Comic book archive
 Comic book archives may be accessed via tablets or smartphones. | |
| Filename extension | .cbr, .cbz, .cbt, .cba, .cb7 (containers) |
|---|---|
| Internet media type |
application/vnd.comicbook+zip [.cbz only], application/vnd.comicbook-rar [.cbr only] |
| Type of format | Multimedia, archive file |
| Container for | Images |
| Standard | None |
A comic book archive or comic book reader file (also called sequential image file) is a type of archive file for the purpose of sequential viewing of images, commonly for comic books. The idea was made popular by the CDisplay sequential image viewer;[1] since then, many viewers for different platforms have been created.
Design[edit]
Comic book archive is not a distinct file format. It is a filename extension naming convention.
The filename extension indicates the archive type used:
Comic book archive files mainly consist of a series of image files with specific naming, typically PNG (lossless compression) or JPEG (lossy compression, not JPEG-LS or JPEG XT) files, stored as a single archive file. Occasionally GIF, BMP, and TIFF files are seen. Folders may be used to group images. Also it may contain optional metadata stored as XML file, the most popular being "Comicinfo.xml" maintained by the Anansi-project. [4]
Comic book archive viewers typically offer various dedicated functions to read the content, like one page forward/backwards, go to first/last page, zoom or print. Some applications support additional tag information in the form of embedded XML files in the archive or use of the ZIP comment to store additional information.[5] These files can include additional information like artists, story information, table of contents or even a separate text layer for comic book translations.[6]
Adoption[edit]
Windows[edit]
- Calibre e-book reader can view and convert comic archives to different formats
- CDisplay was the first application to support the CBR format.
- CDisplayEx, inspired by CDisplay with additional viewing features.
- ComicRack was a popular comic organizer for windows desktop
- Comic Seer (Desktop) is a comic book archive viewer and organizer for the desktop.
- Gonvisor is a comic reader simple to use with some features to improve image quality.
- STDU Viewer
- SumatraPDF
Mac[edit]
- Calibre can view, library manage and convert to different formats.
Android[edit]
Unix-like[edit]
- Calibre can view and convert to different formats.
- Comic Seer (Desktop) is a comic book archive viewer and organizer for the desktop.
- Evince, a document viewer, includes support for the format.
- Okular can view many formats, including PDF and CBR, and is included in the KDE Software Compilation.
- MuPDF is a cross-platform lightweight PDF, XPS, and E-book viewer.
- Zathura supports this format (as well as PDF, PostScript and others).
Web Based[edit]
- Calibre-Web is a web app for browsing, reading eBooks using a valid Calibre database.
- Kavita (software) cross platform, & open-source manga, comic, and book server.
- Komga (software) open source comics/mangas media server.
- Mango (server) open-source manga server and web reader.
- Ubooquity open-source server for comics and ebooks libraries and databases.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ CDisplay Image Display Download.com
- ^ "CBR file extension". Retrieved 15 June 2011.
- ^ "CBZ file extension". Retrieved 15 June 2011.
- ^ "The Anansi Project".
- ^ "Metadata for Digital Comics". Archived from the original on 2011-04-28. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
- ^ "Advanced Comic Book Format project page".
- ^ "FBReader ComicBook plugin". FBReader.
