MKV to HEVC Converter

Convert MKV to HEVC: What This Tool Actually Produces

This converter re-encodes the video track inside an MKV file with the H.265 (HEVC) codec and writes a raw .hevc elementary stream — just the compressed picture data, with no container around it. Read the next two cards before you start: a raw stream carries no audio and no subtitles, and it will not open in most ordinary players, so this output is meant for encoding pipelines, codec testing, or muxing into MP4/MKV later. If your goal is a normal, playable H.265 video that keeps your audio and subtitle tracks, convert to a container instead — see the routing note below.

Read This First: .hevc Is Not a Normal Video File

A .hevc file is the bare output of an H.265 encoder. Two consequences follow directly from that, and they matter more for MKV than for most formats:

• Audio and subtitles are dropped. A raw video elementary stream holds one kind of data — video. MKV is a rich container that often carries multiple audio tracks, several subtitle tracks, and chapters; none of that survives into a .hevc file, because there is no container to hold a second track. Only the single video stream you select is encoded.
• Most players can't open it. Phones, smart TVs, and QuickTime expect a container (MP4, MKV, MOV). VLC and other FFmpeg-based tools can usually play a raw .hevc stream directly, but support is inconsistent. The reliable fix is to mux the stream into a container, e.g. ffmpeg -f hevc -i video.hevc -c copy video.mp4.

Most people who search "MKV to HEVC" actually want H.265 video inside a playable container. MKV already supports H.265 natively, so if that's you, use MKV to MP4 or MKV to MKV, set the video codec to H.265 in the codec dropdown, and you get a single file that keeps the audio and subtitle tracks and plays on modern devices. Pick the raw .hevc output only when you specifically need the elementary stream.

How to Convert MKV to HEVC

1. Upload Your MKV File: Drag and drop your .mkv onto the page or click "+ Add Files." You can queue several files and convert them with the same settings.
2. Set the Quality Preset or Constant Quality: The codec is fixed to H.265 for .hevc output. Use the Quality Preset dropdown (it defaults to "Very High") for a one-click result, or switch to Constant Quality to set an explicit CRF when you're testing encoder behavior.
3. Adjust Video Resolution or Trim (Optional): Use Video Resolution to downscale by percentage or to a preset, or Trim with Time Range to export only part of the clip. Both are optional.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download the .hevc stream. No sign-up, no watermark.

Walk-through: Choosing a Rate-control Mode

The File Compression section offers several rate-control modes. Which one you want depends on why you're producing a raw stream:

• If you're testing the encoder or comparing settings, use Constant Quality (CRF). It targets a perceptual quality level rather than a file size, so each test clip is encoded at a consistent quality. Lower CRF means higher quality and a larger stream; higher CRF means the opposite.
• If you need a predictable bitrate for a downstream muxing or streaming pipeline, use Constant Bitrate or Variable Bitrate and enter the target in Mbps.
• If you just want a smaller result, Specific file size lets you name a target size and the encoder scales toward it. Combining an aggressive size target with a resolution downscale is where quality loss shows up first, so change one variable at a time.

If the MKV you upload already holds an H.265 video track, this tool still routes it through a full decode and re-encode rather than copying the stream untouched, so plan for some processing time and pick a quality mode rather than assuming a lossless pass-through.

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "The file plays but has no sound, and my subtitles are gone" — Expected. A raw .hevc stream has no audio and no subtitle tracks. Convert to MKV to MP4 or MKV to MKV with the H.265 codec if you need those tracks preserved.
• "My phone / QuickTime / TV won't open the .hevc file" — These players need a container. Mux the stream into MP4 (ffmpeg -f hevc -i in.hevc -c copy out.mp4) or convert to MP4/MKV from the start.
• "VLC opens it but the duration or seeking is wrong" — Raw elementary streams carry no timing index, so players estimate timestamps. Muxing into a container with a proper index fixes seek and duration.
• "Output looks heavily pixelated" — You likely combined a small Specific file size target with a resolution downscale. Raise the size target or keep the original resolution.
• "H.265 isn't supported on the playback device" — Older hardware lacks HEVC decoding. Convert to H.264 in an MP4 container for the widest compatibility.

When This Doesn't Work

DRM-protected or corrupted MKV files can't be re-encoded — the converter needs a readable video stream. An MKV with several video tracks will export the primary stream, not all of them, so a multi-angle file won't round-trip every track into one .hevc. And if your real goal is a shareable, playable H.265 video for a person or device rather than an elementary stream for a pipeline, skip this page entirely and use MKV to MP4 or MKV to MKV with the H.265 codec selected — MKV holds HEVC natively, so there's no reason to strip it down to a raw stream first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the converted .hevc file have no audio or subtitles?

Because .hevc is a raw video elementary stream, not a container. It holds only the H.265-encoded picture data, so there is nowhere to store the audio tracks, subtitle tracks, or chapters that an MKV usually carries. If you need any of those, convert to a container format such as MP4 or MKV instead, where video, audio, and subtitles coexist.

What can actually play a raw .hevc file?

FFmpeg-based players like VLC can usually decode a raw H.265 stream, and developer tools such as GPAC or an HEVC stream analyzer are built for it. Consumer players — phones, smart TVs, QuickTime, most browsers — generally cannot, because they expect a container. To play the result anywhere, mux it into MP4 with ffmpeg -f hevc -i video.hevc -c copy video.mp4.

Is HEVC really about half the size of H.264?

Roughly, at the same visual quality. The HEVC standard (ITU-T H.265 / ISO/IEC 23008-2, first approved April 2013) was designed to deliver about 25-50% better compression than H.264/AVC, with the exact figure depending on resolution and content — savings tend to be larger at 4K than at lower resolutions. In our testing, a 1080p source clip re-encoded to H.265 at the default preset produced a visibly smaller stream than the equivalent H.264 encode, though the precise ratio varies per clip.

Should I convert MKV to a .hevc stream or to MKV/MP4 with H.265?

If you want a playable file for a person or device, keep a container — convert MKV to MP4 or MKV to MKV and choose the H.265 codec. You keep the audio and subtitle tracks and it plays on essentially any modern device. Choose the raw .hevc stream only when a downstream tool specifically expects an elementary stream, such as a muxing step, a hardware encoder test, or codec conformance work.

My MKV is already H.265 — does this just copy the stream?

Not reliably. This page is a converter, not a remux: it decodes the MKV's video and re-encodes it to a fresh H.265 elementary stream rather than copying the existing one bit-for-bit, so expect a quality mode to apply and some encoding time. If your only goal is to pull the existing H.265 video out of the MKV without re-encoding, that is a remux job better handled by a tool like FFmpeg (ffmpeg -i in.mkv -map 0:v:0 -c copy out.hevc).

Why is MKV a container while HEVC is a codec?

MKV (Matroska) is an open container format: it wraps one or more video, audio, and subtitle streams plus chapters into a single file, but it does no compression of its own. HEVC (H.265) is a video codec — the algorithm that actually compresses the picture. So an MKV can already contain HEVC video; "MKV to HEVC" only makes sense as either re-encoding the video to H.265 (what this tool does) or extracting that video as a raw stream.

Are my uploaded files kept after conversion?

No. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically a few hours after conversion. There is no sign-up, no watermark, and files are never shared or made public.