What is .lcpl file? I just downloaded a book in .lcpl format and I want to read i on my Kindle. Is there any solution?
Since the new DRM type, Readium LCP DRM is adopted by an increasing number of ebook sellers, it is possible that you may download your books in .lcpl format. What exactly is an .lcpl file? How to open .lcpl? How to convert .lcpl files to PDF or ePub format? Furthermore, how to read .lcpl files on Kindle device? Continue reading to find the answers to your questions.
Part 1. What is .lcpl file?
Frequently Asked Questions about .lcpl and LCPQ: What is .lcpl file?
A: The LCPL file serves as a Readium License Document, which is a component of Readium—an open-source reference system and rendering engine designed for EPUB publications. Just like .acsm file, it is not a real content, but the link to download the real ebook content.
Q: What is Readium LCP DRM?
A: LCP, an acronym for "Licensed Content Protection," represents a Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology that has been specifically developed by the publishing industry. It is a vendor-neutral, interoperable and distributed DRM solution, created and promoted by Readium members and managed by EDRLab. It is a modern rights management solution based on passphrases, providing support for various business models such as library lending and bookstore sales.
Readium LCP DRM is an innovative rights management solution that operates on the basis of passphrases. The books with .lcpl extension only can be opened with the Readium LCP cooperated apps and devices. Meanwhile, the downloaded epub and pdf files are encrypted with Readium LCP DRM.
Part 2. Can I read LCP books on Kindle?
The ebooks and audiobooks are with .lcpl extension are now protected by Readium LCP DRM and accessed via LCP compliant reading apps.
| Readium LCP | LCP PC/Mac App | LCP Compliant eInk readers / apps | LCP Adopters |
|---|---|---|---|
| eBook Distributors/Adopters |
|
|
|
However, it's important to note that Kindle devices do not inherently support the ePub format or LCP DRM-protected files. Consequently, it is not possible to read LCP DRM books on Kindle device.
If you convert your Readium LCP books to DRM-free ePub or AZW3 formats, you will be able to effortlessly send drm-free epub to kindle via "Send to kindle" or transfer AZW3 to your Kindle eReader via usb cable.
In the following part, I will show you how to convert lcpl to pdf/epub format and remove drm. Once you obtain the drm-free pdf or epub files, you can transfer them to your kindle with ease.
Part 3. How to convert .lcpl to pdf or epub format?
Note: If you want to remove drm from .lcpl files, you can download the .lcpl within the Calibre directly. In this case, you can skip this step and proceed directly to part 4.
As we mentioned earlier, .lcpl does not contain the actual content. How to convert .lcpl to PDF or ePub format?
When you purchase books from a bookstore that implements Readium LCP DRM, you typically receive downloads in either .lcpl, ePub, or PDF formats. It is preferable to directly download the ePub or PDF files. However, if you have received .lcpl files, you will need to take additional steps to convert them to PDF or ePub format.
Step 1 Install an LCP compliant application like Thorium on a computer or Aldiko, Lisa on a mobile device.
Here we will take the Thorium Reader as an example.
Download and install Thorium Reader.
Step 2 Drag .lcpl file to Thorium Reader, and books will be downloaded automatically.
Step 3 When you try to open .LCPL file, there will prompt a new window request you fill in the passphrase. Just fill in it and click on "Submit" button.
Now you can open and read .lcpl books with Thorium reader.
Pro tip: What is passphrase?
All you need to open (or decrypt) LCP eBooks is the account passphrase given to you by the eBook provider - the very same passphrase you'd have to enter into your eBook reader device (once) to read LCP-encrypted books. Sometime, the passphrase can be the passwords.
Step 4 To get the pdf or epub file, click the three dots next to book title, and select "Export" to download lcpl books as pdf or epub to your computer.
Now you convert your lcpl to epub files successfully.
