Difference in Matroska versions (version 4 vs version 2)

[halp]

Hey there! Newbie question.

I use MediaInfo to compare two mkv files; I noticed one is Matroska Version 2, the other version 4. The version 4 is of a much larger file size compared to the version 2 mkv.

Are there particular differences between the two version? Is it like a standard the mkv file must have, or like certain attributes in order to be of a certain version? Is it some thing like H.264 versus H.265? Is one "better" than the other?

Thanks!

[davexnet]

H.265 is newer, takes longer to encode, potentially smaller file sizes

[Alwyn]

I doubt that the MKV version would change the file size; it depends on the actual bitrate. "MKV" can contain different codecs; the MKV part is only the container.

Looking at the two files in Mediainfo, compare the "Overall bit rate" in the General section. I suspect that the MKV v4 file has a higher bitrate than the MKV v2 file (if they are the same duration).

Interestingly, the MKV wiki says the latest version is 1.6.3 so I don't know what Mediainfo means by version 2 and version 4.

[johns0]

I looked at my backups and some say version 2 and others say version 4 but they are all H.264 so its not a codecs issue.

[october262]

according to this - http://matroska.sourceforge.net/technical/specs/index.html, V4 is a work in progress
and there may be further additions to V4.