If you’ve ever wanted to embed an EPUB ebook directly into a WordPress post — with a real reader interface, not just a download link — you know how few good options exist. Most solutions are either paid SaaS widgets, abandoned plugins from 2017, or require sending your content to third-party servers.
Superior e-pub Viewer is different. It’s a free, open-source WordPress plugin that renders EPUBs right in the browser using epub.js, entirely self-hosted. No external services. No API keys. No subscriptions. Just upload your EPUB and embed it.
Latest Release : https://github.com/emperorkk/WP-epub-viewer/releases/tag/2.0.0
What It Does
Drop an EPUB viewer anywhere on your site using a Gutenberg block, an Elementor widget, or the classic No EPUB source provided.
- Page-by-page navigation with swipe support on touch devices
- 10 built-in skins — from Ocean Breeze and Royal Gold to Midnight and Charcoal — switchable at runtime by the reader
- Table of Contents sidebar with smart chapter navigation
- Full-text search across the entire book with precise jump-to-result
- Bookmarking with auto-save for logged-in users (AJAX) and localStorage fallback for guests
- Reading progress that persists across sessions — pick up where you left off
- Font size controls (A+/A-) that scale all text proportionally, even in complex EPUB layouts
- Text color cycling — Auto, White, Black, Teal, Red, Green — for readers who want to customize contrast
- Fullscreen mode for distraction-free reading
- Multiple viewers per page — embed several books on the same post
How to Use It
Shortcode (works everywhere):
[epub_viewer src="https://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/book.epub" skin="royal-gold" height="700px"]
Gutenberg Block: Search for “EPUB Viewer” in the block inserter. Set the source URL, pick a skin, adjust dimensions.
Elementor Widget: Drag the Superior e-pub Viewer widget into your layout. Configure via the sidebar panel.
You can also pass a WordPress Media Library attachment ID as the src instead of a URL.
10 Skins for Every Aesthetic
Every skin defines its own color palette for the toolbar, reader background, panels, and borders:
- Ocean Breeze — Teal & blue, light and fresh
- Royal Gold — Gold on black, elegant and bold
- Berry Bloom — Pink & purple, vibrant
- Midnight — Dark navy & silver, easy on the eyes at night
- Forest — Dark green & cream, warm and natural
- Sunset — Orange & dark red, warm tones
- Arctic — White & ice blue, minimal and clean
- Charcoal — Dark gray & amber, modern dark mode
- Lavender Dream — Lavender & soft white, gentle
- Classic — Black & white, timeless
Readers can switch skins at any time using the dropdown in the toolbar. The skin’s colors are automatically injected into the EPUB’s iframe — including background and text color — so the reading experience is consistent regardless of the book’s own stylesheet.
Under the Hood
Superior e-pub Viewer is built on epub.js v0.3.93 (self-hosted, with patches for Firefox CSS parsing compatibility) and JSZip 3.10.1. The plugin:
- Renders EPUBs inside an iframe via epub.js, with CSS injection for skin theming
- Generates reading locations for percentage-based progress tracking
- Saves bookmarks and reading position via WordPress AJAX (for logged-in users) with localStorage fallback
- Handles single-spine EPUBs (one big HTML file) with CFI-based search and TOC navigation
- Is fully self-contained — no CDN dependencies for the core reader (JSZip is CDN-loaded for performance but can be self-hosted)
Requirements
- WordPress 5.8+
- PHP 7.4+
- A modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)
Get It
Superior e-pub Viewer is open source and free under the GPL-2.0 license.
GitHub: github.com/emperorkk/wp-epub-viewer
Upload the ZIP through your WordPress admin, activate, and start embedding books. It’s that simple.
Latest Release : https://github.com/emperorkk/WP-epub-viewer/releases/tag/2.0.0
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