MPEG-2 to MTS Converter

Converting MPEG-2 to MTS: What This Tutorial Covers

Almost everyone who converts an MPEG-2 file to .mts is trying to make a legacy clip — a DVD rip, a capture-card recording, an old .mpg archive — sit alongside camcorder footage in an editor that expects AVCHD. That is a reasonable goal, but it has one requirement most converters never mention: AVCHD's audio is Dolby AC-3 or linear PCM, and this page hands you AAC unless you change it. This tutorial covers which settings to touch, what an .mts file from a converter genuinely is (and is not), and what to do when a camcorder-oriented tool still refuses the result.

How to Convert MPEG-2 to MTS

1. Upload Your MPEG-2 File: Drag the .mpeg2 file onto the page or click "+ Add Files". Batch upload works, so a set of captured segments can be converted with one set of settings.
2. Keep Video Codec on H.264 and Switch Audio Codec to AC3: H.264 is already selected and is the only video codec AVCHD accepts. Audio Codec is set to AAC, which AVCHD does not allow — change it to AC3 before converting if anything downstream is spec-strict.
3. Set Quality, Resolution or Trim (Optional): Quality Preset starts on "Very High (Recommended)"; Constant Quality (CRF 16-51, starting at 23), Constraint Quality, Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate and Specific file size are the alternatives. Video resolution stays on "Keep original", and Trim → Time Range cuts one span out of a long capture.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the .mts. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark.

Walk-through: Making the Output Actually AVCHD-Friendly

Three settings decide whether an editor accepts the file, and only one of them is right by default.

• Video codec — leave it alone. H.264 is preselected and is what AVCHD specifies. The dropdown also offers MPEG-2, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, Xvid, DivX and H.265; all of them produce a valid transport stream that VLC and set-top boxes will play, and none of them produce something an AVCHD importer recognises.
• Audio codec — change it. AAC is preselected. The AVCHD specification allows Dolby AC-3 and uncompressed linear PCM, so AAC-in-.mts is the single most common reason a camcorder suite rejects a converted file. Switching Audio Codec to AC3 costs nothing and removes the problem. The audio default does not follow your video-codec choice, so this stays AAC even if you switch the picture to MPEG-2.
• Bitrate — stay well under the ceiling. AVCHD tops out at 24 Mbit/s (18 Mbit/s when written to DVD media), and AVCHD Progressive raises that to 28 Mbit/s. A DVD-era MPEG-2 source sits around 4-9 Mbit/s, so there is no reason to go anywhere near those limits — a quality-based setting will land far below them on standard-definition material.
• Resolution — leave it on "Keep original" unless you must change it. AVCHD is a high-definition format, so some strict tools expect 1080 or 720 line footage. Upscaling a 720×576 DVD frame to 1080p makes the file bigger and satisfies a checkbox, but adds no detail.

What an .mts File From a Converter Really Is

That third row is the point most pages get wrong. Renaming .mts to .m2ts does not add the four-byte timestamp prefix each BDAV packet carries, so a tool that parses the framing rather than trusting the extension will notice. If your destination specifically wants .m2ts, convert to it directly with MPEG-2 to M2TS rather than renaming.

AVCHD in One Table

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "My editor imports the video but the audio is missing or silent" — the file is carrying AAC. Re-convert with Audio Codec set to AC3.
• "The AVCHD import wizard doesn't see the file at all" — many camcorder utilities scan for a BDMV folder structure, not for loose .mts files. Import the file as ordinary media instead, or copy it into an existing AVCHD folder tree.
• "The picture still has comb lines" — the source is interlaced MPEG-2 and nothing in this pipeline deinterlaces. The combing is in the source frames and is re-encoded as-is; no preset or resolution setting removes it.
• "My 16:9 DVD looks squashed" — DVD MPEG-2 often uses non-square pixels, and any scaling option here normalises them to square. Set Width × Height explicitly (1024×576 for 16:9 PAL, 854×480 for 16:9 NTSC) instead of scaling by percentage.
• "The file is enormous" — a transport stream carries more packet overhead than an MP4 of the same content, and any bitrate mode you set applies on top of that. Use a quality-based mode and let the encoder pick the rate.

