Convert MKV to MP4

[NotChetHanks]

How can I convert an MKV to MP4 without losing too much of the quality? Thanks!

[Brandon H Supervisor]

check out Handbreak it's the goto app for most people doing video conversions

[NotChetHanks]

check out Handbreak it's the goto app for most people doing video conversions

And this is why I love Neowin. Thanks for the speedy response!

[_neutrino Veteran]

I use XenonMKV because then you do not have to re-encode the whole video again. it just opens the container and re contains it as a MP4 file. So you can take a 8Gb MKV file and have a MP4 file in about 5 minutes.

http://xenonmkv.ev98.net/

[LaP]

Avidemux would probably do the job too. Just change the container and keep the video and audio as is.

[articuno1au]

If you're looking to just change the container (.mkv and mp4 are just the wrappers for the file) consider Yam.

Much faster to just repackage the container than to transcode >.< We do it for mkv files for playback on the XBox.

[sagum]

For set it and forget it, I use freemake video converter. Will convert pretty much anything you want to anything you want. MKV to DVD? no problem, MKV to MP4? no problem.

It supports Cuda too so if you have an NVidia card, you can get some fast conversion times.

If you just want a few MKV in a MP4 format, it's a quick and easy way without having to learn how to use the other programs and settings. Otherwise, it might be quicker for you to use one of the mutex type programs.

However, depending on your use, if its for play back, most devices (iOS, Windows/WP/8, Android, Linux mac, Roku and some smart TVs and DLNA cert devices) are supported via PlexApp and transcodes on the fly and will usually grab cover art, and blerb about the movie too.

[Crisp]

+2 for Handbrake.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i'd never heard of Free Make before. sounds promising. will give it a shot. i always just use Handbrake.

[Riggers]

A program iv`e recently discovered is MkvToMp4, iv`e found it very good for converting mkv`s to mp4. Great tool, still being updated.

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MkvToMp4

[NotChetHanks]

I've used Freemake but I feel as if the quality was reduced greatly. Handbrake is pretty good but I will check out the others because changing the container would be best if it leaves the quality the same.

[ajua]

If you just want to change the container, you need to use a MP4 muxer/demuxer. One of the best is YAMB.

It's better if you change containers for compatibility reasons than to convert the video and audio as wou will surely loss quality on both.

To demux the MKV tracks use MKVCleaver. With it, you can extract audio, video and subtitles. Save them with their original extension (as provided by MKVCleaver). Using YAMB, import the tracks and mux them into a new MP4 file.

For converting formats, Handbrake can't be beat. Freemake Video Converter is a more user friendly program but also with plenty of options.

[Andre S. Veteran]

Don't re-encode! mp4 and mkv are just containers, not video encoding formats. This is very simple with ffmpeg (if you're not afraid to use a command prompt):

ffmpeg -i inputfile.mkv -vcodec copy -acodec copy outputfile.mp4[/CODE]

Explanation of the options:

-i : specifies the input, here inputfile.mkv

-vcodec copy: specifies that the output video codec is the same as input, i.e. no video re-encoding

-acodec copy: same thing but for audio

outputfile.mp4: name of the output video.

[NotChetHanks]

Don't re-encode! mp4 and mkv are just containers, not video encoding formats. This is very simple with ffmpeg (if you're not afraid to use a command prompt):

ffmpeg -i inputfile.mkv -vcodec copy -acodec copy outputfile.mp4[/CODE]

I found that file on my old computer and didn't know where it came from lol. I've used it before and it will preserve quality I'll do it.

[ajua]

I found that file on my old computer and didn't know where it came from lol. I've used it before and it will preserve quality I'll do it.

Now you have two options for not reencoding: use FFmpeg command-line as Asik suggested or go with a demux/remux like I described on my post :)

[NotChetHanks]

Okay I used FFMpeg and changed the container from mkv to mp4 and the audio is missing.

[Ambroos]

Try Avidemux. It's perfect for this stuff, in the menu bar you can select what audio track to copy etc. I use it all the time for exactly this purpose. On my SSD it takes about ten seconds to save a 2GB MKV as an MP4 :p

[Andre S. Veteran]

Okay I used FFMpeg and changed the container from mkv to mp4 and the audio is missing.

Try removing the -acodec copy option perhaps? It's always worked fine for me.

[LaP]

Okay I used FFMpeg and changed the container from mkv to mp4 and the audio is missing.

I second Ambroos. Try Avidemux it's really easy to use. Open Avidemux. Open the video file. For the audio output and video output chose copy. Select mp4 as the output format. Then save.

http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

[Cnónna]

check out Handbreak it's the goto app for most people doing video conversions

used freemake for a while, after using handbrake for ages, was good then they started to sneak that adware OpenCandy, and limiting the placement of subtitles unless you donated to the project. went back to handbrake, and never used anything else since. only downside is I cant figure out how to join episodes from one disc into a single file with it. I'd have to use some other software to merge them.

 

so I just put them all into playlists now which works equally as good if not better :D

[neo1911]

mkv/avi to mp4 converter

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mkvavi2mp4/

This one just muxes video (retaining original quality) and re-encodes only audio 2 channels from dts/mp3 to aac. It also has capability to embed subtitles in mp4.

[.stan]

+1 for Handbreak, it's a really good piece of software, even if it looks kinda ###### on Windows ;)

[lazling]

If you are searching the way to convert MKV to MP4 with high quality video and audio and low Mb size if possible, a professional .mkv to .mp4 video converter is needed. The freeware Handbrake and Brorsoft Video Converter are worth a try.

[vanx]

Personally, I use MkvToMp4 and I have no complaints about it (except that it hasn't been updated in a year, but it works fine all the same).

[coth]

MeGUI is free with lots plugins, including x264, x264 hi10p and x265.

[Daedroth]

I use MP4toMKV v0.224 to quickly convert MKV to MP4. It keeps the same encoding, but changes the container within a few minutes. (However if MKV has H.264 encoding and your device cannot play H.264 encoded files, then this will simply keep the H.264 encoding and put it in the MP4 container)

 

To completed re-encode, I use Freemake.