Convert TS to MPEG — Free Online Tool
Convert TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream) files to MPEG format directly in your browser, re-encoding the video to MPEG-2 and audio to MP2 — the same codec pairing used in broadcast television and DVD video. This is the go-to conversion for restoring legacy compatibility or feeding footage into older editing pipelines that expect standard MPEG-2 program streams.
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FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
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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
TS and MPEG are both container formats that can carry MPEG-2 video, but they serve different purposes and use different stream structures. A TS (Transport Stream) uses a packetized format designed for error-resilient broadcast transmission, often carrying H.264 or H.265 video alongside AAC or AC3 audio. This conversion fully re-encodes the video stream to MPEG-2 (mpeg2video) and transcodes the audio to MP2 at 192k bitrate — the audio codec standardized for MPEG video and used in DVDs and broadcast. The output is a Program Stream-style MPEG file, which is a simpler, more linear container without the error-correction overhead of Transport Streams, making it more suitable for local playback and legacy device compatibility.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg binary — the open-source multimedia processing engine that handles all decoding, re-encoding, and container remuxing. In the browser tool, this runs via FFmpeg.wasm compiled to WebAssembly. |
-i input.ts
|
Specifies the input file as a TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream). FFmpeg will parse the TS packet structure, read the Program Association and Map Tables to identify video and audio streams, and decode them for re-encoding. |
-c:v mpeg2video
|
Instructs FFmpeg to re-encode the video stream to MPEG-2, the codec standardized for DVD video and broadcast television. This replaces whatever video codec was in the source TS (commonly H.264 or H.265) with the older but widely supported MPEG-2 format. |
-c:a mp2
|
Transcodes the audio stream to MPEG Audio Layer II (MP2), the audio standard paired with MPEG-2 video in broadcast and DVD contexts. This replaces common TS audio formats like AAC or AC3 with MP2, which is required for compatibility with many legacy MPEG players and DVD authoring tools. |
-q:v 2
|
Sets the MPEG-2 video quality using the fixed quantizer scale, where 1 is the highest possible quality and 31 is the lowest. A value of 2 produces near-maximum quality output with a higher bitrate, minimizing the visual degradation introduced by re-encoding from the source codec to MPEG-2. |
-b:a 192k
|
Sets the MP2 audio bitrate to 192 kilobits per second, which is the standard broadcast-quality bitrate for MP2 audio and provides good stereo fidelity. This is higher than the minimum useful MP2 bitrate (128k) and appropriate for preserving audio quality from the source TS file. |
output.mpeg
|
Defines the output filename with the .mpeg extension, which tells FFmpeg to write an MPEG Program Stream container. This container structure is simpler than the input Transport Stream and is the format expected by DVD authoring software, legacy media players, and hardware devices requiring standard MPEG-2 program streams. |
Common Use Cases
- Importing broadcast-captured TS recordings into legacy video editing software (such as older Premiere or Avid versions) that requires a standard MPEG-2 program stream rather than a Transport Stream
- Preparing digitized TV recordings for DVD authoring workflows, where MPEG-2 video and MP2 audio are the native expected codecs for tools like DVD Flick or DVDAuthor
- Converting HLS or DVB broadcast TS segments into a single MPEG file for archival on systems or media players that do not support the TS container
- Feeding converted footage into broadcast playout servers or hardware encoders that accept MPEG-2 program streams but reject Transport Stream input
- Stripping the multi-track and subtitle complexity of a broadcast TS file down to a single-track MPEG-2 file for straightforward playback on older set-top boxes or DVD players with USB playback
- Creating MPEG-2 reference files from TS recordings for quality comparison or compliance testing in broadcast engineering workflows
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, there will be a generation of quality loss even if the source TS file was encoded with MPEG-2 video. This conversion always fully re-encodes the video stream rather than copying it, because the container structure and stream framing differ between Transport Streams and MPEG Program Streams. The re-encoding at -q:v 2 (near the top of MPEG-2 quality range) keeps this loss minimal, but it cannot be entirely avoided. If your source TS uses H.264 or H.265, the re-encode to MPEG-2 will also result in a noticeably larger file for equivalent visual quality, as MPEG-2 is a less efficient codec.
The MPEG container format does not support subtitles or multiple audio tracks in the way that TS does, so both will be discarded during conversion. Only the first (or default) audio track is transcoded to MP2 and included in the output. If your TS file contains DVB subtitles, teletext, or secondary language audio tracks, these will not be present in the MPEG output. If subtitle preservation is important, consider an intermediate format like MKV or MP4 before delivering to your final target.
This is expected when the source TS file was encoded with a modern codec like H.264 (libx264) or H.265 (libx265), which are far more compression-efficient than MPEG-2. Re-encoding to MPEG-2 at high quality (-q:v 2) requires significantly more bitrate to represent the same visual content. Additionally, MP2 audio at 192k is less efficient than AAC at the same bitrate. If file size is a concern, you can increase the -q:v value (e.g., to 5 or 8) at the cost of some visual quality.
For video quality, adjust the -q:v value: lower numbers mean better quality, with 1 being the highest and 31 the lowest. The default of 2 produces near-maximum quality MPEG-2 output. For audio quality, change the -b:a value to options like 128k, 224k, or 320k — higher values preserve more audio fidelity. For example, to produce a smaller file with acceptable quality you might use: ffmpeg -i input.ts -c:v mpeg2video -c:a mp2 -q:v 5 -b:a 128k output.mpeg
Yes. On Linux or macOS, you can use a shell loop: for f in *.ts; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:v mpeg2video -c:a mp2 -q:v 2 -b:a 192k "${f%.ts}.mpeg"; done. On Windows Command Prompt, use: for %f in (*.ts) 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 FFmpeg command is the recommended approach for batch workflows, especially for files over 1GB.
The output MPEG-2 file using mpeg2video and MP2 audio is the correct codec combination for DVD and legacy hardware compatibility, but compatibility also depends on resolution and bitrate constraints. Standard DVD video requires 720x480 (NTSC) or 720x576 (PAL) resolution and a video bitrate under approximately 9.8 Mbps. If your source TS has a different resolution or frame rate, you may need to add -s and -r flags to the command to match the target device's specifications. For full DVD authoring, additional multiplexing with a tool like mplex or DVD Flick is typically required.
Technical Notes
The conversion from TS to MPEG involves a fundamental change in both container structure and, in most cases, codec. The MPEG-2 Transport Stream (.ts) is a packetized format with 188-byte fixed-size packets designed for lossy transmission channels — it includes program-specific tables (PAT, PMT) and can multiplex multiple programs. The output MPEG Program Stream is a simpler, variable-packet-size container optimized for reliable local storage and playback. On the codec side, modern TS files frequently carry H.264 or H.265 video, which must be fully decoded and re-encoded to MPEG-2 — a significantly older and less efficient standard from 1994. This means quality-equivalent MPEG-2 output will typically have a 2-4x higher bitrate than H.264 source material. The audio transcode from AAC or AC3 (common in TS) to MP2 is a lossy-to-lossy conversion and introduces a small additional quality step. The MPEG container does not support chapters, subtitles, or multiple audio tracks, so any such streams in the source TS are silently dropped. The -q:v scale for mpeg2video runs from 1 (best) to 31 (worst), unlike the CRF scale used by H.264/H.265 encoders, so existing intuitions about quality values do not transfer directly.