Convert M2TS to MPEG — Free Online Tool
Convert M2TS Blu-ray and AVCHD files to MPEG format by re-encoding the video stream to MPEG-2 and the audio to MP2 — the same codec pairing used in broadcast television and DVD video. This is the go-to conversion for making high-definition Blu-ray footage compatible with legacy editing systems, broadcast workflows, and older media players that don't support BDAV transport streams.
to
FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
Drop your M2TS file here
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Free — no uploads, no signups. Your files never leave your browser.
Settings
Note: Browser-based encoding uses approximate quality targets. For precise CRF compression, copy the FFmpeg command above and run it on your desktop.
Estimated output:
Conversion Complete!
DownloadHow It Works
M2TS files use a BDAV MPEG-2 Transport Stream wrapper, but the internal video codec is typically H.264 or H.265 — not MPEG-2. This means a full re-encode is required, not a simple remux. The tool decodes the H.264/H.265 video from the M2TS container and re-encodes it as MPEG-2 video, while the audio (often AAC, AC-3, DTS, or TrueHD in Blu-ray sources) is transcoded to MP2 stereo audio. The resulting .mpeg file follows the MPEG program stream structure, which is far simpler than the transport stream format — and deliberately so, since MPEG program streams are designed for file storage and playback rather than broadcast transmission. Because both the video and audio streams are fully re-encoded, this is a computationally intensive process, and some quality loss from the Blu-ray source is inevitable given MPEG-2's older compression efficiency compared to H.264 or H.265.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg tool. In the browser, this runs via FFmpeg.wasm (WebAssembly), which is a port of the same FFmpeg engine you would use on the command line — the command shown is directly portable to your desktop installation. |
-i input.m2ts
|
Specifies the input file — a BDAV MPEG-2 Transport Stream (.m2ts), typically containing H.264 or H.265 video alongside multichannel audio from a Blu-ray disc or AVCHD camcorder. |
-c:v mpeg2video
|
Instructs FFmpeg to re-encode the video stream as MPEG-2 video, the same codec used in DVD-Video and broadcast television. This is a full transcode from the source H.264/H.265, not a stream copy, since MPEG containers cannot carry H.264 or H.265. |
-c:a mp2
|
Re-encodes the audio as MPEG-1 Layer II (MP2), the standard audio codec for MPEG program streams and broadcast video. This replaces whatever audio codec was in the M2TS source — typically AAC, AC-3, or DTS — and downmixes to stereo. |
-q:v 2
|
Sets the MPEG-2 video quality using a fixed quantizer scale where 1 is the highest quality and 31 is the lowest. A value of 2 targets near-maximum quality, allowing the encoder to use a high bitrate to accurately represent the original Blu-ray or AVCHD footage. |
-b:a 192k
|
Sets the MP2 audio bitrate to 192 kilobits per second, which is the standard bitrate for broadcast-quality stereo MP2 audio and matches common DVD and digital television audio specifications. |
output.mpeg
|
Defines the output filename and container format. The .mpeg extension tells FFmpeg to write an MPEG program stream — a simpler, file-storage-oriented container structure distinct from the transport stream used by the M2TS input. |
Common Use Cases
- Importing Blu-ray rips or AVCHD camcorder footage into legacy non-linear editing software (such as older Avid or Final Cut Pro versions) that natively supports MPEG-2 program streams but not H.264-wrapped M2TS files
- Preparing footage captured on an AVCHD camcorder for playback on older DVD players or set-top boxes that accept MPEG files via USB but cannot decode H.264
- Converting Blu-ray video segments into a broadcast-compatible MPEG-2 format for ingest into television playout systems or hardware encoders with MPEG-2 input requirements
- Archiving AVCHD vacation or event footage to MPEG format for playback on older smart TVs, media centers, or HTPC software that predates H.264 support
- Extracting a single video title from a Blu-ray disc rip (M2TS file) and delivering it as a self-contained MPEG file to a client whose review system only accepts standard MPEG-2 video
- Transcoding M2TS footage for use in PowerPoint or older Windows Movie Maker projects that rely on MPEG-2 compatibility via the built-in Windows decoder
Frequently Asked Questions
This is expected. Your M2TS file almost certainly contains H.264 or H.265 video, which are far more efficient codecs than MPEG-2. MPEG-2 requires significantly higher bitrates to achieve the same visual quality, so at a fixed quality setting, the MPEG-2 output will show more compression artifacts — especially in high-motion or high-detail scenes. If quality is critical, lower the -q:v value toward 1 (the best quality end of the scale) to increase the bitrate the encoder uses.
