Best Program for MKV to MP4 Conversion -- NO quality loss?

[xxevilxp3nrxx]

Hello everyone!

I've been working with and converting 720p HD MKV's for some time, and I've always needed them in an MP4 format. Typically, I did this by converting them in Freemake Video Converter from MKV to MP4, mostly on Auto settings.

However, once getting into the 1080p range, or very high 720 files, I've began to notice a quality loss, even when ripped at a higher bitrate than the original file. The most noticeable was The Hunger Games, from a 9GB 1080 MKV to a 7.5 GB MP4, with huge quality loss at a higher bitrate.

I know about handbrake, ffmpeg, etc. but have never actually attempted to use one, because I never had the need..Any advice on what program is best, what settings to use, and perhaps how to softcode subtitles into MP4 files without downloading 5 separate programs?

[videobruger]

MKVtoMP4 - no conversion (except possible for audio as MP4 may not contain the same audio as MKV) just change of container

[jagabo]

For $50 you can buy a media player that can play your MKV files and stop wasting time converting ot MP4. If you really must, I second the MKVtoMP4 suggestion. But beware, some MKV files may use h.264 features that your player can't handle. So a simple remux may not work.

[xxevilxp3nrxx]

In response to both posts:

@videobruger: Thank you so much. Not only this this take my 1080p MKV file and convert in in 1hr. 36. min, but it reduced the file size by 2GB - with no visible quality loss. The file opened in iTunes, and was even tagged as a HD file. Added Cover Art, worked perfect.

@jagabo: Read the post before replying. Not only had a solution already been given, but yours was to spend money on something I don't need or want. But thanks for nothing.

[pandy]

no loss means COPY elementary streams - if you only need to change container then this is simple copy operation that can be performed by ffmpeg or mencoder

ffmpeg -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a copy %1.mp4

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for best performance use source located on one physical hdd and destination on second physical device

[hech54]

Read the post before replying. Not only had a solution already been given, but yours was to spend money on something I don't need or want. But thanks for nothing.

I certainly hope you come back in the future for more "video help". I'll be looking forward to it....and so will MANY others.

[InnkeeperX86]

no loss means COPY elementary streams - if you only need to change container then this is simple copy operation that can be performed by ffmpeg or mencoder

ffmpeg -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a copy %1.mp4

---
for best performance use source located on one physical hdd and destination on second physical device

Could you provide an example? Such as, I have an mkv file on my desktop, called A. So, A.mkv, in other words. What code would I type in the cmd window to create a .mp4 copy onto my desktop?

[poisondeathray]

no loss means COPY elementary streams - if you only need to change container then this is simple copy operation that can be performed by ffmpeg or mencoder

ffmpeg -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a copy %1.mp4

---
for best performance use source located on one physical hdd and destination on second physical device

Could you provide an example? Such as, I have an mkv file on my desktop, called A. So, A.mkv, in other words. What code would I type in the cmd window to create a .mp4 copy onto my desktop?

ffmpeg -i "a.mkv" -c:v copy -c:a copy "output.mp4"

If everything is done on the desktop, you don't need to specify file paths

[InnkeeperX86]

Thanks. Worked like a charm! : )

[pandy]

Perhaps it can be useful for someone in future:

- create empty text (on Desktop) file named for example any2mp4.cmd (extension can be also bat i.e. any2mp4.bat),
- open freshly created any2mp4.cmd (or any2mp4.bat) in text editor and paste (CTRL+V) this line "ffmpeg -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a copy %1.mp4",
- save changes (usually CTRL+S),
- open any2mp4.cmd (or any2mp4.bat) and check that it have "ffmpeg -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a copy %1.mp4" inside, close viewer,
- download from http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ latest ffmpeg archive, after downloading unpack it and copy ffmpeg.exe to your Desktop,
- select avi, mkv or any reasonable video file format you have, drag this file to any2mp4.cmd (or any2mp4.bat) and drop on it, some "DOS-like" window should open and conversion process should be started, mp4 file will be loacated in same folder as source file, it will have same name with extension (thus you will know from what video it was converted to mp4) but last 3 letters of extension will be mp4 i.e. if your file was avi type e.g. myfile.avi, after conversion it will be named myfile.avi.mp4

[ThatFox]

