Table of Contents

OpenAudible Documentation

This Audiobook Manager lets you catalog and organize your audiobook collection. It is optimized for Audible users, but can import MP3/M4A/M4B audiobooks as well.

Please respect copyright owners by not distributing files created with OpenAudible.

OpenAudible loves, but is unaffiliated with audible.com.

Quick Start

Here is a quick-start guide to get you going.

  1. Download OpenAudible for Mac, Windows, or Linux from openaudible.org.
  2. Install and launch OpenAudible
  3. Go to Edit: Preferences, and select M4B or MP3 audio output format. M4B encoding is the recommended default setting, but MP3 can be set in the Preferences.
  4. To use a custom directory for your audiobook library, use the File: Manage Libraries to move the library to a new location with a large drive capacity.
  5. Select: Controls: Connect to Audible and log into your Audible account.
  6. Your book list should be loaded, and the option to download and convert them should be displayed.
  7. Click yes, or you can click no to manually download or convert your books.
  8. Downloading and conversion can take a while. You'll need to be patient!
  9. Click on the "Downloading" or "Converting" Library Status lines to see which books are downloading or converting. Click on one to see detailed progress.
  10. To find the converted book files, select one and right-click "Show MP3" or "Show M4B"
  11. Periodically run Controls: Quick Audible Library Sync to update your latest purchases!
  12. Full help is available under the About Menu (or by pressing F1) which shows this document!

Installation

Install the version for your platform. OpenAudible for Windows and Mac is a digitally signed application.
You may be prompted that the application may not be safe to run; however, you can safely run it if the certificate shows it as valid.

Choose one of the installers from the official download page. OpenAudible supports 64-bit x86_64/AMD64 and Apple Intel/Silicon architectures.

Note: Mac users may need to open the OpenAudible.dmg file by selecting it in Finder and Control-Clicking the application, then select Open (right-click "Open"). You may also need to update your GateKeeper settings to allow apps not from the App Store to run.

Connecting to Audible

Note > Before jumping in, it is a good idea to set up your main Preferences to set the audio output format and other settings.

Getting your books from Audible is pretty simple. Books can be automatically downloaded and converted to a format that works with any audio player.

Initial Connect to Audible

OpenAudible can read and import your library automatically. OpenAudible uses the Amazon/Audible web browser to connect and never saves your username or password. However, a credentials token is saved so that you can stay connected until you decide to Controls: Log Out of Audible.

  1. Select Controls: Connect to Audible.
  2. Choose your audible region that you normally log into. If you're using an old Audible username account that isn't an email address, check the box. Then click OK.
  3. Log in using the web browser, answering any CAPTCHAs, and verifying account with 2-factor email or text message to prove your humanity.

Once logged in to your audible account in the browser, your books will be loaded and shown in the OpenAudible window. The OpenAudible Library status should change to Connected: Yes.

After a library scan, you'll be asked if you want to download and convert your books. If you click No, you can manually select books to download or convert.

Syncing your Library

When you purchase new audiobooks, you can select Controls: Quick Audible Library Sync which will add any newly added books.

You can select Controls: Full Audible Library Sync to get all of your books and update any metadata that may have changed, such as ratings or book descriptions.

Downloading Audible Books

Books that were not automatically downloaded can be downloaded by selecting them selecting Action: Download.

Downloading a book can take several minutes. To see the progress, click on the "Library Status:Downloads" panel item to see books currently downloading or waiting to be downloaded. Select a book and look at the "State" under the Book Info panel to see its download or conversion state.

Once a book is downloaded, it can be manually or automatically converted to the audio format of your choice.

Some books include a PDF companion file. If available, those will be downloaded when the audio is downloaded.

Converting Audible Files

Convert your Audible AAX files to M4B or MP3 easily by selecting a book and selecting Action: Convert to ... or convert them all by Controls: Convert All to ... .

We recommend using M4B for most use cases, as converting to mp3 will always add some loss and may increase the file size. But if you have an audio player that doesn't support M4B files, you can choose to convert your audiobook files to MP3.

Note: To convert your books to MP3 instead of the default M4B format, set the Audio Output Format to MP3 in the Preferences, which can be accessed by clicking on the icon in the upper right or by selecting Edit: Preferences.

Audible files are kept in the AAX directory. Once converted, you may decide to delete the AAX files to save space.

Playing Audiobooks

Once an audiobook has an MP3 or M4B file associated with it, it is ready to play and will be marked with a green dot Status audiobook_dir or folder icon Status Green meaning it is ready to use on most audio players.

