EPUB Metadata Viewer
Read title, creator and publisher metadata from EPUB files.
Overview
The EPUB metadata viewer reads the Dublin Core fields baked into any .epub file — title, creator, publisher, language, identifier, date, and rights — and lays them out as a tidy summary. It is the fastest way to confirm an e-book is tagged correctly before you upload it to a retailer or ingest it into a catalogue.
Self-published authors checking their exports, librarians cataloguing acquisitions, and quality engineers running EPUB pipelines reach for this when only the front-matter metadata is needed and a full structural inspector is overkill. Long-tail searches that lead here include "view EPUB metadata", "read title and author from EPUB", and "check EPUB Dublin Core fields".
How it works
An EPUB is a ZIP archive containing a root package document (content.opf) defined by the IDPF / W3C EPUB specification. The viewer opens the archive, locates META-INF/container.xml, follows the pointer to the package file, and parses the <metadata> section. Dublin Core elements (dc:title, dc:creator, dc:publisher, dc:language, dc:identifier, dc:date, dc:rights) are surfaced verbatim along with any role attributes such as opf:role="aut".
The viewer handles both EPUB 2 and EPUB 3 package conventions, and gracefully reports missing fields rather than failing. Refines (EPUB 3's mechanism for attaching extra info to a metadata element) are merged in so a creator's file-as and role appear alongside their display name.
Examples
- Confirm an export from a writing app populated
dc:creatorwith a properly sorted "Last, First" file-as form. - Check that all books in a folder share the expected publisher string before bulk upload.
- Verify the ISBN in
dc:identifiermatches what your distributor recorded. - Spot a missing
dc:languageelement that would trip up an accessibility audit.
FAQ
Why does my book show no author?
Some converters write the author into a custom <meta> element instead of dc:creator. The viewer prefers the standard Dublin Core fields; non-standard metadata will not appear here.
Can it edit metadata?
No, this is a read-only view. For editing, use a dedicated tool that can re-pack the ZIP and update content.opf in place.
What about the cover image?
The metadata viewer focuses on text fields. To preview the cover image and table of contents, use the broader EPUB inspector.
Does it work on DRM-protected files?
Metadata fields are usually outside the encrypted portion, so they typically read fine. The body content remains locked.
Why are dates formatted unusually?
EPUB stores dates as ISO 8601 strings, and many writers truncate to just the year. The viewer displays whatever is present without reinterpreting it.