AVC cannot convert MK4 to MP4?

[RowRowYourBoat]

For the past year, my downloader extension had compiled YouTube videos in a WebM format, which I then convert with ANY Video Converter. This August, the extension began saving YouTube videos in MKV format. I assumed that AVC would convert them, same as everything else I've thrown at it.

Nope. I get 0 byte files every time. I tried VLC. It will "convert" them, but the first 3-5 seconds end up as audio only; afterwards, the video pauses and stutters, the audio is slightly distorted.

I'm wondering if AVC's problem is a paywall thing, a bug, a removed feature (it did upgrade this morning), or something else. Any ideas? Thanks!

[butterw]

download mp4 directly with youtube-dl

[RowRowYourBoat]

The videos converted from MKV to MP4 by VLC aren't compatible with AVStoDVD—they are read as having a length of 0:00.

Could not get youtube-dl to work. I don't have the skill set, honestly. The GUI version yields separate video and audio files—I don't know what to do with that.

My go-to down loader has been the ANT extension installed in Firefox. When I started years ago, YouTube videos were FLV, then switched to WebM. I use Any Video Converter to get from WebM to MP4. I am shocked it cannot convert MK4 into other formats

Why would the ANT developers change their output (from FLV to WebM to MKV) this way?

[davexnet]

What is MK4?

[manono]

Maybe this MKV format is designed as a new YouTube hurdle?

Stop spouting nonsense. All YouTube videos are available for direct download as MP4. Maybe try 4K Video Downloader.

[LigH.de]

sneaker provided a command line for youtube-dl which will make it select the best available video and audio format with some constraints to keep the video in AVC format and a maximum resolution of 1080p, you could make a batch file to call with the YouTube clip's ID or URL as parameter:

youtube-dl -f "bestvideo[vcodec^=avc1][height<=1080]+bestaudio[acodec^=mp4a]/best[vcodec^=avc1][height<=1080]" -- %1

[RowRowYourBoat]

Maybe this MKV format is designed as a new YouTube hurdle?

Stop spouting nonsense. All YouTube videos are available for direct download as MP4. Maybe try 4K Video Downloader.

Maybe the problem stems from the downloader I've been using.

The reviews for 4K Video Downloader lead me to believe it isn't reliable.

[LigH.de]

In case of youtube-dl, don't forget to let it self-update now and then, when you get a lot of errors about not being able to load the JavaScript player or similar:

youtube-dl -U

The MPC-HC media player also contains a youtube-dl interface, might be worth a try if you have little experience on the command line.

[manono]

The reviews for 4K Video Downloader lead me to believe it isn't reliable.

We already know what your beliefs are worth. I was surprised when I read the comments as I've never had a problem with it. There are a ton of good YouTube downloaders. Even YouTube-DL has GUIs available.

[ProWo]

The videos converted from MKV to MP4 by VLC aren't compatible with AVStoDVD—they are read as having a length of 0:00.

Post a MediaInfo Report from one of this videos here

[RowRowYourBoat]

Here are summaries of the original MKV and the MP4 conversion. I'm new to the application, and apologize in advance if I did something wrong.

Turns out the problem is more my chosen downloader than YouTube itself. Last August, the developer changed the downloader output from FLV to WebM. Took me a little while to find something to convert WebM (Any Video Converter). This August, they switched from WebM to MKV. I don't know why they do this, and there is no real way to contact them.

The MKV files play and sound fine in VLC. But format conversions either don't work at all, or are corrupted. I've tried three converters to date.

On another note, I've not messed with command line stuff much since the 90's, and am not interested in going back. I prefer applications with a Windows GUI.

[butterw]

Native youtube containers: mp4, webm (all youtube videos comes in these formats) and webm is really just mkv.

Download mp4 (avc+aac), you won't need to convert or re-encode. 4K Video Downloader was recommended to you and comes with a Windows GUI.