How to convert matroska MKV to AVI or OGM to AVI

[Ai Haibara]

Use something other than VirtualDubMod. VirtualDubMod's support for MKV is rather dated, and doesn't support VFR/AVC video streams, for example. AVIDemux might work better. Or, if you'd still rather use VDubMod, you could always write an AVISynth script to framserve the video stream into VDubMod instead.

[suppervillain]

please help... i tried this guide i mean the really first post.. with all the codecs and stuff didnt notice the date... now after doing all that it failed so i gave up on it.. but now i realize all of my videos only play the audio the video is gone.. so please help me anyone.. it also applies to the newly downloaded stuff.. only the audio comes out.. thanks

[winx62]

Thanks for the tutorial, so far so good. But when i try to save my audio file, i choose LAME and 192 kbps and try to save it as track2.mp3 and i get this error

No audio decompressor could be found to decompress the source audio format.

Any ideas here?

Thanks,
Dane

[uniks]

WORST.CONVERSION.GUIDE.EVER.

[ns]

Yeah, that's why in 7 pages of comments baldrick hasn't answered anyone's questions. You really should actually USE the conversion process BEFORE you post it.

[ssalim]

When i use MKVExtract_GUI, it extracted the audio but couldn't find the video... I tried again and it finished in 1s. Weird.

[Ai Haibara]

ssalim: Are you using the latest versions of MKVExtractGUI and mkvtoolnix, with both installed to the same directory?

[ssalim]

Only got the latest mkvextractgui... I'll install the toolnix then try again. Thanks!

[ssalim]

Ok it extracted the .avi... now I have that and an .ac3
What tool do I use to mux them? toolnix only mux them back to .mkv which doesn't make sense. Virtualdubmod doesn't open this .avi file. Latest version. Thanks.

[Ai Haibara]

What error message do you get when you try to open the video in VirtualDubMod? (Are you sure it's an .avi, and not a .264 file?) You're probably just missing a VfW (Video for Windows) codec for h.264-encoded video. You might also give AVIdemux a try.

[zarlaan]

I've been reading so many different forums etc on how to do this (MKV to DVD). I was successful in using MKVExtractGUI to extract the raw video (h264) and the audio (.dts). From there I used avc2avi to convert the h264 into avi and then used VirtualDubMod to combine the avi and dts files, direct stream copy, into 1 avi file. I then used tmpgenc authoring works 4 to burn my dvd.

The only problem I had with this process is that when trying to create chapters tmpgenc seemed to take several minutes just to create 1 chapter or just freeze. Even using GOM player to play the avi caused the player to freeze when trying to jump around. I was able to burn it to DVD without any issues so long as I skipped the chaptering part or just created the vod files and then put those back into tmpgenc authoring again to create chapters.

Hope thats clear...

So my question is there any problem with doing it this way? Why would GOM player freeze when trying to jump around the avi created with virtualdubmod? What is another way to do it once you have the raw h264 and dts files?

edit. Just realized that the audio on the DVD i'm playing know is showing dolby digital II instead of DTS. What would of caused that?

[vato76]

VirtualdubMOD doesn't work with all types of MKV and OGM video. But you can use:

MKVExtractGUI to extract video, audio and subtitle from MKV files.

VirtualDubMOD didnt work and I tried to use mkvextract to demux an mkv but i got this error message:

"Warning: The extraction of video tracks is only supported for RealVideo (CodecID
: V_REAL/RVxx) and AVI compatibility tracks (CodecID: V_MS/VFW/FOURCC). The trac
k 1 will be skipped."

The audio track was extracted just fine. MediaInfo says the source video is AVC and codec id is V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC. Any idea what could be wrong?

[Ai Haibara]

Are you using both the latest versions of MKVExtract/GUI and mkvtoolnix, installed to the same directory?

[vato76]

Yes.

[Wanderlustus]

Very newb question here, but someone told me that an MKV file converted to avi looks better than things originally ripped to avi? I know, maybe it's a dumber. Just thought I'd ask.

[Ai Haibara]

That depends on the quality of the video in the MKV or AVI, and how they were converted/created.

Both MKV and AVI are containers, and can contain HD video and multi-channel audio just as much as they can contain video captured at 160x120 with mono audio, more or less.

