Download Your Kindle Books While You Still Can
If you’re an avid e-book reader or have an extensive Kindle library of content, now is the time to back up your books.
Starting Wednesday, February 26, readers will no longer be able to download Kindle e-books to their computer, where you can convert the file from Amazon’s proprietary Kindle-specific .AZW3 to a different format for non-Kindle e-readers. Once this feature is removed, Kindle eBooks can only be transferred to a Kindle device over Wi-Fi or cellular, or accessed through the Kindle app or Kindle on the web.
While users who read primarily in the Kindle app or on a Kindle device may not miss out on this feature, its loss makes it impossible to convert Kindle books to be compatible with other e-reader devices or to share them. Additionally, if Amazon removes a game you purchased or loses its license in the future, you won’t have access to it.
How to Download and Save Kindle Books
To download Kindle books to your computer now, sign in to your Amazon account and go to Accounts & Lists > Content Library > Book . Find the book you want to download from the list, open the More Actions menu on the right, and select Download and Transfer via USB .
A pop-up window will alert you that a USB download is imminent with the following message: “Starting February 26, 2025, the “USB Download and Transfer” option will no longer be available. You can still send Kindle books to Wi-Fi enabled devices by selecting the “Deliver to or remove from device” option.
In the meantime, you can select your device and click “Download” , after which the file will be saved on your computer in .AZW3 format. Unfortunately, there is no bulk download option, so you will have to download the files one at a time.
You can then transfer the books to your Kindle by connecting it with a USB cable and copying the file to the Kindle drive that appears on your desktop. Plus, you can convert it to other formats (like PDF) for reading on other devices using a tool like CloudConvert .