When This Doesn't Work

If the destination is a camcorder-authoring suite that insists on a real AVCHD volume, no single converted file will satisfy it, because the format's identity on media is a folder structure rather than an extension — you need disc-authoring software to build the BDMV tree around the stream. Copy-protected commercial DVDs are the other hard stop: a CSS-encrypted VOB must be decrypted to a plain MPEG-2 stream before anything can read it. And if the actual goal is just an editable, universally accepted file rather than AVCHD compatibility, MPEG-2 to MP4 produces something smaller that every current editor opens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the .mts file from this converter a real AVCHD file?

It is a real MPEG transport stream with H.264 video, which is the codec AVCHD specifies — but "AVCHD" describes more than the codec. The specification also fixes the audio to AC-3 or linear PCM, and on physical media it defines a BDMV folder structure that a single downloaded file cannot reproduce. Switch Audio Codec to AC3 and you have a stream whose contents match the spec; whether a given tool accepts it depends on whether that tool checks contents or looks for the folder tree.

Can I rename the output to .m2ts and be done?

Not reliably. .m2ts uses BDAV framing — every 188-byte transport packet is prefixed with a four-byte arrival timestamp, making 192-byte packets — while the .mts written here uses the plain 188-byte layout. A player that sniffs the content will usually cope, but anything that parses the framing strictly will not. Convert directly to M2TS if that is the format you need.

Why does the audio default to AAC if AVCHD doesn't allow it?

AAC is the general default for transport-stream targets on this site, and it is a perfectly valid thing to put in a .ts-family container for normal playback — VLC, set-top boxes and media servers handle it without complaint. It is only the AVCHD specification that excludes it. Because the audio default does not change when you change the video codec, treat "switch Audio Codec to AC3" as a deliberate step whenever AVCHD compatibility is the goal.

Can I keep my MPEG-2 video codec inside the .mts?

Yes — MPEG-2 is one of the Video Codec choices, and picking it avoids cross-coding your picture into a different codec family. Be clear about two things, though. First, it is still a re-encode: this converter has no stream-copy mode, so the video is decoded and re-encoded even when the codec name stays the same. Second, an MPEG-2 stream inside .mts is not AVCHD by any reading, so choose this path for transport-stream playback rather than for editor compatibility.

Does converting to MTS turn my standard-definition DVD into HD?

No. AVCHD is associated with high definition because camcorders record that way, not because the container upgrades anything. A 720×480 or 720×576 MPEG-2 source stays at that detail level; picking a 1080p resolution preset scales the frame up and produces a bigger file with softer results. If a downstream tool insists on an HD frame size, upscale knowingly — do not expect it to look better.

What is the difference between .mts and .ts here?

Very little at the byte level: both are written as plain 188-byte MPEG transport streams. The difference is convention. .ts is the broadcast and streaming spelling, .mts is the camcorder spelling, and some software filters its file picker on one or the other. If your tool wants .ts, MPEG-2 to TS is the same conversion under the other name.

Which quality mode should I use?

Start with Quality Preset on "Very High (Recommended)" — it scales the encode against the source's own bitrate, which is the sensible behaviour on a video source. If you want a specific number, Constant Quality with a CRF around 18-20 keeps an H.264 re-encode of DVD-grade material visually indistinguishable from the original. Only reach for Constant Bitrate if a downstream device demands a fixed rate, and keep it below the AVCHD ceiling of 24 Mbit/s.

Will this repair a corrupted or partially recorded capture?

Sometimes, incidentally. Re-encoding walks the whole stream and writes a fresh, correctly indexed transport stream, which can make a capture with a broken index or an abrupt ending seekable again. It cannot recover data that was never written, and badly damaged files may simply fail to decode past the corruption. If a capture stops short, expect the output to stop at the same place.

How are my uploads handled?

The MPEG-2 file is uploaded over an encrypted connection, converted on our servers, and both it and the finished .mts are deleted automatically after a few hours. There is no account, no watermark, and files are never shared or made public. For long recordings the upload dominates the total time, so trimming the segment you need with Video Cutter first is usually the fastest route.