[Wanderlustus]

Yeah Ai, I get that, thanks. Any place to check out an example of a better than avi bit?

I mean to say, I'm getting comments from folk saying BR converted to MKV then to avi look more smashing at 720 than an avi rip.

Ah hades, I'd better go read some more.

[Wanderlustus]

Also, folk . . . what do I use now to decipher what the hell is in an MKV? Gspot gives me this bit . . . .

[Ai Haibara]

I'd say it still depends on how it was ripped/converted; a 1080p Blu-Ray video ripped and converted straight to a 720x*** AVI could, in theory, look better than that same BR video ripped, converted to MKV and then converted again, to AVI. The less converting/rescaling/etc. done, the better.

I don't have any examples of where to find a high-quality (720/1080) MKV, sorry. Most of those would be Blu-Ray rips, wouldn't they?

For displaying more information on an MKV, use MediaInfo (especially Tree View). GSpot's support for containers other than AVI and MPEG/VOB is rather limited and/or incomplete. I still keep and use both, though.

[sorrycharlie]

I've tried everything this thread has suggested (and more) and I still can't get my MKV files converted to AVI properly. I get stuck in the same place as winx62. I don't know what I should do now. I'm on the verge of just giving up.

[Ai Haibara]

What are you attempting to use? If it's VirtualDubMod, you're better off attempting to use something else... say, perhaps AVIDemux, though that takes a little getting used to, or one of the ffmpeg/mencoder GUIs like Avanti.

You could also frameserve the MKVs into VirtualDubMod with an AVISynth script, but that might also end up being a bit of work. Are you attempting a straight conversion, or do you want to keep multiple audio tracks/subtitle tracks?

[pmshah]

I am really surprised at some of the replies. MKVExtractgui ( current version 1.6.4.1 ) will extract any mkv file into its components regardless of the codec used. Like avi mkv also is only a container & not a codec.

Avidemux 1.5.2 ( Dec 19, 2009 build) does an excellent job of converting an mkv to avi PROVIDED you are also reducing the video resolution. If you want to keep the same resolution it does a lousy job. Another thing to keep in mind is that it can't handle DTS audio properly so you might as well convert it to AC3 (Aften codec). So extraction by mkvextract gui and then conversion from dts to ac3 by EAC3togui.exe is mandatory. I have ripped and viewed mpeg4-xvid 480p avi files at 1080p resolution and they are GOOD.

I have converted mkv files to avi using direct copy ( no conversion/no re-compression) which made the file size grow by almost 20%.

What surprises me the most is the fact that practically no standalone dvd player can play the mkv files directly. Some that do cost around US$ 500/=. Practically none of the standalone DVD players support AVC video or AAC audio format. In spite of this mkv with AVC and AAC are the preferred formats to which the BD disks are ripped. Almost all DVD players support DivX-xVID video AND ac3 (Dolby) audio. So until lower - read reasonably - priced mkv format players are available mkv remains a PC only format. Even then not all the codecs used within the mkv may be supported. My prefernce for final ripping is MPEG4 - ASP (XVID) video and AC3 (Aften) 5.1 audio in avi container. If you want to play this file directly from the USB port of a HD-TV ( only LG has this function) you WILL need to break it up in several sections, each under 1 GB.

So far I have yet to find any freeware audio-only converter that will convert an AAC track to any other format.

Finally the software that WILL do a good job overall - albeit slowly - is the Freeware Super available at ....

http://www.erightsoft.com/home.html

When all else fails I resort to it.

[JeetDivX]

Hi Guys,

DivX Plus Converter

These are some great tools. Just wanted to throw in my recommendation for a MKV converting tool. I'm from DivX and we just released the latest version of our video suite software, DivX Plus. It's a free download which in addition to our player, codec pack, and web player also includes a converter that can convert files into various formats. We also have a transfer tool called DivX to Go to that makes it easy to prepare content for playback on DivX devices (DVD/Bluray Players, Game Consoles, etc...)



Learn more on how to convert MKV, AVI, DivX, etc...

[emanuelb]

hello.

First I want to thank Baldrick for the guide - it works great.

