Literature lovers will all tell you that they wouldn't give up their paper book for an e-book for anything in the world. While the desire to own a physical object and be able to touch its pages is understandable, adopting an e-book can be very practical in certain situations. This is particularly the case when packing your suitcase before going on vacation. In addition to allowing you to travel light and ensuring comfortable reading, sometimes even in the dark, opting for an e-book will also allow you to put an end to the dilemma of choosing which book to take with you.
In addition to the official platforms to which some e-readers and e-book reading apps are linked, there are many sites where you can download e-books for free. And while some services require you to use the reader integrated into their website or app, others will allow you to directly download e-books in epub, PDF, mobi, and many other formats. All you have to do then is use software like the excellent Calibre, free and open source, with which you can transfer ebook files gleaned from the web to your e-reader in just a few clicks.
After exploring and testing dozens of sites, we have selected for you the best sites and applications for legally downloading free e-books.
1. Archive.org
This is undoubtedly one of the most comprehensive sources for downloading free e-books. Archive.org, a specialized web archiving platform, offers a gigantic library of textual content, consisting of several million works in all languages, and nearly 800,000 books and other works in French.
The platform's organization may seem somewhat confusing, but its search engine and numerous filters will undoubtedly allow you to find what you're looking for. On Archive.org, you'll find very eclectic content. From comics to novels and technical documentation, to magazines and textbooks, or even books on history, science, or medicine. There's something for everyone. You can filter the results by browsing works directly from major libraries or universities.
As for the download formats offered, they are as diverse as they are varied. You will find files in epub format, but also PDFs, or even zipped archives for works composed of several parts.
2. OpenLibrary
OpenLibrary, literally "Open Library" in French, is a community library project led by the Internet Archive (Archive.org) whose goal is simple: "to make all of humanity's published works accessible to everyone in the world." To achieve this, the volunteers who work for OpenLibrary (librarians, authors, etc.) have gathered more than 20 million documents, with the goal of creating a dedicated web page for each existing book.
Several options are available for reading ebooks. After creating an account on the platform, you can "borrow" books and read them directly from your web browser, when this reading mode is offered. While it is also possible to borrow books in other formats, you will still need to use a solution like Adobe Digital Edition to access the content.
Also note that when a book is already borrowed by a reader, you will have to wait until the reader re-establishes the work before you can borrow it, just like in a real library.
3. Numilog
Both a distributor and broadcaster of digital books (and audiobooks), Numilog offers a very extensive catalog of ebooks. While the majority are paid, the online retailer also has a library of free ebooks. With no fewer than 15,000 works available, Numilog is one of the most generous platforms.
The catalog, which covers all literary genres, includes detective novels and thrillers, as well as short stories, romances, and even practical or documentary works.
While all the works are mainly available in epub (and PDF) format, some are offered without DRM. This means that you can download the file to transfer it to any e-reader of your choice. For ebooks with DRM, you will need to use an Adobe account to download the work (with Adobe DRM), or opt for the LCP solution (LCP DRM), which requires entering an activation key to read the book's content. You will therefore need to use an application or e-reader compatible with this type of protection. Please note, however, that you will need to create an account on the platform to be able to download ebooks.
4. Atramenta
Both a service for publishing written works and an online literary community, Atramenta offers, alongside its paid ebook store, a Free Reading section that brings together several thousand works. You will find both books that have fallen into the public domain and works written by contemporary authors who have chosen Atramenta to publish their works.
The ebooks offered by the platform can be downloaded in several formats. You will be able to retrieve PDF files, but also, and above all, books in epub format compatible with your e-reader. Atramenta also offers to retrieve your ebooks in Kindle format (.mobi, which can be transferred to your Amazon e-reader) as well as in OpenDocument format.
5. Gallica
Through Gallica, the National Library of France offers free access to more than 4 million documents. Books, newspapers, magazines, sound recordings, manuscripts, and even videos can be viewed for free from the website. In total, nearly 700,000 books are accessible on Gallica.
The site's homepage can be confusing for those visiting the platform for the first time. It includes news from the Digital Library as well as a selection of documents highlighted for visitors. To fully explore the library, you will need to launch a query directly in the search engine, or by performing an advanced search.
The works can be read from your computer's web browser, but they can also be downloaded to your hard drive. You can save a copy of the documents in PDF or text format. Note that all content is accessible without logging in or registering.
6. Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a free library of digitized books and physical documents in the public domain, containing nearly 60,000 documents. Project Gutenberg offers works in French, as well as in some forty other languages.
The works offered are listed alphabetically by author, and the downloadable documents are available in several formats and versions. You will find books with or without images in EPUB, HTML, plain text, and Kindle formats. All files can be downloaded directly from the Project Gutenberg website, without registration.
7. ebooksgratuits.com
In addition to the platforms offered by web giants, other independent players offer catalogs of free and legal ebooks. ebooksgratuits.com is managed by volunteers who manage the site and add new works.
The platform offers e-books in multiple formats (Mobipocket, eReader, BBeB Book Sony Reader, ePub, PDF, HTML, DOC-ODT), whose catalog is shared with partners also offering e-books, such as Project Gutenberg.