Part 4. How to remove Readium LCP DRM and convert LCPL to Kindle? (Step-by-step Guide)
Since .LCPL files are encrypted with Readium LCP DRM, in order to read LCP books on Kindle, it is necessary to remove the LCPL DRM and convert .lcpl to a Kindle-supported format.
The DeDRM plugin is the only tool that can assist you in accomplishing this task.
Note: Please download the Dedrm plugin from the link in this article. The latest Dedrm plugin published in Github has removed the LCP support.
Step 1 Download the tools: Calibre, Dedrm plugin and LCPL.Input.v0.0.5.zip .
Calibre 6.10 >>If the latest Calibre Plugin doesn't work, please download the previous version.
DeDRM Plugin: Special version >>Please make sure to download this tested and verified version, as it is specifically designed for removing LCP DRM. This tool is downloaded and restored from Github DeDRM_tools-LCP.
Once this plugin is download, unzip it and you'll get the folder with mulitple zip file: DeDRM_plugin, DeDRM_plugin_ReadMe, Obok_plugin, obok_plugin, ReadMe, and ReadMe_Overview.
LCPL.Input.v0.0.5.zip>>This plugin helps you download .lcpl to pdf, or epub files.
Step 2 Install Calibre and add DeDRM plugin to Calibre.
Calibre doesn't natively support DRM removal. Installing the DeDRM plugin for Calibre allows you to remove DRM (Digital Rights Management) from e-books, enabling you to read them on different devices or with various e-book reader apps.
In Calibre, go to the menu bar and click on "Preferences" to open the Preferences window. Then click on "Plugins" and select "Load plugin from file". Browse to the location where you downloaded the DeDRM plugin, select the plugin file, and click "Open" to install it. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation, and then click "Apply". Finally, restart the application once the plugin has been successfully installed.
- You can install LCPL input plugin using the above steps.
Step 3 Configure the DeDRM plugin to remove Readium LCP DRM.
Go to Preference>>Plugin in Calibre , type "DeDRM" in the search box to load your installed Dedrm plugin, and then click on "Customize plugin" button to configure it.
In the "Customize DeDRM" window, select "Readium LCP ebooks" and then click the "OK" button.
In the prompted window, click the green "+" button and add your Readium LCP passphrase. Finally, click the "OK" button.
Now that you've configured Calibre with the Readium LCP DRM removal feature.
Step 4 Remove Readium LCP drm and convert LCPL books to Kindle format.
Drag your downloaded lcp files which should be downloaded as epub or pdf format already. If you've installed the LCPL input plugin, you can just drag the .lcpl file to Calibre to download lcpl files to pdf or epub and remove lcpl drm.
And then right click the book title, select the convert option, choose the target output azw3 and click "ok" to start the descrypting and conversion.
Now you have successfully convert lcp to kindle format. Now you'll find your books in epub and azw3 format in the Calibre.
Step 5 Transfer lcpl to kindle.
Solution 1: You can connect your kindle and computer via the usb cable and then transfer the converted azw3 to "Document" folder of your Kindle.
Solution 2: You can also use "Send to kindle by web" service to send the drm-free epub file to your Kindle.
All done! Wish you a good reading journey.
Part 5. How to crack Readium 2.5?
Cannot remove drm from lcpl files with Calibre!
More and more eBook vendors are replacing ACSM DRM with LCPL DRM. The DeDRM plugin can only convert the old version of LCPL DRM. If the eBook vendor you purchased from has employed the new LCP DRM, you may fail to remove the DRM from LCPL files.
Q: Can dedrm plugin remove Readium 2.5?
A: The Calibre dedrm plugin only removes the Readium 1.0 drm. As for Readium 2.5, it employs the tougher drm, it cannot be handled with Calibre drdrm plugin.
Request the assistance from Epubor
If you were unable to convert your LCP eBooks(include Readium 2.5), please contact me via email with the subject line 'Convert LCP.'
Please include information about the vendor from which you purchased your eBooks, attach the downloaded EPUB/PDF files (not the LCPL files), and provide the passphrase. The Epubor Support Team will assist you in converting your LCPL books.