Select an audiobook and click the Play icon at the top of the main window to play the Audiobook.

Player Controls

Select an audiobook from the main table and use the Action menu to act upon it, for instance to play or reveal it in the desktop. with a green icon and use the Action Menu to see and use the Action: Play to open the audio file in a media player (such as VLC or on Mac, the 'Books' application.).

Action: Play to open the audio file on your computer.

As of version 4.4, a built-in player is available. To use an external player, you can edit the player in the Preferences under Applications and Browsers.

Action: Reveal ... shows the list of files available for the book. Select the one for MP3 or M4B to show it in your desktop (Windows Explorer or macOS Finder).
From there, it can be imported into your favorite audio player.

All media players have a way to import a mp3 (or m4b) file from your computer if you know the file's location. We do not have instructions for any players at this time, a web search will give you plenty of resources.

OpenAudible supports Drag-and-Drop. You can drag an audiobook from the book table onto a directory or Drag-and-Drop ready application. To demonstrate, try dragging a book from OpenAudible to VLC and the book will start to play.

We are always looking for recommendations on good audiobook players and how-to guides on putting your audiobooks on other players. Please feel free to send us suggestions on which players you like and if there are any special steps required to get an audiobook loaded.

Preferences

You can set the conversion output format, choose a language, font or color theme.

preferences dialog

Use Edit: Preferences view and change the application preferences.

To set the Library Location, use Manage Libraries.

Manage Accounts

To link OpenAudible with your Audible accounts, use the File: Manage Accounts menu.

The Manage Accounts dialog allows you to add and remove linked accounts. Details about each account are included, including a status that can be "OK, Error, or Duplicate". Error and Duplicate accounts can be safely deleted.

Use the red "Trash Can" button to log out and delete the credentials for an account.

Use the "Add Audible Account" button to link a new account.

If you've used Libation, another Audible importer, you can click the Import Libation Accounts button to import your Libation accounts.

Note: Only accounts marked as "enabled" will be scanned during a library sync.

Manage Libraries

The File: Manage Libraries menu brings up a dialog where you can set or change your Library Directory, where your audiobook files (MP3, M4B, AAX, JPG) will be saved.

If you have a larger disk drive than your OS drive, you may want to change the library location, as audiobooks can take up a lot of file space. You can also use a network share, if you don't mind a little less performance.

manage libraries

The top of the dialog has a Library: which lists your known OpenAudible libraries. The buttons below are active if they can be used to move, copy, activate or delete a library.

Select a library and the information will fill in with the Path, Info, and Size.

A checkbox for enabling podcasts. See the section on podcasts.

A checkbox for enabling/disabling metadata updates on full rescan. If checked, modified tags can be overwritten with the latest metadata.

Before using any of these, read the confirmation dialogs carefully before continuing. Make sure none of the audiobook files are in use by another application.

Library Options

All of these options include a dialog message showing what will be done with an option whether to proceed. Use care, and always back up your library manually before attempting a big change.

Main Window

From left to right, top to bottom, the OpenAudible main window has a search bar, version/news indicator, Library Status Panel, Audiobook Info, Summary Panel, and Audiobook table that lists your books.

main window

Searching

search

The search bar at the top right of the app allows you to filter books by text or pre-defined filters. Type CTRL-F (Command-F) to activate the search. Start typing and all books that match will be shown. Use Escape to clear the search results and display all books.

Pro tips:

To the right, a line of text displays the current version, and if there are any upgrades or news available.

Predefined Search Filters

The Search Combo also has a list of predefined search filters that can be helpful finding groups of books matching a characteristic.

filter
  • AAX Files: Show all books that have an associated AAX file.
  • MP3 Files: Show all books that have an associated MP3 file.
  • M4B Files: Show all books that have an associated M4B file.
  • PDFs: Show all books that have a PDF file or link to one.
  • AYCE: Show books that are "all you can eat" included with your membership.
  • Ignored: Books that have been marked (by you!) to be ignored. They can be unignored with the Action menu.
  • Missing Links: These books have no converted audio files and no link to download. These may need to be deleted.
  • To Convert: Books that have an AAX file that can be converted into MP3 or M4B.
  • To Download: Books that don't have a converted audio format that could be downloaded.
  • Downloading: Books that are in the download queue or are actively downloading.
  • Converting: Books that are in the convert queue or are actively converting.
  • Possible Duplicates: Show books that have the same ASIN, Product ID, or Title. These could be unwanted duplicates.