Second, I have a problem and I would really appreciate some help.
I am using Virtualdubmod and this guide to convert ogm to avi - with direct stream copy, and it works great. But now I have some mkv files that I want to convert to avi, but it's not working.
The MKVs are not encoded with h264, but with xvid/dvix, so I would like to do the same as with ogm - direct stream copy. The problem is, when I start Virtualdub and open the mkv, it gives me an error - only handle [S_TEXT/] subs for the moment - and it's not working.
I then tried another method with mkvextractgui - I extracted the files from the mkv, and then I used virtualdubmod to mux them, with direct stream copy. It worked, but the audio is desynchronised with the video.

So, do you know what can I do to make the mkvs work on my ps3 ? - again, I am interested in mkvs with xvid/dvix video codec, not h264 (I know that one is even a greater problem). Thank you

[pmshah]

I have tried various methods to convert mkv to avi, especially the ones with h/x264 and AAC codecs. I have found that the best one for me has been avidemux 2.5.

What you might try is first running mkvextract to extract the srt subtitle file. If you want to run vortualdubmod run mkvmerge selecting only the video and audio streams. Then run avidemux to convert mkv to avi. If the audio is in AAC format you can convert it to AC3. If the audio is in DTS format you can first use mkv2ac3 to convert DTS to ac3 practically without affecting the audio quality.

Finally run avidemux selecting avi as the output format. You can use either copy - if you are comfortable with the bit rate or select mpeg4-ASP and change the resolution/bit rate of your choice. Make sure you choose 2 pass average bit method.

Please keep in mind that the process is very much processor dependent. If you do not have multicore cpu it can take hours. However you will not be disappointed. I am from the photographic field with experience of over 40 years. For me edge definition and sharp details are the main criterion for quality.

[pmshah]

Hi Guys,

DivX Plus Converter

These are some great tools. Just wanted to throw in my recommendation for a MKV converting tool. I'm from DivX and we just released the latest version of our video suite software, DivX Plus. It's a free download which in addition to our player, codec pack, and web player also includes a converter that can convert files into various formats. We also have a transfer tool called DivX to Go to that makes it easy to prepare content for playback on DivX devices (DVD/Bluray Players, Game Consoles, etc...)



Learn more on how to convert MKV, AVI, DivX, etc...

You say "Download is free". So are a whole slew of similar software. However the license is not free as in freeware. Even limitations of this so called trialware are not clearly defined. At 960 kb I can guarantee you that it will involve a whole lot of additional downloads. Perhaps it might only be an installer which will in turn download 25/30 mb of additional files!

[GruntVidStar]

Hey Guys,

Sorry to dredge up this old thread but wondering what everyone's thoughts are now a few years later?

I've been converting my old DVD's to MKV H2.64 & not upgrading as it's useless so keeping 720 but lowering height to make it a perfect 16:9 every time & going 720 x 404!

I had found MKV H2.64 to be a better quality then avi & being a lower overll file size, but I have fond most dvd's are o.k. but some American 1's like Entourage the frame rate is getting screwed up & getting very staggered & blurry especially wen they move a bit faster!

Next question is the same but for Blu-Ray & these are most already perfect 16:9 1920x1080 but what software & style is everyone converting too?

[pmshah]

After experimenting with a wide variety of software I found Handbrake to be the best and the fastest. Of course I am talking about freeware only. You will have to experiment a bit to get what you want but it definitely works.

Another thing to keep in mind is that cpu usage can go upto almost 100% so your PC may not be responsive at the time of ripping. For this I have found a solution. Get freeware BES from http://mion.faireal.net/BES/. With this you can control cpu usage on per application basis.

[iluvchocs]

VirtualdubMOD doesn't work with all types of MKV and OGM video. But you can use:

MKVExtractGUI to extract video, audio and subtitle from MKV files.
and
OGMDemuxer tool to extract video, audio and subtitle. It is a command line tool but just drag and drop the .ogm file on the OGDemuxer.exe and it will separate all files automatically.

After that continue from the Multiplex/Join the video,audio in the guide above. But you must first convert the ogg audio to mp3, you can use for example dbpoweramp.

Where is the guide?

[Baldrick]

The first post in this thread... https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/184988-How-to-convert-matroska-MKV-to-AVI-or-OGM-to-AVI

Or use newer tools to convert your mkv/ogm to avi like format factory, freemake video converter, xmedia recode, etc.