Contents

• Before you start
• Audio Requirements
• Video Requirements
• File Requirements
• Navigation Guidelines
• Text Guidelines
• Image Guidelines
• Audio and Video Guidelines
• Custom Sample File Required

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Before you start

• Supported devices. Kindle Edition with Audio/Video content is available on Fire tablets (2nd generation and later), iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Audio and video content is not supported on Kindle E-reader devices (customers can read the book, but any audio or video is replaced with a message that it is not supported on this device).
• KF8 features. KF8 features aren't currently supported in Kindle Edition with Audio/Video content (see text and image guidelines). The file delivered to Amazon should be a Mobi 7 EPUB with self-contained audio and video or a Mobi 7 PRC file with self-contained audio and video. Publishers should use the latest version of KindleGen to create a PRC file.
• Kindle Direct Publishing. KDP doesn't currently accept Kindle Edition with Audio/Video content. This format does not currently support Enhanced Typesetting.
• Audio or video books with embedded audio. Amazon doesn't currently accept any audio or video books with embedded audio that acts as read-along content, which is defined as someone reading the full text or multiple pages of text from the book in either audio or video format.
• Testing. When testing Kindle Edition with Audio/Video content, the audio and video cannot be previewed on Kindle Previewer or on Kindle devices and applications. To add audio and/or video content to your Kindle book, follow the guidelines and examples on this page.

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Audio Requirements

Amazon recommends using stereo channels in the MP3 source where possible, because Kindle supports playing back audio in stereo. Use as high a bit rate as you need to hear the audio content appropriately; this is a judgment call. For good results, consider bit rates between 128 kbps and 256 kbps (kilobits per second). The maximum supported by Kindle is 320 kbps at variable bit rate.

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Video Requirements

Since audio content can be part of the video content, Amazon recommends using stereo channels in your audio source where possible. Kindle supports playing back audio in stereo.

This is the ideal source spec:

Attribute	Setting
Dimensions	Widescreen: 704 x 396 (or any other widescreen ratio); Fullscreen: 640 x 480
Interlacing	Progressive
Color Space	4:2:0 YUV
Video Codec	H.264 (recommended), MPEG-2
Video Mode	VBR (recommended) or CBR
Video Bit Rate	2500 kbps or higher recommended
Key Frame Interval	2 or 4 seconds recommended
Audio Codec	MP3
Audio Bit Rate	256 kbps or higher recommended
Audio Sample Rate	48 kHz (recommended), 44.1 kHz

The following container formats are acceptable:

Container	File Extensions	Mime Type	RFC
MP4	.mp4	video/h264	RFC3984
MPEG-2 video file	.mpg, .mpeg	video/mpeg	RFC2045, RFC2046
MPEG-2 program stream	.ps	video/mp2p	RFC3555
Container	File Extensions	Mime Type	RFC
MPEG-2 transport stream	.ts	video/mp2t	RFC3555

Will not work: Any other video codec (such as Windows Media, Apple ProRes), AC3 audio, audio >2 channels.

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File Requirements

Multimedia Directory

When adding audio and video files to an eBook, create an "audiovideo" directory for storing these files. When referring to the audio or video file, include the directory name (Example: "audiovideo/filename") in the HTML.

Confirm Correct Mime-Type

When specifying video and audio files in the OPF, make sure that they have the correct mime-types, depending on the extensions used. (Example: MP4 video files should have a mime-type of "video/mp4" and not "audio/mpeg")

File Size

Limit the combined file sizes of all audio and video files to 600 MB or less for each title. If the files are larger than 600 MB, manually transcode them to reduce the file size(s). Limit the number of individual audio and video files within each title to 1,000 or fewer.

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Navigation Guidelines

Including an Audio and Video TOC

All Kindle Edition with Audio/Video content must have a TOC that begins with "List of Audio and Video." This line should be bold. On the next line, begin an indented list of hyperlinks to each audio and video file. The text of the link should include the file description, with the file duration in parentheses.

Use these guidelines for all audio and video files longer than 10 seconds that a user might want to see listed. See general navigation and TOC guidance.

Here is an example of how the code below would display in the TOC:

List of Audio and Video

This is my video (5:01)

This is my audio (1:10)

This is the corresponding code for the example above:

<video id="video_1" src=" audiovideo//movie.mp4" controls poster="start.jpg" title="This is my video (5:01)"> <br/><br/><br/>"There is video content at this location that is not currently supported for your device. The caption for this content is displayed below."<br/><br/><br/> </video> <br>This is my video (5:01)</br> <audio id="audio_1" src=" audiovideo//audio.mp3" controls title="This is my audio (1:10)"> <br/><br/><br/>"There is audio content at this location that is not currently supported for your device. The caption for this content is displayed below." <br/><br/><br/> </audio> <strong>This is my audio (1:10)</strong>

Including Audio and Video Assets in NCX File

When creating eBooks with audio and video content, Amazon recommends the creation of an NCX file that points to the audio and video assets. This file should list all video and audio files in reading order, with links to where they occur in the book. For descriptions of the audio and video files, reuse the same audio and video metadata. (Example: A link to the video clip in section 13.7.3 would say "How to create Kindle content (5:01)".) This information should be embedded in the NavList portion of the NCX file.