In total, ebooksgratuits.com makes some 2,800 works available to the reader. Please note, however, that since the site is hosted in Canada, it complies with Canadian copyright laws. Consequently, some works that are freely downloadable in Canada, where a work becomes free 50 years after the death of its author, cannot be legally downloaded in France, where this period is 70 years. For all books in question, an information note is displayed next to the download link.
Finally, we appreciate that downloads are accessible to everyone, without registration required.
8. Livrespourtous
With more than 6,000 works in French, Livrespourtous is the best-stocked independent download platform for free ebooks. All the works offered there are in French, and the available download formats allow you to enjoy the books regardless of the platform used for reading.
Livrespourtous offers books in Mobipocket, EPUB, Sony Reader, eReader and Word formats. No registration is required to download books from the library. The platform offers the ability to explore its catalog by browsing alphabetically by author, as well as by searching directly by category. It features comics, stories, poetry, documents, and much more.
9. Decitre
Like most online retailers of cultural products, the Decitre bookstore offers a section entirely dedicated to free ebooks on its website. It offers a little over 3,000 books that can be downloaded freely, provided you have first opened an account on the platform.
Decitre has a very eclectic catalog covering classic literature as well as works dedicated to well-being and leisure, school books, as well as comics and other children's books.
Its main advantage over competing online bookstores is that it offers its free ebooks in various formats (epub, PDF, etc.), compatible with the majority of applications and e-readers (Vivlio, Kobo, Sony, Bookeen), with the exception of Amazon's Kindle. You can also read the ebooks you find on Decitre from your PC or smartphone, by synchronizing your account in the Vivlio application.
10. Cultura
The cultural and creative leisure products retailer also has a section dedicated to downloading ebooks. Its offering is quite limited, limited to around a thousand free downloadable e-books.
The catalog includes, as on most platforms, classics that have fallen into the public domain, as well as more recent works by contemporary authors. Ebooks downloaded from Cultura can be read from a computer's web browser as well as from the dedicated app. On Android and iOS smartphones, as well as on desktop, Cultura relies on Vivlio, a digital library app that allows you to synchronize ebooks downloaded from various online purchasing platforms, including Cultura.
11. Rakuten Kobo
The official Kobo e-reader platform offers, as Amazon does with its Kindles, a section entirely dedicated to free ebooks. It has just over 7,000 of them, in all styles. Please note, however, that while some books are free, they are not complete, but are limited to a simple excerpt. You will find works that have fallen into the public domain, as well as books by contemporary authors.
Books downloaded from the Rakuten Kobo website can, of course, be synchronized to your Kobo e-reader, but will also be accessible from any computer or smartphone, thanks to the dedicated Kobo application.
12. Amazon Kindle
If you're an Amazon customer, you won't have to go far to download ebooks. The platform offers more than 3 million ebooks in its catalog, including more than 175,000 titles in French.
Among all these works, a large number of literary classics, now in the public domain, are available for free download on the Amazon Kindle store. Other, more recent books are also available for free. One click from the site will be enough to validate the free download in Kindle format of the selected work.
The e-book store is not only for owners of Amazon's digital reader. All Kindle format ebooks offered on the platform can also be viewed from the Kindle mobile application available on Android and iOS. If you decide to download a work from a computer to later transfer it to an e-reader, the resulting file will be in AZW format. You can either read it from the Cloud, via your browser, or transfer it to a Kindle, the only device officially compatible with this format.
Finally, if you are a Prime subscriber, you can take advantage of the Prime Reading offer included and allows you to enjoy hundreds of novels, thrillers, children's books, etc. for free.
13. Apple Books
Apple's ebook app, available only on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, also serves as a store for purchasing and downloading e-books.
In addition to the paid books found at all online retailers, Apple's digital bookstore also offers hundreds of free books, in French and English. These works include a large number of literary classics, most of which have fallen into the public domain, as well as modern novels, comics, manga, and much more.
To access it, you must first download the Apple Books app on your iPhone or iPad, then go to the Bookstore. By browsing the sections, accessible from the hamburger menu, you can explore the Apple Books library by choosing Special Offers and Free Offers. You will then be able to find a selection of the best free books, the most downloaded books, etc.
Since Apple Books is only available on Apple devices, the books offered for download are mostly protected by DRM and can therefore only be read on Apple devices.
14. Google Play Books
Like Amazon and Apple, Google has its own online library of e-books. Google Play Books presents itself as a traditional shopping store, but like its competitors, it offers free ebooks for download.
To find them, you have to go to the top free ebooks, or use the search engine before filtering the results by displaying only free works. Google Play Books allows you to read works from the web interface, but also from the Google Play Books application on Android and iOS.
However, if you want to download a book to read it on an e-reader, simply click on the options associated with a work to retrieve the file in EPUB or PDF format.
15. Fnac
Just like Cultura, Fnac offers its own catalog of free ebooks. Be careful, though, don't expect any big surprises. The platform only has 500 books in its free e-book catalog. However, all genres are represented. You will find novels, thrillers, fantasy and science fiction, comics and manga, children's books, and even books on history and politics.
On its website, Fnac indicates that the books are downloadable in epub format. However, in reality, don't expect to access the file itself. You will need to use a Kobo e-reader, or log in using the dedicated Kobo app to access downloaded ebooks. Note that it is possible to connect your Fnac account and your Kobo (Rakuten) account to merge your ebook library to ensure access to all the books downloaded on both platforms.
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