Plan an audiobook
Total words and narration time tell you the finished length before you spend anything. The audiobook length calculator turns it into hours.
Free tool
EPUB Chapter Extractor: Every Chapter, Counted and Exported
Drop an EPUB into this EPUB chapter extractor to see how the book really splits: every chapter with its word count and narration time, the text of each one, and a choice of exports, from a single TXT file to a ZIP with one file per chapter. It runs in your browser and opens DOCX, PDF, TXT and Markdown files too.
Drop an EPUB here or click to browseEPUB works best. DOCX, PDF, TXT and MD also open. Up to 30 MB, processed in your browser.
Extract EPUB chapters in four steps
The EPUB chapter extractor needs no account and no install, and the whole process takes about a minute.
- 1
Drop the file
EPUB works best; DOCX, text-based PDF, TXT and Markdown open too. Files up to 30 MB are read on your device, not uploaded.
- 2
Read the chapter list
Each row shows the chapter number, title, word count and narration time. Click a title to preview the start of its text.
- 3
Choose chapters
Tick the chapters you want, or use “All chapters”. The totals for words and narration time update as you select.
- 4
Export or narrate
Pick a format and press Download chapters, or press Narrate these chapters to open your selection in the audiobook studio.
Five ways to export EPUB chapters
Every export holds only the chapters you selected, in book order. Pick ZIP to split EPUB into chapters as separate files, or TXT to keep them together.
| Format | What the file holds | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| TXT | One text file: each chapter title followed by its text | Reading, editing, pasting into other tools |
| Markdown | The book title as a # heading and each chapter as ## with its text | Notes apps, static sites, Markdown to audiobook |
| CSV index | Number, title, word count and narration minutes per chapter | Spreadsheets, narrator quotes, planning |
| JSON | Title, author and each chapter’s number, title, words and text | Scripts and developer workflows |
| ZIP (file per chapter) | One numbered TXT file per chapter, such as “001 Arrival.txt” | Sending chapters to editors or translators one at a time |
EPUB chapter word count to narration time
The extractor times chapters at 155 words per minute, a typical audiobook pace. Use this chart to read the numbers it shows.
| Words in a chapter | Narration at 155 wpm | What it means for listeners |
|---|---|---|
| 1,500 | 10 min | A short scene; common in web serials |
| 3,000 | 19 min | Typical for commercial fiction |
| 4,500 | 29 min | A comfortable single sitting |
| 6,000 | 39 min | Long, but usual in literary fiction |
| 9,000 | 58 min | Worth checking for a natural split |
| 12,000 | 1 h 17 min | Most listeners will stop partway |
What listeners expect per chapter is covered in the audiobook chapter length guide.
What people do with an EPUB chapter splitter
Get a narrator quote
Narrators price per finished hour. Send the CSV index so a quote is based on real chapter lengths, not a guess.
Balance chapters while editing
A 9,000 word chapter next to a 2,000 word one stands out in the list. Spot it while the book is still easy to change.
Feed text to other tools
Clean TXT or JSON, without the markup inside an EPUB, is far easier to use in scripts, translation tools or a spreadsheet.
Study and annotate
Export a public domain classic as Markdown and drop it into a notes app with one heading per chapter.
Hand off chapters
The ZIP gives each chapter its own numbered file, ready to send to a beta reader, editor or translator.
How EPUB chapters are found, and how to do it by hand
An EPUB is a ZIP archive of XHTML pages. Inside it, the table of contents marks where each chapter begins: the navigation document in EPUB 3, or the toc.ncx file in older EPUB 2 books. The extractor follows that list, joins a chapter that a publisher split across several files, and turns the markup into plain text.
To extract chapters from EPUB files by hand, copy the file, rename it from .epub to .zip and open it. Find the contents file, open each chapter’s XHTML in a browser and paste the text into a word counter. Then apply the formula narration minutes = words ÷ 155: a 4,650 word chapter is 4,650 ÷ 155 = 30 minutes. It works, but for a 40 chapter novel the extractor saves an afternoon.
Some sections are set aside on purpose: the cover, title page, copyright notice, contents list, dedication, “also by” and “about the author” pages, colophons and the Project Gutenberg license. They are not chapters of the story, and you would not want them narrated.
Why some EPUB chapters look too long or too short
The list mirrors the publisher’s contents. If the contents only lists parts, you get a few very long entries; if it lists scene breaks, you get many short ones. A DRM-protected file will not open at all: the extractor reads only DRM-free EPUB files.
Turning extracted EPUB chapters into audio
Press Narrate these chapters and your selection opens in the studio as a new project, with the speaking characters already detected and voices assigned. From there, the steps are the same as in the EPUB to audiobook converter: review the cast, generate a chapter and listen.
Prefer to start from scratch? Upload the full book to the AI audiobook generator and it splits the chapters the same way, then exports an M4B with chapter markers or one MP3 per chapter. To time a passage that is not in an EPUB, paste it into the words to minutes calculator.
Epub chapter extractor FAQ
Can I split an EPUB into separate chapter files?
Yes. Select the chapters, choose “ZIP (file per chapter)” and press Download chapters. You get one numbered TXT file per chapter, with the chapter title at the top, packed into a single ZIP.
Does the extractor send my book anywhere?
No. The EPUB is opened and parsed in your browser. Exports are created on your device too, and if you press Narrate these chapters, the project is saved in your browser. Text is only sent to a speech model when you generate audio.
Why won’t my Kindle or Apple Books purchase open?
Store purchases are usually protected with DRM, and the extractor does not remove copy protection. It opens DRM-free EPUB files, such as your own exported books, public domain classics and DRM-free indie purchases.
What reading speed are the narration times based on?
The EPUB chapter extractor uses 155 words per minute, a typical pace for audiobook narration. Slower narrators near 140 make chapters about ten percent longer, and fast readers near 170 make them about ten percent shorter.
Can I extract chapters from a Word file or PDF?
Yes. Word files are split on Heading 1 and Heading 2 styles, text files on lines such as “Chapter 3” or Markdown headings, and text-based PDFs are reflowed with page numbers and running headers removed. Scanned PDFs cannot be read.
Are images and formatting kept in the export?
No. The exports are plain text: chapter titles and paragraphs, without images, italics or footnote numbers. That keeps them clean for word counts, editing tools and narration.
Take your chapters from the EPUB chapter extractor to audio
Select the chapters, press Narrate these chapters and hear them with a voice for every character.