EPUB Metadata Checker
Free tool — no sign-up, nothing uploaded
Free EPUB Metadata Checker: Find Missing Metadata in Your eBook
See exactly which details your EPUB contains and which are missing: title, author, ISBN, publisher, cover, table of contents, NCX, start reading location and accessibility. Results in about a second, and your file is read inside your browser, never uploaded.
How to Check Your EPUB Metadata
- Choose your EPUB. Drop the file on the box above or click Choose EPUB file.
- Review each section. Required items must be present for a valid EPUB. Recommended items are what readers and reading apps expect. Book information matches what Kindle Previewer shows. Accessibility describes how readers with disabilities can use the book.
- Compare with your store listings. Make sure the title and the author’s name are spelled exactly as in your KDP, Apple Books, Kobo or IngramSpark listing.
- Fix the gaps, then run the full check. Add the missing details, then run the file through our EPUB Validator to check everything else.
What the EPUB Metadata Checker Looks For
The checks follow the EPUB 3.3 and EPUB Accessibility 1.1 specifications, and also work on older EPUB 2 files.
Required
- Title (and whether it looks like a file name)
- Language, as a standard code such as en or en-GB
- A unique identifier
- Last modified date (EPUB 3)
Recommended
- Author
- Publisher
- Publication date
- Rights statement
- ISBN, with its check digit verified
Book information
- Cover
- Table of contents
- NCX
- Start reading location
The same items Kindle Previewer lists under Book Information.
Accessibility
- Access mode and sufficient access mode
- Accessibility features
- Accessibility hazards
- Accessibility summary
- Conformance statement
Why EPUB Metadata Matters
Your store listings come from the details you enter in each store’s dashboard. The metadata inside the EPUB is what reading apps see: it sets the title and author in the reader’s library, how the book is sorted, the cover thumbnail and the book’s details screen. Some retailers, including Apple Books, may also query an upload when the file and the listing don’t match.
Accessibility metadata is becoming essential. Under the European Accessibility Act, in force since 28 June 2025, eBooks sold to readers in the EU are expected to describe their accessibility (very small publishers may be exempt). Apple Books and Kobo also show this information to readers.
Signs of Automated Conversion
The checker also reads the book’s content files and tells you which tool made the EPUB, if the file records it, and counts the code patterns automated converters leave behind: inline styles, empty tags, Calibre classes, Word styles, fixed font sizes, and spaces or line breaks used for layout.
Missing metadata is easy to add. Messy code isn’t: if your book was formatted with an automated tool, we highly recommend formatting it from scratch, so it displays reliably on every device. We’ve hand-coded every eBook since 2008, in clean HTML and CSS.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. There’s no sign-up and no email required, and you can check as many files as you like.
No. The checker reads only the parts of the file it needs, inside your browser. Nothing is sent to our server.
Your Amazon listing uses the details you enter on the KDP Details page, not the file. The file’s metadata still matters for reading apps and for other stores, so keep the two consistent.
Not always. KDP doesn’t need one for eBooks, but some distributors, such as IngramSpark, do. If your file has an ISBN, the checker verifies its check digit, so a mistyped number is caught.
The EPUB doesn’t say where the book should open, so Kindle may open it at the cover or the first page instead of Chapter 1. It’s set with a landmarks entry marked bodymatter in an EPUB 3 navigation document, or a guide reference with type=”text” in EPUB 2. The checker shows it under Book information, together with the cover, table of contents and NCX.
Stores take your description, categories and keywords from what you enter in their dashboards, not from the file. The checker shows them, and the author sort name and series, for information, but doesn’t count them as missing.
If you sell eBooks to readers in the EU, the European Accessibility Act expects your books to describe their accessibility, unless your business is small enough to be exempt. Even when it isn’t required, it helps readers who use screen readers or large text decide whether the book will work for them.
Edit the EPUB’s package file (the .opf file), for example with Sigil’s metadata editor, then run the file through our EPUB Validator. Or let us complete it as part of an EPUB repair.
Let Us Complete Your Metadata, or Rebuild the Whole Book
We add missing metadata, fix EPUBCheck errors, or hand-code your book from scratch, and check every file before delivery.