MPG to AVCHD Converter

Convert MPG to AVCHD: Read This First

An MPG is an MPEG program stream — the MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video that Video CDs, DVD rips and TV capture cards produce. AVCHD is the camcorder format Sony and Panasonic published in 2006: H.264 video, Dolby Digital (AC-3) or Linear PCM audio, carried in an MPEG-2 transport stream. This page re-encodes the first into the second, and there is one surprise worth knowing before you click Convert: the file you download is named .avchd, and no operating system associates anything with that extension. Rename it to .mts and it opens normally.

How to Convert MPG to AVCHD

1. Upload Your MPG File: Drag and drop your video, or click "Add Files" to browse for a .mpg or .mpeg file. Several files can be queued, and each one is converted independently with the same settings.
2. Confirm the Codec Pair: Video Codec and Audio Codec each list exactly one entry on this page — H.264 and AC3. That is deliberate: those are the codecs the AVCHD specification defines, so there is nothing to change here. The dropdowns exist so you can see what you are getting.
3. Choose a Rate Control and Resolution (Optional): File Compression opens on Quality Preset set to "Very High (Recommended)". Switch to Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate, Constraint Quality or Specific file size if you need to hit a number instead of a look. Under Video resolution, leave "Keep original" unless an authoring tool demands a specific raster; Trim cuts the clip to a start time and duration first so you only encode what you need.
4. Convert, Download, Rename: Click Convert, download the result, then rename the extension from .avchd to .mts. Files upload over an encrypted connection, are processed on our servers, and are deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared.

Walk-through: the .avchd Extension and What the File Really Is

The output is a real MPEG-2 transport stream carrying H.264 and AC-3 — the payload AVCHD is built from — written under an .avchd filename because that is the target you picked. Windows, macOS and Linux all ship without a handler for .avchd, so double-clicking it does nothing useful and Explorer or Finder shows a blank icon. The bytes are fine; only the name is unusual.

• For playback: rename to .mts. VLC, MPC-HC, mpv, QuickTime with the right components, and most smart TVs read it immediately.
• For an NLE import: .mts is also the extension Premiere Pro, Vegas, EDIUS and PowerDirector expect from an AVCHD card, so rename before you import rather than fighting the media browser.
• For disc authoring: a spec-strict AVCHD or Blu-ray tool may want the BDAV packet layout (192-byte packets) that Blu-ray media uses rather than the plain 188-byte transport packets you get here. If your authoring app rejects the file, run MPG to M2TS instead — same codecs, BDAV framing.

Second surprise, and it matters if you were expecting a card image: this is a single video file, not an AVCHD folder structure. Real AVCHD media carries a BDMV directory with INDEX.BDM, MOVIEOBJ.BDM, a PLAYLIST folder and the streams inside BDMV/STREAM/. Nothing here builds that tree — a disc-authoring app such as multiAVCHD or tsMuxeR takes your stream as input and generates the index files around it.

AVCHD Specification vs What This Page Produces

MPG vs AVCHD

Common Problems and How to Fix Them

• Nothing opens the downloaded file — the .avchd extension has no default handler anywhere. Rename to .mts.
• The picture looks stretched or squashed after resizing — an anamorphic DVD source stores non-square pixels (720×480 displayed as 4:3 or 16:9). Any resize option forces square pixels and drops that flag. Keep "Keep original" to preserve it, or set Width × Height to the display size yourself — 854×480 for a 16:9 DVD, 640×480 for 4:3.
• Combing or fine horizontal lines on motion — the source is interlaced and nothing here deinterlaces it, so the field pattern is re-encoded as-is. Deinterlace in an editor before uploading if you need clean progressive frames.
• The file got bigger than the MPG — you probably upscaled. Sending 720×480 DVD footage to a 1080p preset multiplies the pixel count roughly six times; H.264 is efficient but not that efficient, and the extra pixels are interpolated, not recovered.
• An authoring tool refuses it — check whether it wants BDAV framing (use MPG to M2TS) or a full BDMV folder (build that in the authoring app).

