What is Internet Archive? It's one of those most famous digital online library, and it contains 4.6 million eBooks(from public domain) we can access and download for free. Today I will introduce how to download Internet Archive books to ePub or PDF format for offline reading or non-profit sharing.
Download Borrowed Books from Archive org (Official)
Internet Archive allows us to borrwn books for free, but only for a limited time, 1-hour or a longer 14-day. The good news is that we can download one book from archive org if the book offers a 14-day loan.
Here are step-by-step instructions on how to download borrowed books from Internet Archive for free.
Step1. Get set up to borrow book through archive org.
Firstly, visit archive.org and hover the "books" icon. Then, select "Books to Borrow".
Or you can also go straight to the Archive inLibrary page to access the Archive eBooks library.
- Internet Archive is an online library which requires registration. If you don't own an account, create or register one first.
- You can also select the "Open Library" to borrow books, because the Open Library is part of the Internet Archive.
Then, input the keyword or book title to search bar. It lists multiple results, choose the one that you want to get.
Step2. Borrow book for 14 days.
If you see "Borrow Unavailable" or "Borrow for one hour", you will see "DOWNLOAD OPTIONS: No suitable files to display here". That means you can't download the file.
To determine if downloading is available you first need to check to see if a book can be "Borrow for 14 days".
After you clicking on "Borrow for 14 days" button, soon you will see a red button says "Rerurn now".
Step 3. Download the book to ePub or PDF.
If an item is downloadable, there will a DOWNLOAD OPTIONS box on the right of the page.
You can choose either format to download it offline, Adobe ePub or PDF, LCP PDF or ePub.
By default, the downloaded file will be in acsm format. You should use the Adobe Digital Editions and authorize it with the same Adobe ID to open the acsm format book.
Once you opened the book via Adobe Digital Editions, the acsm file will be turned to PDF or EPUB format(depended on the download option you choose at Archive org).
You can also find the output folder by right clicking on the book cover and selecting the "Show Fire in Explorer".
Now you've downloaded your Internet Archive books offline, you can read and enjoy it on supported devices before it expires.
Summary Tips
1. Some formats may not be available for some books.
2. Not all files are downloadable.
3. The downloaded files are Adobe DRM or LCP DRM protected, you must use the ADE or LCP compliant software to open them.
4. You can borrow books for 2 weekly, and your items will be automatically returned when they expire.
5. You are not able to download those books at archive if they are "borrow for 1 hour" or "Print Disabilities".
Download Books from the Open Library
The Open Library is a project of Internet Archive, and it also provides millions of eBooks to borrow and read.
Case 1. Download Borrowed Books from Open Library
Click on the "Borrow" button, then the book will be readable online for one hour, because the default loan duration is one hour only.
To enable the Openlibrary.org offline download feature, you should exchange the borrow option to the "Borrow for 14 days".
Then you will see the Download option, download the acsm and open it via Adobe Digital Editions. The steps are nearly the same as what I introduce at part 1.
Case 2. Read Books Online and download DRM free files
You will also notice that there are some books are listed "Read", and after you click on "Read" button, you will find that there are multiple download options for us. For example, ePub, PDF, Kindle, torrent, TXT, Scribe scanndate zip, etc..
Different from those borrowed books, these types of books provided for us can be viewed online without page limits. What's more, the downloaded file we get will be DRM free, no need to use the ADE to authorize our files and devices.
- To download the file, you should have one account first. Of course, you can log in to Open Library with your existing account of Internet Archive.
- Not all of the downloaded option works. When you see error messages when downloading, choose another download option, please. I recommend you try to download the PDF format for that book.
Download 1 hour borrowed book from Internet Archive? Yes!
Is it possible to download those 1-hour rented books from Internet Archive? Yes, there are 2 available methods you can give them a trial.
Step 1. Ensure you've downloaded and authorized the ADE.
Step 2. Borrow the book for 1-hour.
Step 3. Copy the book's Identifier to the following link.
This step is used for creating the ACSM format file downloading link for the book you've borrowed.
Step 4. Open the ACSM via ADE.
I also find a Chrome extension named Internet Archive Downloader, you can also get a trial. It downloads books from archive.org as PDF format. After you borrow the book (for either 1 hour or 14-days), you will see two new buttons: "Quality" and "Download". They appear under the book reading window, click on the "Download" button please.
Tips: Above methods will only help download these types of files in PDF format. And after you download them well, don't forget to return them so that more people could loan from Internet Archive.
Is it possible to get rid of the DRM limitation after I borrow the book?
A: Since you've downloaded the borrowed books (borrowed for either 1-hour or 14-day) via the Adobe Digital Editions, you can try some tools to help dedrm from them, for example, Calibre or Epubor Ultimate, to help you get rid of the limits, and then you can backup them to your local drive.
DON'T share it with the public, for example, don't upload to the Internet Archive or other digital libraries again. You can download and backup them for offline reading and other personal use. And I can't promise that this tool 100% works. Try it first.
Frequently Asked Questions Q1: How to return a borrowed book before it expires?
A: You can return the book via Adobe Digital Editions. Right-click the book cover(find the book under "Borrowed" bookshelf) and select "Return Borrowed Item", return it.
Or you can also return it directly via browser, visit the "my loans" library, select the book you don't want to read and then "Return now".
The return book option is not available for mobile devices.
Q2: What are the differences between the Internet Archive ePub and PDF? Which format should I choose?
PDF files contain high quality images of pages, while ePub files are smaller in size, but may contain errors. Actually, I personally prefer the PDF format. However, if you want, you can choose both, and compare the quality or reading experience.
Q3: Must I use the ADE to download the borrowed Internet Archive books?
I highly recommend you use the ADE to download books in Adobe format to your computer. But you can also try to use the LCP enabled readers/apps, for example, Tolino, Thorium Reader, MLOL, Vivlio, etc..
Q4: Could I download Kindle format books from Internet Archive?
You are not allowed to borrow kindle format books from Internet Archive, it means you could not download kindle files from here. But you can search books from Open Library "Read" category and try to find the kindle format one(if provided).
Angel Dan has covered software online marketing for more than 10 years. She joined Epubor since 2013, covering content writing, affiliate marketing, global brand expansion, video marketing, and business development.
