Get MP3 audiobooks into Apple Books
Apple Books wants an audiobook as one .m4b file: that's where it gets the chapter list, the cover in the library and the remembered position. Kataribe turns a folder of MP3s into exactly that, in your browser, ready to import on your Mac and sync to your iPhone.
If you ripped audiobook CDs into iTunes years ago, you know the failure mode: one book shows up as 90 tracks, the chapter menu is empty, and stopping halfway through track 47 means finding track 47 again tomorrow. Drop the tracks here. The ID3 tags fill in title, author and cover, the track numbers set the order, every track becomes a chapter, and titles like "Track 07" can be renamed or left alone. At 64 kbps AAC, a 12-hour book comes out around 350 MB.
Then File → Import in Books on the Mac, or drag the .m4b into the Audiobooks section, and sync to the iPhone; steps for both are below. Books shows the chapter list, remembers where you stopped, and keeps the book out of your music. Nothing is uploaded on the way: the conversion runs on your machine.
How to get MP3 audiobooks into Apple Books with chapters
- Drop the ripped tracks for one book. iTunes CD rips carry track and disc numbers in ID3, and Kataribe orders by disc first, then track, as long as every file has a track number. A 12-disc rip therefore sorts correctly even when filenames restart at 01 on each disc. If one disc was ripped without numbers the set falls back to filename order; use the row arrows or rename with a disc prefix.
- Decide whether "Track 07" is good enough. Chapter titles come from the ID3 title, which for a CD rip is often "Track 07" or a disc-track string. Books displays those as-is in its chapter list. Renaming 90 tracks is optional; renaming the first track of each disc to "Disc 3" is a cheap compromise.
- Choose 64 kbps unless the production has music. CD rips are usually 128 kbps or higher MP3, more than speech needs; 64 kbps AAC sounds the same for a narrator and keeps a 12-hour book near 350 MB on the phone. Pick 96 for a full-cast recording, 128 if music is prominent.
- Check the cover Books will show. Art embedded by iTunes is picked up from the first file that has it. If the rip has none, drop a square JPEG or PNG; Books shows it in the library grid and in the player, so 600 pixels and up looks right.
- Author, then build. Books lists the author field prominently, so put the writer there and the narrator in the narrator field. Build, download, and follow the import steps below; the file is one item under Audiobooks with the chapter list attached.
Why Apple Books ignores your MP3 folder
Books has no notion of a folder as a book. Each imported audio file is its own item, and MP3s in particular have no audiobook flag or chapter atoms Books can read, so a ripped CD set appears as separate tracks that happen to share an album name. Position is stored per item, which is how a 90-track book loses your place.
An M4B answers all three: it is one file, it carries the media-type flag that routes it to Audiobooks rather than Music, and it holds the chapter list in the container. Books reads those on import with no further setup; nothing has to be typed into Books itself.
What Books reads from the file, and what it doesn't
Books shows the title, the author (from the artist field), the cover and the chapter list. The narrator and year are written into the file too, but Books doesn't reliably display them for imported audiobooks; other apps reading the same file do. Genre is set to Audiobook, which other players use for filtering.
The import doesn't alter the file. Books copies it into its library folder, and the M4B you downloaded remains a plain MP4 that any other player opens, so the same file can go to an Android phone or an Audiobookshelf server without a second build.
A 12-disc rip, sized for an iPhone
Phone storage is the constraint a Mac library never had. At 64 kbps a 90-track, 11-hour rip is around 320 MB; at 32 kbps it is 160 MB and noticeably rougher; at 128 it is 640 MB for no audible gain on narration. Sync copies the entire file, so the bitrate you choose here is the storage you spend there.
Mono sources at 64 kbps are the sweet spot for Books on a phone; stereo rips of mono narration waste half of that, and there is no downmix step in the builder, so a stereo rip stays stereo. If you have both the MP3 folder and the M4B, keep the folder on the Mac and only the M4B on the phone.
After you download the .m4b
Apple Books
- Mac: drag the .m4b into Books, or File → Add to Library. It lands under Audiobooks with the cover and chapters.
- iPhone / iPad: connect the device and sync audiobooks in Finder (or iTunes on Windows), or AirDrop the file and open it in Books.
- Books remembers your position and shows the chapter list from the file — that's the whole point of M4B over a folder of MP3s.
Read the guide
Frequently asked questions
- Can't I just import the MP3s into Books directly?
- You can, and Books will list them, but as separate tracks: no chapter list, no single entry in the library, and your place isn't reliably kept. One M4B is one book, with chapters and a position Books remembers.
- How do I get the M4B onto my iPhone?
- Import it into Books on the Mac, connect the iPhone, and sync audiobooks from the Finder sidebar. Or AirDrop the .m4b to the phone and choose Books when asked. Either way it appears under Audiobooks with its cover and chapters.
- Why didn't iTunes' Create AAC Version give me chapters?
- It converts one track into one M4A and writes music tags; it never joins files or writes chapter markers. Kataribe does both, and can take those M4As as input without re-encoding them.
- Does Books show the cover and narrator?
- The cover shows in the library and the title and author are what Books lists. Narrator, year and the Audiobook genre are written into the file's metadata, so other players that display them will.
- Can Apple Books play M4B with chapters?
- Yes. Books on Mac, iPhone and iPad reads the chapter list embedded in an M4B and shows it in the player, with skip-to-chapter and the chapter name in the now-playing view. Chapters are the main thing you gain over importing loose MP3s.
- Why did my audiobook show up in Music instead of Books?
- Because it was added through Music, or because the file was an .m4a or MP3 with music tags. Kataribe writes the audiobook media type and the .m4b extension; add the file to Books, not Music, and it lands under Audiobooks.
- Do I need iTunes for this?
- Not on a Mac; Books handles the import and Finder handles syncing to the phone. On Windows, Kataribe still builds the file in your browser, and iTunes for Windows or the Apple Devices app moves it to an iPhone.
- Are my audio files uploaded anywhere?
- No. Kataribe runs FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly inside your browser, so the files never leave your device. The engine (about 30 MB) downloads once and is cached; after that there is no account, no queue and no watermark.
- How long does a full book take?
- Encoding runs many times faster than real time on a modern laptop, but a full-length book still takes minutes, not seconds. Keep the tab open until the download appears. If every input is already AAC, the audio is copied rather than re-encoded, which is much quicker.
- Is this really free?
- Yes. Every input format, every bitrate, cover art and metadata, no sign-up, and nothing added to the audio.
- Does it work with DRM-protected audiobooks?
- No. DRM-protected files (Audible .aax and similar) won't open, and we don't help with that. Kataribe is for audio you already have in plain MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC or OGG.