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my .avchd file not open when I double-click it?

Because .avchd is not a registered file type on any mainstream operating system. AVCHD in the real world appears as .mts files on a camera's SD card or .m2ts files inside a disc's BDMV/STREAM/ folder — the word "AVCHD" describes the whole format, not a filename suffix. The download is a genuine H.264 + AC-3 transport stream; renaming it to .mts gives it an extension players and editors recognise, and no bytes change in the process.

Is the output a complete AVCHD disc or card structure?

No — it is one stream file. A playable AVCHD volume also needs the BDMV directory with INDEX.BDM, MOVIEOBJ.BDM and a PLAYLIST folder alongside the streams in BDMV/STREAM/. Those index files are generated by authoring software (multiAVCHD, tsMuxeR, or the AVCHD templates in Vegas and EDIUS) that takes your stream as its input. If you only need something that plays, you never need the folder structure at all.

Why can't I choose AAC audio on this page?

Because AVCHD does not permit it. The published specification allows Dolby Digital (AC-3) at 64–640 kbps with up to 5.1 channels, or Linear PCM at 1.5 Mbps for two channels and up to 7.1 overall. AAC is not on that list, so a hardware AVCHD player or a spec-checking authoring tool can reject a file that carries it. The Audio Codec dropdown here shows AC3 alone for exactly that reason. If you want AAC, you want a general-purpose container instead — MPG to MP4 is the usual answer.

What bitrate should I use if the file is going onto a disc?

AVCHD caps the system bitrate at 24 Mbps and drops that to 18 Mbps when the media is a DVD; the 2011 AVCHD 2.0 amendment raised the ceiling to 28 Mbps for its 1080/50p–60p and stereoscopic modes. Nothing on this page enforces those numbers, so if a player or authoring app is fussy, switch File Compression to Constant Bitrate and set a value under the relevant ceiling — 15–18 Mbps is a comfortable choice for 1080p from a standard-definition source, and considerably less than that is fine for DVD-resolution material that has no extra detail to carry.

Does the Quality Preset set a bitrate?

Not for this target. H.264 is a CRF codec, so the preset resolves to a constant-quality value that also shifts with the output resolution: in our pipeline "Very High" lands on CRF 18 at 1080p, CRF 17 at 720p and CRF 16 at DVD-sized 720×480, because a smaller frame needs a tighter CRF to look equally clean. The resulting bitrate is whatever that quality target costs for your footage. If you need a predictable file size instead of a predictable look, use Constant Bitrate or Specific file size.

Will converting a DVD-resolution MPG give me real HD?

No. Choosing a 1080p preset interpolates pixels; it cannot invent detail that a 720×480 MPEG-2 encode never captured. The result is upscaled standard definition with an HD resolution number attached, and it is several times larger than the source. Upscale only when a tool or device insists on an HD raster — otherwise keep the source resolution and let the player do any scaling at display time.

My source is interlaced. Will the AVCHD output be interlaced too?

The field pattern in the source is re-encoded as it is; nothing in this conversion deinterlaces. AVCHD itself defines both interlaced (1080i) and progressive modes, so interlaced content is perfectly legal in the format — but if the combing bothers you on a computer screen, deinterlace in an editor before uploading. That is a filtering job better done where you can see the result frame by frame.

What is the difference between the AVCHD, MTS and M2TS targets here?

They all produce an H.264 transport stream; the extension changes what the file is framed as and what recognises it. .mts is the camcorder-card extension and gives plain 188-byte transport packets, which is the same framing you get from this page. .m2ts triggers BDAV framing — 192-byte packets that carry a 4-byte arrival timestamp ahead of each transport packet — which is what Blu-ray and AVCHD media actually store. Pick MPG to MTS for a camcorder-style filename, MPG to M2TS when an authoring tool wants BDAV, and this page when the workflow specifically asks for AVCHD.