Content protection / Readium LCP DRM
Protect the book. Keep the reader journey open.
Publish360 uses Readium LCP to protect licensed ebooks, PDFs and audiobooks in branded native apps, without making a legitimate reader's experience unnecessarily difficult.
01 / The protection model
An open standard, designed for publishing.
Readium LCP means Licensed Content Protection. It is an interoperable, vendor-neutral DRM standard managed by the European Digital Reading Lab (EDRLab), with ISO/IEC 23078-2:2024 status.
Its role is practical: protect content from casual over-sharing while allowing authorised readers to access their books, documents and audio in a supported reading environment. The protection sits behind the product experience rather than becoming a separate reader task.
01
Encrypt the publication
Content is encrypted before delivery and stored so that it cannot be opened without a valid licence credential.
02
Issue rights with the entitlement
When a reader receives access, the platform provides a rights document containing the key and configured usage rules.
03
Validate the authorised reader
The reading app validates the licence, decrypts the content locally and opens the title for the legitimate reader.
04
Keep reading available offline
The device caches the credential for offline access and can validate it again when the reader reconnects.
02 / Reader-compatible protection
Protection should not create a second job for the reader.
Readium LCP is designed to work with a reader identity and entitlement model, not to force people through a separate third-party account journey. Its approach is compatible with assistive technology such as screen readers and text-to-speech when the publication and reading experience support them.
Supports publishing formats
The LCP specification covers EPUB 2 and EPUB 3, PDF, and packaged web publications for audiobooks and DiViNa.
Works offline
A reader can continue to use a valid on-device credential while offline, before the app checks back when connection is restored.
Fits different access models
Usage rules can support purchased, subscribed, loaned and preview content, according to the publisher's agreed commercial model.
03 / Publish360 implementation
Readium LCP in the Publish360 platform.
Publish360 applies Readium LCP to content delivered through branded iOS and Android apps. Native apps provide the strongest context for LCP: protected local storage, application sandboxing and encrypted rights validation work together to keep licensed content within the reader experience.
Publishers do not need to make content protection an operational burden for readers. Access follows the purchase or subscription entitlement already managed by the platform, while rights controls remain available for the agreed commercial model.
Browser protection is a separate consideration.
Browser-based applications cannot safely hold the DRM secrets used by LCP. EDRLab is developing Readium Web Content Protection (WCP) as a complementary approach for web reading. Publish360 monitors that work as an EDRLab member; publishers should confirm the current web-reader protection scope for their deployment.
- Entitlement-based access that follows a reader’s purchase or subscription status.
- Configured access models for purchase, subscription, loan and preview journeys.
- Protected offline reading and listening on the branded iOS and Android apps.
- A single delivery model across ebooks, PDFs, audiobooks and relevant supplementary material.
04 / Standards and sources
Check the technical detail at source.
DRM specifications and web-reading standards develop over time. The following primary resources explain the current LCP model and EDRLab's work on complementary web protection.
