converting MKV to MP4 (Windows)

[flummery]

I'm writing this down mostly so I don't forget it, but figured it might be helpful for other people as well. CAVEAT: I've been using this method for a whopping 2 hours now. I cannot do any sort of troubleshooting for it, and I have no idea if it's the easiest/best method out there. It's just the first one I tried that worked pretty well and pretty quickly, so I said "good enough!" and am sticking with it, at least for now.

I did try VLC first, which worked, but took a really long time, and stripped the audio. Which would be a bonus if I was only looking for a viddable mp4, but I wanted a watchable version first. Still, if you just want to do some conversions with familiar software, VLC will totally work.

I got impatient, and went hunting, and stumbled over a video on Youtube where someone went through all the steps they used, including links to where they found their software. He didn't have audio, so wrote the steps up in a text doc as he went along, which worked for me, but YMMV. (I've embedded the video below.)

This process needs three pieces of software (all links go to videohelp.com):

• MKVcleaver
  
• MKVToolNix
  
• My MP4Box GUI

Download, extract if needed, and install all three. (As I write this, My MP4Box GUI comes zipped; the other two don't. This is different from the embedded video, so clearly things shift around from time to time.)

Once you've got them all installed, here are the steps:

• Open MKVcleaver


• At the top right, there's a button that says "Locate MKVToolNix". Click that, and browse to your installed MKVToolNix folder (don't drill down to a specific component; you want the entire folder here).


• That's all you need to do with MKVToolNix - it just runs in the background of MKVcleaver. You won't need to set this up again unless you move the folder.


• At the top left, there's a button that says "Open MKV files to process". Click that, and browse to the first MKV file you want to convert.


• If you want to batch convert a bunch of files, keep adding files till you have everything you want.


• The files you include will show up in the left-hand pane. The right-hand pane will give you options on what you want to extract. I wanted video and audio, so I chose Video Track 1 and Audio Track 1.


• If you've selected a batch of files to work with, whatever you pick in the right-hand pane will apply to everything. The program will skip any file that doesn't include everything you've asked it to extract.


• Set your output directory below the left-hand pane. If you leave this blank, it will automatically save your files to the same directory/ies they came from.


• Click "Extract Tracks !"


• Wait for it to finish (but it doesn't take that long).

This gives you demuxed (split) audio (ac3) and video (h.264) files. You need to mux (combine) them to get a working mp4. Even if you only extracted the video, you'll need to run it through a muxer to use the file.

• Open My MP4Box GUI. It should open on the "Mux" tab, which is the one you want.


• Click "Add" to add a track. You can only add one track at a time.


• To mux files individually:


• Add whatever tracks were extracted from the original MKV (for me, that meant one video and one audio file per original MKV)


• Click the "Mux" button at the bottom.


• Wait for the process to finish, then click "Clear" to clear the list of files, and "Add" to add your next file(s).


• To mux multiple files at once:


• Add whatever tracks were extracted from the first original MKV (for me, that meant one video and one audio file per original MKV)


• Click the "Add to Queue" button at the bottom.


• A second box will pop open, showing the export path for the muxed file you want.


• In the main box, your file name(s) will vanish, letting you move straight to adding the file(s) for the next one you want.


• When you have everything you want queued up, click "Start" in the Queue popup box.


• The file(s) will automatically export to the same directory/ies the demuxed file(s) came from.

You should now have working mp4 files that match the original mkv quality. \o/

The batching works well in both programs, and speeds things up considerably.

"Convert MKV to MP4 Very fast (HD)" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[montanaharper]

Thanks! I'll be memorying this, since it seems like all the files I get nowadays are mkv. (I wonder if there was wank over the change when I wasn't paying attention. I remember the giant wank of doom and destruction that happened a few years ago at the user end of the distro channels when the shift from avi to mp4 happened; it was like the world was ending for some people.)

[flummery]

On the one hand, I know the mkvs are because the original sources are nice high-quality HD level things, so yay. On the other hand, omg mkv suuuuuucckks. Everything hates it! Maybe newer versions of Premiere can cope with it, but mine won't even recognize the file type as existing. And mpeg streamclip won't recognize it, either. ugh ugh ugh.

FWIW, when I brought the muxed file into mpeg streamclip, it still choked on it, even using the most recent beta release. (Which is what I use to strip audio out of things.) But going back to My MP4Box GUI and queueing up just the video files worked fine; they import into Premiere without a hitch, and seem easy to work with.

[montanaharper]

Well, if I'm just watching stuff, mkv is great. VLC likes it and it's pretty and I have a one-step ripping option for it.

As for vidding, though, I'm not sure. I've got the CS6 version of Premiere (and probably won't be upgrading anytime soon, because I think all the newer versions are subscription rather than purchase), and I made a vid fairly recently (read: in the last two years) without a problem. I don't recall, though, if I used mkv source or if I converted it somehow.

I'll definitely keep your experiences in mind for future vidding forays.

[grammarwoman]

Thank you for posting this! I foresee a lot more MKV wrangling in my future. :)

[heresluck]

Ooooooooooh. *bookmarks*