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Text Guidelines

KF8 features are not currently supported in Kindle Edition with Audio/Video content. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Borders
• Drop caps
• Drop shadow
• Embedded fonts
• Floating elements
• Nested tables and merged cells

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Image Guidelines

KF8 features are not currently supported in Kindle Edition with Audio/Video content. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Background images
• Floating images
• Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)

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Audio and Video Guidelines

Adding Audio

Streaming audio is not supported at this time. Use embedded audio instead.

To embed an audio file inside a Kindle book, add a standard HTML 5 tag such as the following:

Example:

<audio id="audio_1" src="audio.mp3" controls title="Audio about ..."> <br/><br/><br/>"There is audio content at this location that is not currently supported for your device. The caption for this content is displayed below."<br/><br/><br/> </audio>

• src tag: (Required) Identifies the embedded audio file, which must be in MP3 format.
• title tag: (Optional) Identifies the description of the audio.
• controls tag: (Required, unless you provide an image for use in starting the video playback) Tells the Kindle application to display controls for the embedded audio.
• text content: (Required) Devices that do not support audio content display the text between the <audio> and </audio> tags. If users view this eBook on a device that does not support audio, they see this text instead. (Example: "There is content at this location that is not currently supported for your device. The caption for this content is displayed below.")  id tag: (Optional) Must be unique to the document if it is used.

Adding Video

Streaming video is not supported at this time. Use embedded video instead.

To embed a video inside a Kindle book, add a standard HTML 5 tag such as the following:

Example:

<video id="video_1" src="movie.mp4" controls poster="start.jpg" title="Video about ..."> <br/><br/><br/>"There is video content at this location that is not currently supported for your device. The caption for this content is displayed below."<br/><br/><br/> </video>

• src tag: (Required) Identifies the embedded video file.
• title tag: (Required) Identifies the description of the video.
• poster tag: (Required) Identifies the placeholder image file. Users see the placeholder in the eBook before the video is played. The placeholder could be the first frame of the video or a representative frame, depending on your preference. (If this file is not specified, the video will not play.)
• controls tag: (Required, unless you provide an image for use in starting the video playback) Tells the Kindle application to display controls for the embedded video.

  Note: The Kindle application may render a play button on top of the poster frame. It appears in the middle of the frame.

• text content: (Required) Devices that do not support video content display the text between the <video> and </video> tags. If users view this eBook on a device that does not support video, they see this text instead. (Example: "There is content at this location that is not currently supported for your device. The caption for this content is displayed below.")  id tag: (Optional) Must be unique to the document if it is used.
• id tag: (Optional) Must be unique to the document if it is used.

Audio and Video Metadata Required

Amazon recommends that publishers (or their conversion houses) provide a description of the audio and video file and the duration of the file in minutes and seconds in the HTML immediately after the audio and video file is specified.

Example:

<p align="center" style="text-indent:0px"> <video id="video_1" src="movie.mp4" controls poster="start.jpg" title="How to create Kindle content (5:01)"> <br/><br/><br/>"There is video content at this location that is not currently supported for your device. The caption for this content is displayed below."<br/><br/><br/> </video> <strong>How to create Kindle content (5:01)</strong> </p>

Providing Descriptive Media Captions

Media captions describe the audio and video files to the user. Here are some general guidelines:

• Captions should not be generic. They should describe the media content they are referencing. These media captions aren't a good user experience:
  1. Media 1
  2. Track 1
  3. Audio 1
  4. Video 1
  These media captions describe the content:
  1. Introduction by the Author
  2. The Making of the Movie

• Media captions can't include file extensions (.mp3, .mp4, etc.).

Adding Images with Play Controls

It is possible to tag images so that they can be played by clicking on them. The minimum pixel width and height for such images is 45 pixels by 45 pixels.

To add play controls to the image, superimpose the Amazon PLAY icon onto the lower right-hand side of any image via Adobe Photoshop or similar program. Then add the following tag to the HTML (in this example, the audio file has an id attribute of "audio1" and no controls tag):

Example:

<a onclick="play(this);" data-AmznAudioTag="audio1"><img src="play.jpg"/></a>

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Custom Sample File Required

Amazon requires that publishers create and supply a custom sample for each Kindle Edition with Audio/Video. The sample file should include a full TOC and an audio/video list, with live links to only the content in the sample file.

The sample file should include at least one of each type of media available in the full file, including both audio and video, if applicable.

The sample file must have a "Buy It Now" link added to the end, or where appropriate.