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apprenticeharper
DeDRM_tools
Python2015–2025
apprenticeharper / DeDRM_tools

DeDRM_tools

DeDRM tools for ebooks

27Distinct people
30Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
15.4KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

DeDRM tools for ebooks

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 2:04:58 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year30 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2015-10-16 16:16:19 UTC to 2025-10-17 00:02:33 UTC.

02468102015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments20152016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 9 mentions; 0 submissions, 9 comments20202021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 8 mentions; 0 submissions, 8 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 1 submissions, 2 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2025

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC909
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC808
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC312
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

From the project README

An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.

Read the project’s introduction
No Longer Maintained I have not had the time to devote to this project in recent years that I would have liked. I am delighted to find that someone else has taken on the task of keeping the tools updated, and making releases. I shall be using noDRM's version of the tools from now on. [Guide] How to remove DRM Refer to Wiki Page DeDRM_tools DeDRM tools for ebooks This is a repository that tracks all the scripts and other tools for removing DRM from ebooks that I could find, committed in date order as best as I could manage. (Except for the Requiem tools for Apple's iBooks, and Convert LIT for Microsoft's .lit ebooks.) This includes the tools from a time before Apprentice Alf had a blog, and continues through to when Apprentice Harper (with help) took over maintenance of the tools. The individual scripts are now released as two plugins for calibre: DeDRM and Obok. The DeDRM plugin handles books that use Amazon DRM, Adobe Digital Editions DRM (version 1), Barnes & Noble DRM, and some historical formats. The Obok plugin handles Kobo DRM. Users with calibre 5.x or later should use release 7.2.0 or later of the tools. Users with calibe 4.x or earlier should use release 6.8.x of the tools. For the latest Amazon KFX format, users of the calibre plugin should also install the KFX Input plugin from the standard calibre plugin menu. It's also available from the MobileRead thread here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291290 Note that Amazon changes the DRM for KFX files frequently. What works for KFX today might not work tomorrow. I welcome contributions from others to improve these tools, from expanding the range of books handled, improving key retrieval, to just general bug fixes, speed improvements and UI enhancements. I urge people to read the FAQs. But to cover the most common: Use ADE 2.0.1 to be sure not to get the new DRM scheme that these tools can't handle. Do remember to unzip the downloaded archive to get the plugin (beta versions may be just the plugin don't unzip that). You can't load the whole tools archive into calibre. My special thanks to all those developers who have done the hard work of reverse engineering to provide the initial tools. Apprentice Harper.
Read the full README on GitHub

What Hacker News says

8 sources
> I see it's available on Amazon but... well, I don't want Kindle format... It's trivial to de-drm and convert a lot of ebooks. You need Calibre (free/open source, gui [1]), its DeDrm plugin (free/open source, gui [2]), and its KindleUnpack plugin (free/open source, gui [3]). There's a guide [4], but the toolchain is all point/click, not a hassle at all to use. > The DeDRM plugin handles books that use Amazon DRM, Adobe Digital Editions DRM (version 1), Barnes & Noble DRM, and some historical formats. The Obok plugin handles Kobo DRM. For kindle books, it'll be less hassle over time if you install the Kindle app on your not-phone, not-tablet and just never update it. It'll just be a matter of import click + browse to the Kindle app's data folder and pick the most recent item after you buy one to instantly de-drm it and convert it to Epub
Read the rest
. Amazon doesn't force upgrades of the app presently, and newer DRM schemes won't be pushed to you if your version doesn't support them. 1. https://calibre-ebook.com 2. https://github.com/apprenticeharper/DeDRM_tools/releases 3. https://github.com/dougmassay/kindleunpack-calibre-plugin/re... 4. https://www.epubor.com/free-kindle-drm-removal-calibre-plugi... All of this is very well maintained and very well presented by the calibre community. Converting an Amazon format to Epub loses nothing in terms of functionality or aesthetics, the resulting Epubs in iBooks look identical to the drm versions on Kindle, and iBooks syncs notes/highlights across devices in non-drm Epubs just like Kindle does with its book formats (sans the public sharing of notes/highlights of course). The ability to embed your own metadata once the drm is gone is a nice plus as well.
In Docs for Developers: An Engineer’s Field Guide to Technical Writing
The GitHub repo for the DRM removal tools is here: https://github.com/apprenticeharper/DeDRM_tools The README says this: > Note that DRM can only be removed from KFX format files downloaded with Kindle for PC/Mac 1.26 or earlier. Amazon changes the DRM for KFX files in Kindle for PC/Mac 1.27 and later. KFX is different from older versions in that the file is tailored to the device it is downloaded on. If you download with the Kindle for PC, the file is optimized for your big, high resolution screen and isn't going to be great on an eink device. There are no cracks that work with the KFX files extracted from the Kindle reader.
In Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

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