Book a Demo to Convert Your eBooks NOW
If you are interested in managing Kindle books published in 2024, I highly recommend checking out Epubor Ultimate. It is the most effective software available on the market for this purpose.
Iris Yan has been a passionate member of Epubor since 2017. Her mission is to enhance your ebook reading experience by sharing insightful tips and tricks. Join her on a journey towards reading excellence today!
I downloaded 2 books as LCP ePub from openlibrary.org. Downloaded Thorium, dropped in book, entered my openlibrary passphrase, and book opened, readable in Thorium. However, on selecting EXPORT, only a 0 byte icon appears with Book-title- name. No epub files appear.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Hello, thanks for your comment.
In this case, I suggest you redownload again your book and try again to export it with Thorium.
Any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us via support@epubor.com.
Best regards,
Epubor Team
I have the the same issue. I installed the latest version of Thorium for Windows and it allows me to open the book file, but using the export control only produces a zero-length file. I tried installing earlier versions of Thorium (there are several available from Github) and the result is the same every time - zero length.
I have Calibre installed and it allows me to convert AZW3 files to EPUB format. But downloading the special version of DeDRM plugin provides no added conversion functionality. When I try to convert to AZW3, I get the following Calibre error: "No supported formats (Available formats: lcpl)".
Am I missing something, or is there another solution?
thanks,
Dan
Hello, thanks for your comment.
The password is given by the eBook provider. If you forgot the password, I suggest you contact your eBook providers.
Any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us via support@epubor.com.
Best regards,
Epubor Team
I am having the same problem as Robert H with the exported files from Thorium (windows 10) being zero bytes without a file extension. I believe the reason for this is that the file name for the book has a reserved character in it ":" that doesn't work with windows. Because I can't rename the file when exporting, and don't have a Mac, trying to export from Thorium doesn't work.
To get around this I downloaded the Aldiko app on android and exported from there. I successfully exported the file, but now have an issue that I can't import into Calibre, because the file extension of the exported book is '.lcpdf', not '.pdf'. Calibre doesn't recognize .lcpdf, and manually changing the extension doesn't work. What can I do from here? How can someone export from Aldiko to .pdf and not .lcpdf?
Hello, thanks for your message
May I ask what version of Calibre you installed? If the latest Calibre Plugin doesn't work, please download the previous version and try again.
Any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us via support@epubor.com.
Best regards,
Epubor Team
Calibre didn't make the convertion, and the file is just displayed in the bookshelf as it is.
(if I try to convert an epub with the same DRM encryption type it works though)
I use the public library MLOL, and the book can be read only as a pdf file once the file is converted using MLOL app or Thorium, not as epub or other formats.
Hello, thanks for your comment
Please confirm that you downloaded the Dedrm plugin from the link in this article. The latest Dedrm plugin published in Github has removed the LCP support.
If there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us via support@epubor.com
Best regards,
Epubor Team
Hello,
I've launched Calibre 7.10 in debug mode to get logs about why it doesn't decrypt my book :
DeDRM v10.0.3: Trying to decrypt [MYBOOK].epub
DeDRM v10.0.3: Verifying zip archive integrity
[...]
LCP: Found correct passphrase, decrypting book ...
Looks like that didn't work:
Running file type plugin DeDRM failed with traceback:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre\customize\ui.py", line 187, in _run_filetype_plugins
File "calibre_plugins.dedrm.__init__", line 1067, in run
File "calibre_plugins.dedrm.__init__", line 345, in ePubDecrypt
File "C:\Users\[USER]\Calibre Portable\Calibre Settings\plugins\DeDRM.zip\lcpdedrm.py", line 514, in decryptLCPbook
File "C:\Users\[USER]\Calibre Portable\Calibre Settings\plugins\DeDRM.zip\lcpdedrm.py", line 123, in decrypt
File "Crypto\Cipher\_mode_cbc.py", line 246, in decrypt
ValueError: Data must be padded to 16 byte boundary in CBC mode
Can you help me, please ?
