Convert MKV to MPEG — Free Online Tool
Convert MKV files to MPEG format using MPEG-2 video and MP2 audio encoding — the compression standards behind DVD and broadcast television. This tool handles the full re-encoding process entirely in your browser, making MKV content compatible with legacy players, set-top boxes, and broadcast workflows.
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FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
Drop your MKV file here
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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
Unlike container-swap conversions that can copy streams without re-encoding, MKV to MPEG requires a full transcoding of both video and audio. The video stream — which in an MKV might be H.264, H.265, VP9, or another modern codec — is decoded and re-encoded as MPEG-2 video using a quality scale of -q:v 2 (near the high-quality end of MPEG's 1–31 scale). Similarly, any audio track (AAC, Opus, Vorbis, FLAC, etc.) is re-encoded to MP2, the audio codec used in MPEG-2 broadcast and DVD-Video systems, at 192k bitrate. Because MPEG is a legacy container with strict constraints, several MKV features are lost: subtitles are dropped, chapters are not carried over, and only a single audio track can be embedded. The result is a standards-compliant MPEG-2 Program Stream (.mpeg) suitable for legacy playback and broadcast-compatible workflows.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg tool — in the browser version, this runs via FFmpeg.wasm compiled to WebAssembly, executing the same logic as the desktop binary without sending your file to any server. |
-i input.mkv
|
Specifies the input file as an MKV (Matroska) container. FFmpeg reads the container and demuxes all internal streams — which may include H.264/H.265/VP9 video, multi-track audio in formats like AAC or Opus, subtitles, and chapter data — before processing begins. |
-c:v mpeg2video
|
Instructs FFmpeg to re-encode the video stream using the MPEG-2 video codec, the standard used in DVD-Video and broadcast television. This replaces whatever modern codec (H.264, H.265, VP9, etc.) was in the source MKV with MPEG-2 compressed output. |
-c:a mp2
|
Re-encodes all selected audio to MP2 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer II), the audio codec native to MPEG-2 broadcast and DVD systems. Any source audio format in the MKV — AAC, Opus, FLAC, Vorbis — is fully decoded and re-encoded to MP2. |
-q:v 2
|
Sets the MPEG-2 video quality using the fixed-quantizer scale, where 1 is the highest quality and 31 is the lowest. A value of 2 targets near-maximum quality for the MPEG-2 encoder, resulting in a higher bitrate and larger file but the best fidelity the codec can produce. |
-b:a 192k
|
Sets the MP2 audio output bitrate to 192 kilobits per second, which is the standard bitrate for stereo MP2 audio in broadcast and DVD contexts and provides good stereo quality for this codec. |
output.mpeg
|
Defines the output filename and extension. The .mpeg extension signals an MPEG-2 Program Stream container — the format expected by legacy DVD players, broadcast ingest systems, and older video editing applications that require MPEG-2 input. |
Common Use Cases
- Preparing MKV video content for playback on older DVD players or set-top boxes that only accept MPEG-2 streams
- Converting modern H.264 or H.265 MKV recordings into MPEG-2 format required by broadcast or cable ingest systems
- Archiving MKV footage in MPEG-2 format for compatibility with legacy non-linear editing software that predates H.264 support
- Converting MKV game recordings or screen captures for use with older video authoring tools that expect MPEG-2 input
- Producing MPEG files from MKV sources to meet delivery specifications for public-access television stations or municipal broadcast systems
- Testing or validating how a video looks after full re-encoding through the MPEG-2 codec pipeline before committing to a larger batch conversion
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — this conversion involves lossy re-encoding at every stage. Your MKV's video (even if it was losslessly encoded or high-bitrate H.264/H.265) is decoded and re-encoded as MPEG-2, an older codec that is significantly less efficient than modern alternatives. At -q:v 2 the quality is near the top of the MPEG-2 scale, but MPEG-2 simply cannot match the perceptual quality of H.264 or H.265 at the same file size. Audio also goes through a lossy transcode to MP2. If your source MKV used FLAC or lossless audio, that quality is permanently reduced.
Both are lost. The MPEG container format does not support embedded subtitles or chapter markers in the way MKV does, so FFmpeg cannot carry them over during this conversion. If your MKV has subtitle tracks you need to preserve, you should export them separately as .srt or .ass files before converting. Chapters will simply be discarded with no error — the output file will play as a single continuous stream.
FFmpeg will select the first audio track (or the one it identifies as default) and encode only that stream as MP2. The MPEG container does not support multiple audio tracks in the way MKV does, so all other audio streams are silently dropped. If you need a specific non-default audio track from your MKV, you would need to modify the FFmpeg command to add -map 0:a:1 (or the relevant track index) before the output filename.
MPEG-2 is a much older and less efficient codec than H.264 or H.265, which are common in MKV files. To achieve comparable visual quality, MPEG-2 requires significantly higher bitrates — often two to four times more data for the same resolution. So converting a modern H.265 MKV to MPEG-2 at high quality will almost always produce a larger file. This is an inherent property of the codec generation gap, not a problem with the conversion itself.
For video, change the -q:v value: lower numbers (closer to 1) mean higher quality and larger files, higher numbers (up to 31) mean lower quality and smaller files. The default of 2 is near the top of the quality range. For audio, change the -b:a value to another bitrate such as 128k, 224k, or 320k — higher values preserve more audio detail. For example: ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v mpeg2video -c:a mp2 -q:v 4 -b:a 224k output.mpeg.
Yes — replace -c:v mpeg2video with -c:v mpeg1video in the FFmpeg command. MPEG-1 is an even older standard with lower resolution limits (typically capped at 352x240 for standard play) and lower overall quality potential, but it produces files compatible with systems that predate MPEG-2. Most modern use cases favor MPEG-2, which supports higher resolutions and is the standard for DVD-Video and broadcast. Use MPEG-1 only if your target device or system specifically requires it.
Technical Notes
The MPEG container — specifically the MPEG-2 Program Stream format produced by this conversion — is one of the most constrained legacy formats still in use. It supports only a single video and single audio stream, no embedded subtitles, no chapter metadata, and no modern codec compatibility. The MPEG-2 video codec uses DCT-based intra and inter-frame compression similar in concept to H.264 but far less sophisticated, making it unsuitable for efficient storage of high-resolution content. At -q:v 2, FFmpeg allocates generous bits to the MPEG-2 encoder, but for 1080p or 4K source MKV content, the resulting file may be extremely large and still show blocking artifacts compared to the original. The MP2 audio codec is the predecessor to MP3 and operates well at 192k for stereo content, though it is audibly inferior to AAC or Opus at the same bitrate. One notable compatibility detail: files produced with this command use the .mpeg extension and are structured as MPEG-2 Program Streams, which is what most legacy hardware players expect. If a target system requires MPEG-2 Transport Streams (used in broadcast and HDTV), the output format would need to be .ts instead, which requires a different FFmpeg command. Finally, because this is a full decode-and-reencode of both streams, conversion is CPU-intensive and will be slower than a simple remux.