Library Status

This shows your library statistics. These numbers are kept up to date and show important stats about your library and tasks.

library status

Hint: Click on any blue label to see books that match that filter. For instance, click 'Downloading' to see all books that are being downloaded or queued for downloading.

Audiobook Info

Information about a selected book is displayed here. This info is collected from web or meta tags. Some metadata can be edited using the Get Info and tag editor.

The blue labels on the left side can be clicked on to filter books by title, author, narrator, genre, or publisher.

Clicking the blue text on the right side will open the browser to display the Audible page for the title, author, narrator, genre, or publisher.

The information for each data element is self-explanatory.

The ID contains the Product_ID/ASIN.

The State field shows any errors or tasks that can be performed.

Audiobook Info State

State can be one of the following:

  • Download progress while the book is being downloaded
  • Conversion progress while conversion is in progress
  • Ready To Download
  • Ready To Convert
  • In Convert Queue (waiting to be converted)
  • In Download Queue (waiting to be downloaded)
  • OK: [mp3/m4b] Book has been converted
  • No Audio File: No audio file or download link for this book
  • Error: Description of problem

The state will also correspond to an icon in the Audiobook Table.

Audiobook Table

The list of your books. Click on a book and the book's information will populate into the "Audiobook Info" panel.

An icon on the left side shows the book's status. The following status icons are available:

Status Green Audiobook is available as an MP3 or M4B audiobook file
Status White Audiobook is ready to download
Status Red Audiobook is missing and has no download link. May need to be deleted. This can happen if you import a book and delete the audio file.
Status AAX Audiobook is ready to be converted from AAX to MP3 or M4B
Status Converting Audiobook is being converted to MP3 or M4B. Click on the book to see the progress in the Audiobook Info Panel.
Status Convert Queue Audiobook is in the conversion queue and is scheduled to be converted.
Status downloading Audiobook is being downloaded. Click on the book to see the progress in the Audiobook Info Panel.
Status downloading_queue Audiobook is in the download queue and is scheduled to be downloaded.
Status audiobook_dir Audiobook is a directory containing one or more audiobook files.
Status audiobook_dir_err Audiobook is a directory that is no longer found on disk.

To sort by a column, click the column header once. To sort in the reverse direction, click it again. Click it a 3rd time to go back to default sorting.

Table columns can be rearranged by clicking the header and dragging to a new location.

Additional table columns options are available, including hiding columns and adding new ones. Right-click the table and a menu will show, then select the submenu called 'Table Settings'. To restore the Book Table to default items and sorting, select 'Reset Table' from the 'Table Settings' submenu.

Menus

Importing/Exporting

Simple Copy and Paste

You can select one or more books in the Book Table and select Edit: Copy and paste it into any document (Google sheets, Excel, or text document).

Only the items in the table will be copied.

Exporting All Audiobook Data

To export a list of your books (not the audiobooks files), select File: Export Book List and set the "Save as Type:" to either json, csv, xlsx. OpenAudible also keeps an updated "books.json" that can be used in read-only mode by other applications.

Your audible library can be exported as a web page, json, .csv, or .xlst (Excel/Numbers) file from the File menu, so you'll have a list of all your books.

Exporting Web Page

This optional feature lets you export your books as a web page. if you want to access your books on your own personal web server. Please ensure that you password-protect this file to prevent the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted works.

This feature is likely to change in the future. It creates a rather large copy of all the converted books, doubling the amount of space needed to save your books.

Exporting Cover Art Poster

This feature lets you create a collage poster image showing your audiobook cover artwork. When selected, a dialog appears showing options for different image sizes and layouts.

Depending on the number of audiobooks in your library, this can take a while and/or create large images. The images are saved in the temporary directory and will be shown in a image viewer window. Use the scroll wheel to zoom in or out. Use the "Save As" button to save the PNG image to a location of your choice.

Note, some cover artwork may be copyrighted, so please use accordingly.

cover art export options cover art poster

You can change the size of the poster, number of rows and columns, and shuffle or sort them in your library table.

Drag Files to Desktop

You can drag a "Green" audiobook from the Book Table directly to the desktop, directory folder, or other application that accepts drag and drop.

If you drag to the desktop or directory, a copy of the converted audiobook will be copied to that location.

Dragging an audiobook from OpenAudible to an application, such as VLC, will either add the file to a playlist or start playing the book.

Back Up OpenAudible Library

To back up or export your entire OpenAudible library to another directory location, use the Copy Library button under the File: Manage Libraries menu.

This can be used to save a backup copy to a cloud disk, external drive, or when you want to move your library to a new directory. See more at: Manage Libraries.