Perhaps it can be useful for someone in future:

- create empty text (on Desktop) file named for example any2mp4.cmd (extension can be also bat i.e. any2mp4.bat),
- open freshly created any2mp4.cmd (or any2mp4.bat) in text editor and paste (CTRL+V) this line "ffmpeg -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a copy %1.mp4",
- save changes (usually CTRL+S),
- open any2mp4.cmd (or any2mp4.bat) and check that it have "ffmpeg -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a copy %1.mp4" inside, close viewer,
- download from http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ latest ffmpeg archive, after downloading unpack it and copy ffmpeg.exe to your Desktop,
- select avi, mkv or any reasonable video file format you have, drag this file to any2mp4.cmd (or any2mp4.bat) and drop on it, some "DOS-like" window should open and conversion process should be started, mp4 file will be loacated in same folder as source file, it will have same name with extension (thus you will know from what video it was converted to mp4) but last 3 letters of extension will be mp4 i.e. if your file was avi type e.g. myfile.avi, after conversion it will be named myfile.avi.mp4

Thanks, this might help me in not re-encoding the MKV file Outputted by Staxrip when I try to combine files.

[D88M3R]

can somebody PLEASE tell me how to convert a mkv h.265 to mp4 without losing quality?

[D88M3R]

PLEASE, i have been struggling with this for days now, there is really no software converter from mkv to mp4 without losing quality? here is some info:
[ Info sul file ]

Nome: Eyes.Wide.Shut.1999 1080p BluRay Ita Eng x265-NAHOM.mkv
Data: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 00:31:35 +0100
Dimensione: 4,756,277,125 bytes (4535.939336 MiB)

[ Magic ]

Tipo file: data

[ Info generiche ]

Durata: 02:39:00 (9540.385 s)
Contenitore: matroska
Production date: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 00:29:02 +0100
Totale tracce: 5
Traccia n. 1: video (V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC) {und}
Traccia n. 2: audio (A_AC3) {ita}
Traccia n. 3: audio (A_AC3) {eng}
Traccia n. 4: subtitle (S_TEXT/UTF8) {eng}
Traccia n. 5: subtitle (S_TEXT/UTF8) {ita}
Muxing library: libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.1
Writing application: mkvmerge v7.4.0 ('Circles') 32bit built on Dec 12 2014 12:10:09

[ Traccia video ]

Codec ID: V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Risoluzione: 1920 x 1080
Frame aspect ratio: 16:9 = 1.777778
Pixel aspect ratio: 1:1 = 1
Display aspect ratio: 16:9 = 1.777778
Framerate: 23.976024 fps
Dimensione stream: 3,837,859,649 bytes (3660.068177 MiB)
Durata: 02:38:59 (9538.946007 s)
Bitrate (bs): 3218.686548 kbps
Qf: 0.064741

[ Traccia audio nr. 1 ]

Codec ID: A_AC3
Freq. campionamento: 48000 Hz
Canali: 6
Dimensione stream: 457,921,536 bytes (436.708008 MiB)
Tipo di bitstream (bs): AC3
Frames (bs): 298,126
Durata: 02:39:00 (9540.032 s)
Chunk-aligned (bs): Sì
Bitrate (bs): 384 kbps CBR
Freq. campionamento (bs): 48000 Hz
Modo (bs): 3 front, 2 rear, 1 LFE

[ Traccia audio nr. 2 ]

Codec ID: A_AC3
Freq. campionamento: 48000 Hz
Canali: 6
Dimensione stream: 457,921,536 bytes (436.708008 MiB)
Tipo di bitstream (bs): AC3
Frames (bs): 298,126
Durata: 02:39:00 (9540.032 s)
Chunk-aligned (bs): Sì
Bitrate (bs): 384 kbps CBR
Freq. campionamento (bs): 48000 Hz
Modo (bs): 3 front, 2 rear, 1 LFE

Rapporto creato da AVInaptic (18-12-2011) in data 5-01-2015 02:53:17

[Baldrick]

MKV2MP4 only supports H264 video remuxing(no video conversion). Not x265/h265/hevc video.

WHy do you want to remux it to mp4? Does your player support mp4 with h264/hevc video?

And please don't discuss warez downloads. Buy your movies and rip them yourself.