Hello, thanks for your comment
Please confirm that you downloaded the Dedrm plugin from the link in this article. The latest Dedrm plugin published in Github has removed the LCP support.
If there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us via support@epubor.com
Best regards,
Epubor Team
Yes, I downloaded the « DeDRM Plugin: Special version » from this article.
I've tried again on Ubuntu with Calibre 7.2.0 and 6.10.0 but I'm still getting the same error…
Maybe because I use a 4-letter password (it's a book I borrowed from my library, so I was able to choose the password) ?
Regards,
mickbot92
Now, I choose a stronger password and the .lcpl file dedicated to Thorium (instead of Brio Reader), and it works. Thank you !
mickbot / mickbot92
What about .LCPDF?
Kind of useless if it works only for ebooks. Waste of money
Hi!
I've a problem^ when i try to export file from Thorium Reader it exports a file without an extension, not a PDF or ePub or anything.
Also, when i tried the method with Calibre, when i pressed "Convert" it answered that "Could not convert the book because no supported source format was found" even though i had exactly .lcpl file. I've already checked if the correct version of DeDRM is installed etc. I checked everything and everything is like in your article. But not a result. Help me, please.
Thank you so much ! It worked for me !
For other users, I used the last version of Calibre, DeDRM plugin and LCPL plugin. I only updated the file lcpdedrm.py from the DeDRM zip file provided on this website in the DeDRM zip file of the latest plugin (before installing it into Calibre of course). As it's Python, I checked briefly the code to ensure it was not obviously a malware. (for me, it isn't)
Hello Vivien. Glad to see you did it!
I don't know what you mean or how you updated de lcpddedrm.py file. How could I do it? Could you explain it to me? I found that file in the .zip file but I don't know how to open it nor update it.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks for the guide.
I bought a book from Bradt Guides being forced to use the Glassboxx Apps only, which employ Readium LCP. I was not provided with a passphrase but have to login to the app with the email I used to buy the book. A passphrase input screen shortly pops up and closes again, without user input needed.
The book can then be downloaded and displayed in the app. I do find the downloaded EPUB and LCPL file but is there a way to perform the Calibre decryption without the passphrase?
I guess the passphrase is somehow automatically provided and the question boils down to how the passphrase can be extracted from the app / downloaded data?
Currently using the Windows Store version of the Glassboxx App.
Exactly WHAT should I do except providing the passphrase words that unlocked the book in Thorium?
It looks like a ePub file now. It was possible to import to Adobe Digital Edition. It was possible to open and showed the TOC. Plus 186 EMPTY pages.
So please explain more thoroughly how this was supposed to work.
Greetings,
just wanted to write to confirm, that the method explained in this article still works, but only for .epub files; trying to remove DRM protection from a .pdf file (or .lcpdf file, as they are called when exported from Thorium reader) isn't possible (as was also already mentioned by e.g. user Mixie) and there doesn't appear to be a tool to deal with these files yet (that I know of).
Hey,
when trying to import lcpl from an online library it triggers this line in lcpdedrm.py:
file.close()
raise LCPError("Book is using an unknown LCP encryption standard: ".format(license["encryption"]["profile"]))
profile listed in the .lcpl file profile-2.5
Any ideas how to resolve this?
Hi,
is there a way that works with Readium 2.5? I get msg ''this book is locked by DRM''.
Thank you.
Kren
thank you :)
The books are from plus.cobiss. net
Please make the plugin work for Dedrm-ing Readium 2.5.
I'm willing to donate.
Bought a book from biblos.si, "Zakaj ima moj hudic krila" by Terezija Vuk, *.lcpl format. Can't remove the DRM to put it on my Kobo >> "Can't convert the book, locked by DRM".
Am willing to donate also if you manage to crack this one.
epub books were got from a public library using MLOL application
Would love to use my e-ink device to read books again :|
Please, help us!