Importing

Importing is recommended when you can't download and import books directly from Audible using the Library Sync features.

Use the File: Import Books menu, or drag and drop "whole book audio files" of type MP3, M4B, M4A, directories, ZIP, AA or AAX files onto the Library Status Panel of the OpenAudible application.

Zip files are a special case, and somewhat experimental. The idea is you can download zip files from Librivox and drag them onto OpenAudible. If the zip file contains at least one audio file and an optional image file, the book will be automatically "joined". The audio files need to be alphabetically sorted to join correctly. If you experience problems, you may need to unzip the files and manually add them. This is an experimental feature.

Directories are similarly handled; we assume a directory needs to be "joined".

Note: Only import full books and not books split into multiple parts. To import a book that contains multiple audio files, please see Joining Files in the next section, or import from a zip file.

Import from URL is a feature that lets you download a book from a web URL and add it directly into your library. If you send a link to an HTML page, we will look for a zip file or audio file and import that. Please use with care, as this is an experimental feature. You don't want to accidentally add a bunch of audio files that aren't books to your library.

Splitting & Joining Audiobooks

OpenAudible prefers 1 audio file per audiobook. It's how our software was designed. However, many people prefer an audiobook split by chapter.

It is also possible to download a book in a zip file that may contain multiple parts that can be combined to create a whole book in a single audio file. See Importing zip files above.

Join Audio Files

Some audiobooks contain multiple audio files. To import these into your library, or to simply have a single audio file for each book, you can use the Join Audio Files command, under the File Menu. To join audio files into a single mp3 file, choose "Join Audio Files" from the File menu. Select a directory that contains all the audio files. If an image file is present, it will be used as the cover art. Audio files in the directory must be sorted alphabetically in the order you want them joined. (Be careful, Chapter 11 will sort alphabetically before Chapter 2, so you may need to add leading zeros to make Chapter 01, Chapter 02...). Next, select a destination directory for the output file. It can be the OpenAudible's "temp" directory, or anywhere. After joining, you will be asked if you want to import (move) the file to your OpenAudible library.

Pro tip: You can drag and drop one or more book directories onto OpenAudible to import books into your library as a single mp3 or m4b file.
Each directory should contain one audiobook, with one or more audio files and 1 optional JPG or PNG cover image file. All parts of the book must be in the correct order alphabetically, so be careful if you have a book that is chapter 1, chapter 2... chapter 11, as those may sort chapter 11 after chapter 1.

Split By Chapter

We do not recommend splitting books in most cases. Instead, use a good audiobook program that can handle chapter metadata and keep track of where you are listening across all your devices. However, some players have limited storage or may not manage playback position well. In those rare cases, splitting may be useful.

To split a book by chapter:

  1. Select one or more books in the OpenAudible book table and select Action: Split by Chapter.

    If you selected one book, it will be shown in the file explorer after splitting. If you selected multiple books to split, a report will show the results of the split.

    As of OpenAudible 3.9, split books will be added directly to your library and show with a green 'folder' icon.

  2. To split Select a file not in your OpenAudible library, select File: Split by Chapter and select any MP3 file you wish to split.
  3. Select a destination directory location for the split book parts
  4. If chapter data is present, the audiobook will be split into multiple chapters, leaving the original file untouched.

Note: If you have a full MP3 and M4B version of the book, OpenAudible will split the book as your preferred output format.

Tag Editing and Auto-Fill

OpenAudible includes a tag editor to allow you to update the metadata associated with your audiobooks.

To access, select one book and use the Action: Get Info menu.

Get Info Window with Tag Editor

Podcasts

OpenAudible can manage your saved Podcast episodes. Use the File: Manage Libraries menu to check or uncheck the "Enable Podcasts" feature.

Enabling this feature will add a "podcasts" directory alongside your "books" directory.

If you subscribe to a lot of podcasts, use care when enabling this feature with the automatic download feature turned on. You can see how many episodes are available by looking at the Library Status panel.

Note: To view all podcasts, select "Podcasts" from the search menu, or click the "Podcasts" link on the Library Status Panel.

Ignored Books

Some books in your library might be lame. Maybe you'd rather not download them. For those books, just select them and Action: Ignore Book to add it to the list of books to be ignored.

Restore Ignored Books

  1. Click on the "Ignored:" Library Status in the upper-left of the main window
  2. Your ignored books will be shown. Select one or more books and right-click or Action: Unignore Book(s) to remove the books from the ignored list.

Read Status

Each book can have a "read status" which can be set from the Action: Set Read Status.

