How to send manga files over the 50MB Send-to-Kindle limit

The "Send to Kindle" feature works well until you try to use it for manga.

Because manga is hundreds of high-resolution images, a single standard volume (tankōbon) can reach 150MB. If you buy omnibus or deluxe editions, files can go past 500MB.

Email to a Kindle has a hard limit: 50 MB per email. Amazon's Send to Kindle website and apps take files up to 200 MB, but only EPUB and PDF, and an omnibus can be bigger than that too.

Here are the usual workarounds, where they fall short, and how MangaSendr handles it.

Workaround 1: Compressing the images

The most common advice on Reddit is to use a PDF compressor or Calibre to reduce the image quality until the file shrinks below 50MB.

The cost: a 300 PPI screen shows the artist's linework in detail. Compress the file by 80% and the ink gets muddy, screentone shading turns into bands of gray, and small text becomes hard to read.

Workaround 2: Splitting zips by hand

The other option is to unzip your comic, separate the images into folders of 50 images each, re-zip them into multiple files (Part 1, Part 2, etc.) and convert them individually.

The cost: it takes a long time, and you do it again for every volume. "Part 2" also won't have the volume's cover art, so your Kindle shows whichever page comes first as the thumbnail.

How MangaSendr splits big files

Splitting is built into MangaSendr.

When you upload a 300MB .cbz or .epub file to MangaSendr, there's nothing extra to set up. If the converted volume is too big for one email, it gets split automatically. The web app accepts files up to 500 MB.

1. Splitting by size

MangaSendr splits the converted volume into parts of roughly 26 MB each, which keeps every email under Amazon's limit. The split is based on size, not on chapter breaks, so a part can end in the middle of a chapter. It always falls between two pages, so no page gets cut in half.

2. Names and covers on every part

If a volume is split into three parts, your Kindle library still stays readable:

• The parts are numbered in their names, for example Berserk Vol 1 (1 of 3). The title comes from your file name.
• Each part gets its own cover, so parts 2 and 3 don't show up as plain "DOC" icons on your shelf.

3. One part at a time

MangaSendr sends the parts one after another instead of all at once, and each one arrives on your Kindle as its own document. Most land within a few minutes.

No cable needed

A big file is no reason to plug your Kindle into a computer. Upload the volume from any browser, including the one on your phone, and the parts arrive over Wi-Fi.

Your first delivery is free. Pricing covers what's included after that.

Related guides

• Fit more manga on a full Kindle: managing limited storage for large manga collections.
• How to send CBZ manga to Kindle: the complete CBZ-to-Kindle conversion guide.
• How to send manga to Kindle by email: setting up your Kindle email address and Amazon's approved sender list.