About MKVtools

How to Use

Supported Formats

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.mkv's and .ogm's

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How to Use MKVtools

Hopefully, most of the operation of MKVtools is fairly intuitive. Here is a quick guide.

Getting Started

1. Launch MKVtools and open the file(s) you want to process. You can open files by either clicking the Open button, selecting “Open” from the file menu, or dragging the file, or files to the text box in the main window (multiple file dragging is only supported in the registered version).
2. You should see a list of the media tracks contained in the video file as well as some information about each track. 
3. If you drag multiple files, MKVtools sorts through them and groups them by like track information. The list of media track you see is for the first group. Once you select a job for that group, a track listing for the second group (if one exists) will appear. This behavior will continue until all groups are processed, or until you open another file(s).

The Main Window (MKV and OGM Tab)

1. You can individually select the tracks you are interested in or you can use the All or None buttons to quickly select all or deselect all tracks. The following buttons then act on the selected tracks.
2. Select Play to open an Mplayer window to preview the tracks you selected. This can be useful to identify the file's tracks in case the track information is not clear. You can also use this as a movie player.
3. If you select Extract, each selected track will be extracted as individual files located in the same folder as the original with appended file names.  You can then manipulate these files with your favorite video application. 
   1. Ogmdemux automatically determines the appropriate extension for each track in .ogm files.
   2. Mkvextract does not determine the appropriate extension for .mkv file tracks.  MKVtools makes a best guess, but you may have to supply the appropriate extension to use.  This may require some research on your part based on the track information.  You can always extract the track and change the extension later.
4. If you select Delete, a copy of the .mkv file is created with the selected tracks removed.
5. If you select AVI, the AVI Conversion Drawer appears where you will select options for converting the selected tracks into an .avi file that is playable in DivX certified DVD players.
6. If you select MP4, the MP4 Conversion Drawer appears where you will select options for converting the selected tracks into an .mp4 file that is playable on ipods/iphones or other mp4 capable devices.
7. There are two ways that you can Split the .mkv file or files that were opened. Both methods maintain the originals and track selections are ignored.
   1. If you specify a size, the .mkv file is split into equal sized sections. This can be useful for processing very large files.
   2. You can specify a start time and an end time to create a clip of the original. This can be handy for testing settings before committing to the processing of a very large file.

The Main Window (Tools Tab)

1. Drag files into the "Drop Box" to start one of three jobs:
   1. MKVtools can Join the group of files. Filenames must contain a three digit number in the desired join sequence (i.e., file#1 should contain 001, file#2 should contain 002, ...).
   2. MKVtools can Mux the dragged files (i.e., the files will be placed into a new.mp4 file). For example, if you drag an .mp4 file, an audio file and a subtitle file, a new .mp4 file will be created with tracks from the original .mp4 file and the new audio and subtitle tracks. Programs like VLC will then allow you to choose which tracks to play. Not all devices support these multiple tracks. The frame rate (fps) must be specified. MKVtools tries to find the video track's fps but is not always successful. So if you see "???" in the fps text field, you need to supply the frame rate.
   3. MKVtools can set the Pixel Aspect Ratio of the dragged file or files. This can be used to correct videos that are too "fat" or too "thin". You need to specify the width to height ratio. Not all devices support this feature.

The AVI Conversion Drawer

1. Video Options:
   1. Pass Thru will copy the video track to the new file.  This is a fairly quick process and is accomplished with no loss of quality.  This would be the preferred option as long as the video codec is compatible with your DVD player (e.g., DivX or XviD). 
   2. If the video codec is not playable by your DVD player then you’ll have to use either of the XviD re-encode options.  Depending on your computer, this can be time consuming.  The 2-pass will give better quality but will take twice as long.  The new video will have the same resolution as the original.  The text field displays a suggested bit rate that will result in a file of approximately the same size as the original, though you are free to change the suggested rate.
2. Audio Options:
   1. Pass Thru will copy the audio track to the new file.  This is a very quick process and is accomplished with no loss of quality. This would be the preferred option as long as the audio codec is mp3. AC3 audio may or may not (usually not) work with this mode.
   2. Pass Thru AC3 is a new setting that uses a workaround to pass thru AC3 audio. Use this if Pass Thru doesn't work for AC3 audio.
   3. Convert the audio track to mp3 using the bit rate selected from the popup menu. Needed for ogg (vorbis) and aac audio.
3. Subtitles Options:
   1. No Subs will ignore the subtitle tracks.
   2. Burn “hard codes” the subtitles into the video track.  The subtitles are a permanent part of the video and can’t be turned on or off.  This requires the video to be re-encoded so be sure to check the appropriate video conversion option.
   3. Extract will create a separate subtitle file.  Most DVD players will recognize this subtitle file if it has the same name as the .avi file it is included with.  This option should let you turn subtitles on and off.  Check your DVD player manual for more details.
   4. Use the Options button to set subtitle preferences – font, size and location.  These settings will only be used if you check the checkbox.  You can also change subtitle preferences by typing command-K.  See the Known Issues section below for more on subtitle
4. The Test button will let you a convert a short test clip of your file to enable you to quickly evaluate your settings.  You will be prompted to enter a start and end time, in seconds, for the clip. Note, this is a legacy feature. The preferred method is to split the .mkv video and then use it as a test clip.
5. Select Convert to start the conversion and Cancel to close the Conversion Drawer. Converted files and log files (if you choose to keep them) will appear in the same directory as the original videos.

