Convert MTS to VOB — Free Online Tool
Convert MTS camcorder footage to VOB format for DVD-Video compatibility, transcoding H.264 video to MPEG-2 and AC-3 audio in a single pass. This is essential for burning high-definition camcorder recordings to standard DVD discs that can be played on standalone DVD players.
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FFmpeg Command
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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
MTS files use the AVCHD container — an MPEG-2 Transport Stream carrying H.264 (AVC) video and AC-3 or AAC audio, designed for high-definition camcorder recording. VOB, the container used inside DVD-Video discs, requires MPEG-2 video and typically AC-3 (Dolby Digital) audio. Because the video codecs are fundamentally different (H.264 vs. MPEG-2), the video stream must be fully re-encoded — this is a computationally intensive transcode, not a simple remux. The audio stream is re-encoded to AC-3 at 192k to meet DVD-Video audio specifications. The output is wrapped with the '-f vob' format flag to produce a valid VOB file structure, including the multiplexed MPEG-2 program stream layout that DVD players and authoring software expect.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg application. This conversion is handled entirely in your browser via FFmpeg.wasm (WebAssembly), meaning no files leave your device — but this same command runs identically in a desktop FFmpeg installation for files over 1GB. |
-i input.mts
|
Specifies the input AVCHD MTS file. FFmpeg automatically detects the MPEG-2 Transport Stream container and identifies the H.264 video and AC-3 or AAC audio streams inside for decoding. |
-c:v mpeg2video
|
Instructs FFmpeg to encode the video stream using the MPEG-2 codec, which is mandatory for DVD-Video compatibility. This is a full re-encode from the H.264 source — not a stream copy — making it the most time-consuming part of this conversion. |
-c:a ac3
|
Encodes the audio to AC-3 (Dolby Digital), the standard audio format for DVD-Video. Even if the source MTS already contains AC-3, re-encoding ensures the stream conforms to DVD-Video bitrate and sample rate specifications. |
-q:v 4
|
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 4 produces good DVD-quality output with a reasonable file size — lower this number toward 1 for better quality at the expense of a larger VOB file. |
-b:a 192k
|
Sets the AC-3 audio bitrate to 192 kilobits per second, which is a standard DVD-Video audio bitrate. For 5.1 surround sound tracks from your camcorder, consider increasing this to 384k or 448k to preserve the multi-channel audio fidelity. |
-f vob
|
Forces the output format to VOB (Video Object). This is a required flag because VOB is a specialized variant of the MPEG-2 program stream format — without it, FFmpeg might write a generic MPEG-2 PS file that is not correctly recognized as a VOB by DVD authoring software. |
output.vob
|
The output filename with the .vob extension. This file contains the multiplexed MPEG-2 video and AC-3 audio ready for import into DVD authoring software to create a fully navigable DVD-Video disc. |
Common Use Cases
- Burning Sony or Panasonic camcorder footage from MTS files onto a DVD disc for playback on a standard home DVD player
- Preparing AVCHD wedding or event videos for delivery to clients as physical DVDs using DVD authoring software like DVD Architect or DVDStyler
- Archiving camcorder recordings in a widely readable format that doesn't require any special AVCHD-compatible software or hardware to play back
- Importing camcorder footage into older video editing suites that accept MPEG-2/VOB but cannot decode H.264 MTS files natively
- Creating VOB source files for a DVD menu project where individual clips from a camcorder need to be authored into a navigable disc structure
- Downconverting AVCHD footage to the MPEG-2 codec baseline required by broadcast or duplication facilities that only accept DVD-spec video
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — this conversion involves a lossy transcode on both the video and audio streams. Your original MTS file contains H.264 video, which is far more efficient than MPEG-2 at the same bitrate, so the MPEG-2 output will either be larger or lower quality for equivalent settings. The default quality setting of '-q:v 4' produces good results for standard DVD viewing, but some fine detail may be lost compared to the original H.264 source. If your MTS footage is 1080i or 1080p, note that DVD-Video is also limited to SD resolutions (typically 720x480 NTSC or 720x576 PAL), so the transcode will downscale the resolution as well.
The VOB file produced here is valid MPEG-2 program stream content, but a playable DVD-Video disc requires more than just a VOB file — it needs a specific directory structure (VIDEO_TS folder) containing IFO and BUP navigation files alongside the VOBs. You will need DVD authoring software such as DVDStyler, DVD Architect, or Nero Vision to import this VOB and create a properly structured disc image for burning. Some authoring tools can import the VOB directly and handle the IFO generation automatically.
Even though AVCHD MTS files can contain AC-3 audio, the audio parameters (sample rate, channel layout, bitrate) may not match the strict DVD-Video specification. VOB files for DVD-Video require AC-3 audio at specific bitrates and at 48kHz sample rate. Rather than risk producing a non-compliant stream by copying, FFmpeg re-encodes the audio to a known-good 192k AC-3 stream that is guaranteed to be within DVD spec. If you know your source AC-3 stream is already DVD-compliant, you could attempt stream copy with '-c:a copy', but this risks playback issues on some players.
The video quality is controlled by the '-q:v' parameter, which for MPEG-2 ranges from 1 (best quality, largest file) to 31 (worst quality, smallest file). The default of 4 is a good balance for DVD-quality output. To improve quality at the cost of a larger file, lower the number — for example, use '-q:v 2' for near-maximum quality. Alternatively, you can target a specific bitrate instead of using variable quality mode by replacing '-q:v 4' with '-b:v 6000k', which is a common DVD-Video bitrate target.
VOB files are almost always significantly larger than the source MTS for the same content because MPEG-2 is far less efficient than H.264 at equivalent quality levels. A 1GB MTS file can easily become 3–5GB as a VOB, depending on your quality setting and the complexity of the video. This is an inherent property of transcoding from a modern codec (H.264) to an older, less efficient one (MPEG-2). Keep the DVD-Video disc capacity limit of roughly 4.3GB for a single-layer disc in mind when planning your output.
Yes — on Linux or macOS, you can batch process all MTS files in a directory with a shell loop: 'for f in *.mts; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:v mpeg2video -c:a ac3 -q:v 4 -b:a 192k -f vob "${f%.mts}.vob"; done'. On Windows Command Prompt, use: 'for %f in (*.mts) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:v mpeg2video -c:a ac3 -q:v 4 -b:a 192k -f vob "%~nf.vob"'. Note that because each MTS-to-VOB conversion involves a full video transcode rather than a remux, batch processing can be time-consuming and CPU-intensive.
Technical Notes
The MTS-to-VOB transcode is one of the more demanding conversions in terms of both processing time and quality management, because it bridges two generations of video compression. AVCHD MTS files frequently contain interlaced video (1080i or 720p) from camcorders — FFmpeg's MPEG-2 encoder will attempt to preserve the interlacing structure, but if your source is 1080i, it will be scaled down to DVD-legal resolution (720x480 for NTSC, 720x576 for PAL) which requires specifying the '-s' and '-r' flags if the defaults don't match your target region. The '-f vob' flag is critical: without it, FFmpeg may output a generic MPEG-2 PS file rather than one correctly identified as a VOB stream. Subtitle streams from the MTS source (if present) can be passed through with '-c:s copy', though DVD-Video only supports bitmap-based subtitles (DVD subpicture format), not text-based ASS/SRT, so subtitle compatibility depends heavily on the source format. Multiple audio tracks present in the MTS file can be mapped explicitly using FFmpeg's '-map' option, and VOB supports up to 8 audio streams per the DVD-Video specification. Chapters are not supported in either format at the raw container level — chapter navigation in a finished DVD is handled by the IFO structure created by authoring software, not by the VOB itself.