No. The MPEG program stream format supports only a single audio track, so only the primary audio stream from the M2TS file will be included in the output. Additionally, MPEG is limited to stereo MP2 audio — multichannel surround formats like DTS-HD, TrueHD, or AC-3 5.1 from your Blu-ray source will be downmixed to two channels. If preserving surround sound is a requirement, MPEG is not the right output format for your use case.
No. While M2TS supports subtitle streams (including PGS Blu-ray bitmap subtitles and DVB text subtitles), the MPEG program stream format does not support subtitle tracks. The subtitle data will be silently dropped during conversion. If you need subtitles, consider burning them into the video stream using FFmpeg's subtitle filter before converting, or choosing an output format that supports subtitle embedding.
For video quality, adjust the -q:v value: lower numbers mean higher quality and larger file sizes, with 1 being the best and 31 being the worst. The default of 2 produces near-maximum quality MPEG-2 output. For audio, change -b:a to a higher bitrate like 256k or 320k for better fidelity, or 96k to reduce file size. For example: ffmpeg -i input.m2ts -c:v mpeg2video -c:a mp2 -q:v 4 -b:a 256k output.mpeg gives slightly smaller files with high-quality MP2 audio.
Yes. On Linux or macOS, you can run a simple shell loop: for f in *.m2ts; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:v mpeg2video -c:a mp2 -q:v 2 -b:a 192k "${f%.m2ts}.mpeg"; done. On Windows Command Prompt, use: for %f in (*.m2ts) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:v mpeg2video -c:a mp2 -q:v 2 -b:a 192k "%~nf.mpeg". The browser-based tool processes one file at a time, so the command-line approach is strongly recommended for batch jobs.
At -q:v 2 (near-maximum quality), the MPEG-2 encoder uses a high bitrate to represent the video faithfully, because MPEG-2's compression efficiency is significantly lower than the H.264 or H.265 codec used in your M2TS source. A Blu-ray H.264 stream might encode 1080p video at 15–25 Mbps, while MPEG-2 at equivalent perceived quality may need 30–50 Mbps or more. If file size is a concern, increase -q:v to a value like 5 or 8 to reduce the bitrate at the cost of some visual quality.
Technical Notes
The MPEG program stream output from this conversion uses MPEG-2 video (ISO/IEC 13818-2) and MPEG-1 Layer II audio (MP2), which represents the codec combination standardized for DVD-Video and broadcast television. The -q:v parameter in FFmpeg for MPEG-2 controls the quantizer scale: unlike the CRF scale used by x264/x265 in the M2TS input pipeline, MPEG-2's -q:v is a fixed quantizer (not a rate-control target), meaning actual bitrate will vary with scene complexity. The maximum output resolution is technically unlimited in the MPEG-2 spec, but many legacy players and devices cap support at 1920x1080 or lower; if your M2TS source is 4K, consider scaling with -vf scale=1920:1080 before conversion. Chapters and metadata beyond basic stream properties are not preserved, as MPEG program streams have no standardized container-level metadata beyond what's embedded in the stream headers. MPEG files produced by this tool will have a .mpeg extension using a program stream mux, not a transport stream — the two are structurally different and not interchangeable. Because M2TS files from Blu-ray often include HDR metadata (in HDR10 or Dolby Vision sources), note that MPEG-2 has no mechanism to carry HDR metadata; the tone mapping behavior during conversion depends on FFmpeg's default handling, which typically clips or maps the HDR range without explicit tone mapping unless additional filters are applied.