A CBZ & CBR reader for your comics — and everything else
ReadAware opens CBZ and CBR archives directly, no conversion and no extraction, on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android — a free, open-source reader where your comics live on the same shelf as your books.
The archive is the book
A CBZ or CBR file is just a zipped or RAR-packed folder of page images, and most tools make you convert it or unpack it before reading. ReadAware treats the archive itself as the book: import it and read, page by page, with your position remembered per comic. The file you downloaded is the file you keep — nothing is converted, re-compressed, or uploaded anywhere.
Comics and books on one shelf
Comic readers tend to be a separate world from ebook readers. ReadAware's single engine reads CBZ and CBR alongside EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, TXT, HTML, and PDF, so one library holds your whole collection — graphic novels next to prose, manga next to reference PDFs — with one reading history across all of it.
Your place follows you
On its own, everything is local-first: your comics and your progress live on your device and reading works fully offline. With the optional sync plan, the issue you stopped reading on your desktop is open at the same page on your phone, end-to-end encrypted in transit — the relay only ever stores ciphertext. ReadAware is open source (AGPL-3.0) and free on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.
Questions
- What are CBZ and CBR files?
- Comic book archives: a CBZ is a ZIP and a CBR is a RAR, each containing the comic's pages as images in reading order. ReadAware opens both directly, without unpacking or converting them.
- Do I need to convert my comics first?
- No. Import the CBZ or CBR as-is and start reading. The original archive stays untouched — it's the copy you keep.
- Is it free?
- Yes. Reading comics — and everything else ReadAware does with your library — is free, and the code is open source under AGPL-3.0. Free accounts include 50 MB of encrypted sync. Paid plans expand storage and can include built-in AI; BYOK provider charges are separate.
- Does my reading progress sync between devices?
- With the optional Sync plan, yes — your library and your place in each comic follow you between desktop and Android, end-to-end encrypted.
- What platforms does it run on?
- Windows, macOS, and Linux on desktop, and Android via a direct APK. iOS is on the way.
More about ReadAware: Open-source ebook reader · EPUB reader for Windows · EPUB reader for Android · ReadAware