Options are:

You can also set a custom value by selecting the Get Info menu and editing the value in the Read Status field.

Chapter Names

Chapter names are available for some books. When they are available, they will be added to the output file and available in audiobook players that recognize standard chapter metadata.

If you have converted files created before version 3.1, your output books may be missing chapter names. To add chapter names to these books, you'll need to perform a Controls: Full Audible Library Sync, then manually delete the mp3/m4b files, select Control: Rescan Files, then re-encode the files.

File Names

Currently, file naming is handled by OpenAudible. You can rename the filename under the Controls: Rename Book.

A future version should allow you to customize the filename format by author, series, genre, etc., but this commonly requested feature is still "in progress."

Duplicate Books

Detecting duplicate audiobooks and removing them is a challenge. OpenAudible includes several methods to detect and compare possible duplicate books. Generally OpenAudible will not allow duplicates if the ASIN or Product ID match. But in some cases, you may want the title to match -- for instance the same audiobook with different narrators or translations.

Selecting "Possible Duplicates" from the Find dropdown menu will show all possible duplicates.

Selecting any two books from the Book Table will compare the two books and display a short report about their differences in the Summary Panel. You can decide to delete one of the books, or ignore the differences. Use care when deleting a book that you know which files are associated with each book-- you do not want to delete a book that has an audio file associated with it that you want to keep.

Unsupported Books

AAXC files that have been downloaded from Android or Kindle are not supported. (However, these can be downloaded using OpenAudible.)

To check if your book is downloadable, open a regular web browser, click on your library, and search for the name of the book. If there is a "Download" button, it should be available to download. Without a download button, there is usually an explanation of why it can't be downloaded.

If you have an AAX file that won't convert, delete or move the file and re-download it using OpenAudible.

License and Demo Mode

OpenAudible is shareware and can be tried before buying. To use all the features, a low-cost license is required.

A license can be purchased from openaudible.org/purchase or from within the application About: Purchase.... One license can be used on up to 5 personal audible accounts. Not for commercial use. Use only for archiving and backing up your audiobook purchases.

Activating the license is done through the About: License... menu. More details about the license and order lookup are available at openaudible.org/license.

If you exceed the limit of five audible accounts on one license, your license will not allow you to work with books from additional Audible accounts.

A license entitles you to one year of free updates. After 1 year, an upgrade can be purchased through the application that will give you another year of software updates. But you can always use a version of the software that was created before the annual expiration date.

Troubleshooting

Here are some common problems and how to solve them.

Often opening the File: Log Window and looking at the last few lines can show an error, and often the error has a description that might help you figure out what happened.


If you are having trouble downloading or converting a specific book, select the book at look at the Audiobook Info Panel at the State line.

The State field shows the current state of the book, including:
ready to download, downloading, ready to convert, converting, error or OK.

Login Errors

Logging into Audible from OpenAudible can fail for a few reasons.

Download Errors

There are a few reasons why a download might fail.

First, select the book and look at the Audiobook Info Panel State information. That will give the status.

It is always best to back up your files as soon as possible.

Conversion Errors

To troubleshoot an audiobook not converting, select the book and look at the state in the Book Info Panel.

Conversion can fail if...

You may need to Action:Delete Book and do a Controls: Full Audible Library Sync, download and convert.

Missing Audiobooks

Having trouble finding an audiobook that was in your library? Here are some things to check.

Additional Help

OpenAudible may stop working at any time, due to changes in Audible systems or API. If this happens, check for an update or open issues.

Submitting a bug report from the About menu will send diagnostic information to developers. For best results, restart OpenAudible, reproduce the problem, then fill in the bug report with as many details as possible and click send. A valid GitHub issue number is required— either create a new issue, or use the number of a similar issue. Add a comment to the issue on GitHub if you have more information.

Uninstalling

Uninstalling uses common practices. If you used an installer, there will be an uninstaller.

Mac and AppImage users can toss the application into the trash.

Your settings files can be deleted, and are saved in the "Preferences Directory" displayed in the preferences. The default location on Windows is C:\Users\NAME\OpenAudible. On Mac it is /Users/NAME/Library/OpenAudible. On Linux ~/OpenAudible.

Credits

This software gratefully uses FFmpeg under the LGPL built using ffmpeg-build from acoustid.

Please do not share your books. Any personal metadata in the audible files are copied to the output files.

Use of this software for piracy or on file sharing sites is strictly prohibited. Violating these terms will result in us canceling your account and banning you.

This software is copyright the authors of the software.

OpenAudible loves, but is unaffiliated with audible.com