Change MKV Audio

[chang123]

Hello Everyone,

I have an MKV file that shows "audio format not supported" when I try and play it in my DVD player. I have found out that the audio file is E-AC3 2 channel. Is there a quick and easy way to convert the audio file to a playable format?

Thanks in advance.

[netmask56]

Popcorn MKV Audio Convertor https://www.videohelp.com/software/PopCorn-MKV-AudioConverter

[chang123]

Many thanks. I'll give it a go.

[hech54]

Re-rip your original disc and take the correct audio?

[DigitalPhreaker]

I don't think PopCorn is going to work for you in this case; it doesn't appear to support converting AC3. I get this error every time:

Audio Track #1 of codec A_AC3 is not of a codec type that can be converted by AudioConverter

However, OP, you can extract the audio stream using gMKVExtractGUI (installed on top of MKVToolNix), and then use eac3to to quickly convert the audio. This may seem like a bunch of steps, but it only takes a few minutes to download, and MKVToolNix is the only one that needs to be installed; gMKVExtractGUI is just copied into MKVToolNix's directory, and you can extract eac3to wherever works for you.

I use eac3to pretty much exclusively, most often to convert/downmix multi-channel AC3 tracks to stereo AAC:

eac3to.exe "C:\Path\to\AC3Audio.ac3" "C:\Output\Path\for\ExportedAudio.m4a" -downStereo -normalize -quality=X

(Where X is any number between 0.01 and 1)

But if the AC3 track was already 2-channel (like yours), I'd just remove the "-downStereo" switch for:

eac3to.exe "C:\Path\to\AC3Audio.ac3" "C:\Output\Path\for\ExportedAudio.m4a" -normalize -quality=X

I've found that AAC audio (in an MP4 container) is damn near universally playable on smart TVs, Android and iOS, gaming consoles, etc. So whenever I finish ripping a Blu-ray, I'll also create a smaller, streaming version to store on my NAS. And I always use these very programs to do so. gMKVExtractGUI to extract the video, audio, and subtitle streams, eac3to to convert the (usually) AC3 audio to AAC/m4a, then, depending on the container, I'll either use mp4box to make an MP4 or MKVToolNix GUI to remux the new streams back together for a new MKV.

Since I'm assuming you want to remux back into an MKV, all you have to do after conversion is launch MKVToolNix GUI, select all the tracks you extracted (swapping the original audio track with your newly converted one), selecting your output directory, and hitting "Mux." And this muxing process only takes a minute or so.

On my slightly-aging computer, eac3to can chew through a 5.1 channel AC3 and convert it to 2-channel AAC in about 4 minutes. So from extracting, to converting, then finally back to remuxing, you're looking at about 10 minutes of effort.

If you'd like more detailed instructions, I'd be happy to provide them.

[videobruger]

ffmpeg (CLI)

ffmpeg -i "MKV_EAC3.MKV" -c:v copy -c:a AC3 "MKV_AC3.MKV"

If you prefer GUI Xmedia Recode with "Copy" for video.

[sekininsha]

It can also be done with the package eac3to 3.34 with UsEac3to GUI 1.2.9 Portable


All Roads Lead to Rome

[netmask56]

I don't think PopCorn is going to work for you in this case; it doesn't appear to support converting AC3. I get this error every time:

Audio Track #1 of codec A_AC3 is not of a codec type that can be converted by AudioConverter

However, OP, you can extract the audio stream using gMKVExtractGUI (installed on top of MKVToolNix), and then use eac3to to quickly convert the audio. This may seem like a bunch of steps, but it only takes a few minutes to download, and MKVToolNix is the only one that needs to be installed; gMKVExtractGUI is just copied into MKVToolNix's directory, and you can extract eac3to wherever works for you.

I use eac3to pretty much exclusively, most often to convert/downmix multi-channel AC3 tracks to stereo AAC:

eac3to.exe "C:\Path\to\AC3Audio.ac3" "C:\Output\Path\for\ExportedAudio.m4a" -downStereo -normalize -quality=X

(Where X is any number between 0.01 and 1)

But if the AC3 track was already 2-channel (like yours), I'd just remove the "-downStereo" switch for:

eac3to.exe "C:\Path\to\AC3Audio.ac3" "C:\Output\Path\for\ExportedAudio.m4a" -normalize -quality=X

I've found that AAC audio (in an MP4 container) is damn near universally playable on smart TVs, Android and iOS, gaming consoles, etc. So whenever I finish ripping a Blu-ray, I'll also create a smaller, streaming version to store on my NAS. And I always use these very programs to do so. gMKVExtractGUI to extract the video, audio, and subtitle streams, eac3to to convert the (usually) AC3 audio to AAC/m4a, then, depending on the container, I'll either use mp4box to make an MP4 or MKVToolNix GUI to remux the new streams back together for a new MKV.

Since I'm assuming you want to remux back into an MKV, all you have to do after conversion is launch MKVToolNix GUI, select all the tracks you extracted (swapping the original audio track with your newly converted one), selecting your output directory, and hitting "Mux." And this muxing process only takes a minute or so.

On my slightly-aging computer, eac3to can chew through a 5.1 channel AC3 and convert it to 2-channel AAC in about 4 minutes. So from extracting, to converting, then finally back to remuxing, you're looking at about 10 minutes of effort.

If you'd like more detailed instructions, I'd be happy to provide them.

Yes it will convert E-AC3 Just go to File menu and select Simple Audio Convertor as per attached image

[netmask56]

Just to make it clearer - you can change E-AC3 to a more compatible format using Popcorn Audio Converter the location of the page to do so is under FILE and select Simple Audio Convertor, ticking the box E-AC3

[chang123]

Thanks for your advice. I used Pazera Free Audio Extractor to extract and convert the audio to AAC and the remixed with MKVToolnix GUI. The whole process took less than 10 minutes.
Popcorn Audio Converter didn't work for me.

[netmask56]

Thanks for your advice. I used Pazera Free Audio Extractor to extract and convert the audio to AAC and the remixed with MKVToolnix GUI. The whole process took less than 10 minutes.
Popcorn Audio Converter didn't work for me.

You need the latest version of Popcorn Audio Converter with the addition of th Simple Audio Converter page. Good that you found Pazera that would have been my next suggestion, it works quite quickly.