What is a PDB file?
Palm Database
- Developed By
- Palm, Inc.
- Initial Release
- 1996
- MIME Type
- application/vnd.palm
In the context of eBooks, the PDB (Palm Database) format is a sequential record-based container originally engineered for the Palm OS platform. The file structure consists of a fixed-length header containing metadata (such as Type and Creator IDs) followed by a list of record offsets and the raw data records. For digital reading, these records typically contain text compressed via the PalmDOC (LZ77) or zTXT algorithms, effectively acting as a wrapper for eReader content.
How to open a PDB file
Modern desktop operating systems do not include native handlers for Palm OS databases. Users looking to access eBook content within PDB files should use Calibre or STDU Viewer, which can interpret the specific PalmDOC compression. Note that PDB is also an extension for 'Program Database' debug files in Visual Studio; these are binary disparate and require Microsoft development tools, not eBook readers.