The MP4 Conversion Drawer

1. Device:
   1. Choose the device the video will be played on.
   2. I don't have an Apple TV, PS3 or Xbox 360 to test on so your mileage my very with these setting. It would be best to consider these as still in beta.
2. Video Options:
   1. You can choose to encode with either h264 (slow encode, excellent quality), mpeg4 (faster encode and good quality) or pass thru. The 2-pass option will give better quality but will take approximately twice as long.
   2. The bit rate text field displays a suggested bit rate that will result in a file of approximately the same size as the original, though you are free to change the suggested rate. The suggested bit rate should be fine unless you downsize the video then you might want to drop the bit rate for a smaller file size.
   3. The frame rate text field displays the fps of the video. This value is needed in the muxing step of the processing. MKVtools attempts to determine what the video's frame rate is, but you need to verify that it is correct or the resulting video will be out of sync.
   4. The resolution slider is device dependent.
      1. iPod/iPhone: Max is for display on a TV and Small is for display on the device itself where high resolution is not required.
      2. Apple TV, PS3, Xbox 360: Max is for display on a High Definition TV and Small is for display on Standard Definition TV
      3. The text field displays the resolution width of the original video. Note this does not take into count non-square pixels (i.e., pixel aspect ratios other than 1:1). You may use this text field to enter your own resolution width though that may limit the results playability in devices like iPods/iPhones
3. Audio Options:
   1. Pass Thru will copy the audio track to the new file.  This is a very quick process and is accomplished with no loss of quality. This would be the preferred option as long as you are confident the result will be playable in your intended device.
   2. Convert the audio track to aac.
4. Subtitles Options:
   1. No Subs will ignore the subtitle tracks.
   2. Burn "hard codes" the subtitles into the video track.  The subtitles are a permanent part of the video and can’t be turned on or off.  This requires the video to be re-encoded so be sure to check the appropriate video conversion option. If you want subtitles that can be turned on/off, then extract the subtitles and embed them into the created .mp4 using the mux option in the Tools tab. Not all devices support muxed subtitles.
   3. Extract will create a separate subtitle file.  Most DVD players will recognize this subtitle file if it has the same name as the .avi file it is included with.  This option should let you turn subtitles on and off.  Check your DVD player manual for more details.
   4. Use the Options button to set subtitle preferences – font, size and location.  These settings will only be used if you check the checkbox.  You can also change subtitle preferences by typing command-K.  See the Known Issues section below for more on subtitles.
5. Select Convert to start the conversion and Cancel to close the Conversion Drawer. Converted files and log files (if you choose to keep them) will appear in the same directory as the original videos.

The Queue Drawer

1. The Queue Drawer opens when you have any completed, running or queued processes (conversions and extractions). You can add more processes to the queue at any time (only for registered versions).  They will be handled in the order that they are entered in the queue.
2. You can delete individual processes in the Queue Drawer by selecting the X button for a particular process. Note that 2-pass processes are treated as a single entity
3. Select Clear to delete all completed processes from the Queue Drawer.
4. Select Cancel to delete all processes and close the Queue Drawer.
5. You can select the Pause/Restart button to pause the processing. This can be helpful on slow computers when you temporarily need to focus the cpu on another task.

Subtitle Preferences

1. Select the font to use when embedding subtitles or playing videos. Note, when you first launch MKVtools, it tries to find your Arial font. If it could not do so, then the text field will be blank and you'll have to Change the font.
2. You can also specify the subtitle location as measured from the bottom and the font height, both as a percentage of the video height.
3. Note that there is an mencoder bug that may cause the preferences to be ignored. See the Known Issues page for more on this.

The Mplayer Window

1. The Mplayer Window is a full blown movie player. Here are some basic commands for controlling playback:
1. The left/ right arrow keys, or the up/down arrow keys to skip forward and backwards in the video.
2. The space bar toggles pauses and play.
3. Command-F toggles full screen playback.
4. Q or Esc will quit Mplayer and return control to MKVtools.
   • *** Warning – depending on your system, using the “close” button on the Mplayer Window title bar will cause an error. **