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user229552
Asked: 2013-12-29 09:04:33 +0800 CST

How to simply convert video files (i.e.: MKV to MP4)? [duplicate]

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I simply want to convert files, any format to any format (at the moment, I need to convert MKV to MP4-h264), without losing quality. I don't want to resize (scale) the video, I don't want to change its aspect ratio and I don't want it to lose quality (this is very important); all I want is "to change the format", that's all. Reason: my DVD player won't recognize any formats other than AVI or MP4. I don't care about file size, unless the difference between the input and the output files is absurdly huge. So, how do I do that?

I've already tried programs such as WinFF, Arista, Format Junkie, but their presets always change something which I don't want to be changed (size, aspec ratio, etc.). I'm not really sure, but I think the best way to get what I want is to go with the pure ffmpeg commands. But how?

By the way, Ubuntu 13.04 (64-bit), here. Thanks for your time, guys.

video

2 Answers

  1. If you only want to convert MKV to MP4 then you will save quality and a lot of time by just changing the containers. Both of these are just wrappers over the same content so the CPU only needs to do a little work. Don't re encode as you will definitely lose quality.

    It's very straight forward using ffmpeg:

    ffmpeg -i LostInTranslation.mkv -codec copy LostInTranslation.mp4

    Here, you are copying the video codec and audio codec so nothing is being encoded.

    Tip: To convert all MKV files in the current directory, run a simple loop in terminal:

    for i in *.mkv; do
    ffmpeg -i "$i" -codec copy "${i%.*}.mp4"
done

    For future conversions, like from AVI to MP4, check out HandBrake.

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  2. Here is one you haven't tried. Handbrake

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