. That requires more setup, but runs independently of your desktop.

Step 6: Open your library on any device

Find your computer's IP address:

ip addr show

Open a browser on your phone, tablet, or laptop and go to http://192.168.1.2:8080/, with the IP address of your machine. You see your full library: search, filter by author or genre, read directly in the browser, or download. No app needed.

Your old Kindle can access it too. Open the browser on the Kindle, type the same address, and you browse your own collection. No Amazon account, no cloud, no license checks.

Step 7: Secure the server if you want to access it externally

The Content Server is meant for your local network. If you want to reach it from outside your home, you need to think about security. Every open port is a potential entry point. Use a password via Preferences → Sharing → Authentication, or enable HTTPS with a reverse proxy like Caddy or Nginx.

An alternative is a VPN to your home network, such as WireGuard. That takes some configuration, but you expose no port to the internet. For a few books, that might be overkill; for a library of a thousand titles, it is worth it.

Step 8: Expand with Calibre-Web on a server

Calibre-Web is a lightweight alternative that runs on a Raspberry Pi or NAS. It uses the same metadata.db and offers a more modern interface than the standard Content Server. You install it with Docker:

docker run -d \
  --name calibre-web \
  -p 8083:8083 \
  -v /path/to/calibre-library:/books \
  -v /path/to/calibre-data:/calibre-data \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  technosoft2000/calibre-web:latest

This setup runs 24/7 without your desktop needing to be on. It costs you a Docker installation and a few minutes of configuration, but then you have a real book server instead of an application that happens to have a server.

Verification

Check whether your library was imported correctly and the server is running:

# Check if the metadata database exists
ls -la /path/to/calibre-library/metadata.db

# Check if the Content Server is listening on port 8080
ss -tlnp | grep 8080

Then open http://localhost:8080/ in your browser. If you see your books, it works.

Common problems

The DeDRM plugin does not remove the DRM. Check whether you have downloaded the latest version of the plugin and whether the Kindle app has fully downloaded the books — a partial download looks like a valid file but does not contain the full content. Restart Calibre after installing the plugin.

The Content Server does not start. Port 8080 may already be in use by another application. Check with ss -tlnp | grep 8080 and change the port in Preferences → Sharing.

The Kindle cannot reach the server. Make sure both devices are on the same network and that your firewall does not block port 8080. Test first from another computer with curl http://192.168.1.2:8080/.

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The books are now on your own disk, in a format you control, with a server you run yourself. You can make backups, share with family without an Amazon account, and extend the system with Nextcloud or Jellyfin. What you do not have is automatic synchronization with Amazon's cloud — that service the company keeps exclusive to itself. You are no longer a user, but an administrator. And that means you have to take care of it yourself if something breaks.