MXF to VOB Converter

MXF to VOB: a Broadcast Master into a DVD Program Stream

MXF is the professional wrapper — Material Exchange Format, standardised as SMPTE 377M in 2004 and maintained today as ST 377-1 — that Avid, Premiere, playout servers and broadcast ingest systems pass masters around in. VOB is the other end of the profession: the MPEG-2 program stream that sits inside a DVD's VIDEO_TS folder. This page re-encodes the first to the second. Be clear about what that gives you before you start: a .vob file, correctly formed, but not a DVD — an authoring step still stands between this download and a disc that plays in a set-top player.

How to Convert MXF to VOB

1. Upload Your MXF File: Drag the .mxf onto the page or click "+ Add Files". Flat OP-1a masters convert most reliably; Avid and P2 OP-Atom media splits each track into its own file, so pointing this page at an audio companion gives you a file with no picture in it.
2. Confirm the Video Codec and Audio Codec: Video Codec offers MPEG-2 and MPEG-1, and opens on MPEG-2 — which is what DVD-Video expects. Audio Codec opens on MP2, with AC3, DTS (DCA) and MP3 also listed; read the audio section below before choosing anything other than MP2 or AC3.
3. Set File Compression and Video resolution: File Compression opens on Quality Preset at Very High (Recommended), with Specific file size, Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate, Constant Quality and Constraint Quality alongside. On MPEG-2 the bitrate modes are the ones that genuinely work — see below. Video resolution opens on Keep original, and Trim offers a Time Range with a Start time and Duration.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the .vob. 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 or made public.

What You Get Is a Program Stream, Not a Disc

The output here is an MPEG-2 program stream — exactly the byte format a DVD's VOB files use, and playable in VLC, MPC-HC and mpv straight from your download folder. What it is not is a DVD-Video volume. A disc needs more than the stream:

• A VIDEO_TS folder containing the .VOB files alongside .IFO navigation files and their .BUP backups. No converter can produce those from a single video file; that is what DVD-authoring software does.
• A legal frame size and rate. DVD-Video accepts 720 x 480 at 29.97 fps for NTSC or 720 x 576 at 25 fps for PAL, plus a few smaller sizes. This page does not enforce that — it happily writes a 1920 x 1080 program stream if that is what you feed it. If a disc is the destination, set Video resolution to Width x Height and type the size your region needs.
• A total bitrate a DVD player can sustain, which in practice means keeping video plus audio comfortably under about 10 Mbps.

If you only need the master to play on a computer, none of that matters and this file is finished. If you are heading for a disc, treat this conversion as the encode step and hand the result to an authoring tool.

MPEG-2 Has a Bitrate Floor, and It Is Higher Than You Think

MPEG-2 is a 1990s codec with no CRF mode at all, so quality-driven compression does not work the way it does on H.264. Two things follow, and both are worth knowing before you pick a compression mode.

First, Constant Quality and Constraint Quality are discarded on this codec. The value you type is accepted by the interface, then replaced with a resolution-derived minimum bitrate before encoding. You get a valid file, but not the quality level you asked for. Use Constant Bitrate or Variable Bitrate if you want control here.

Second, there is a minimum bitrate below which the encoder will not go, calculated from the output resolution:

Ask for less than the figure in that table — through Specific file size, or a low Constant Bitrate — and the floor is applied instead, so the output comes out larger than you requested. That is not a bug in the tool; it is MPEG-2's compression efficiency. If your goal is a small file rather than a DVD-compatible one, MPEG-2 is the wrong codec entirely and MXF to MP4 will get you a fraction of the size at the same picture quality.

Anamorphic Masters: Keep Original, or Lose the Aspect Ratio

Broadcast masters are frequently anamorphic — a 16:9 picture stored in a 720 x 576 or 720 x 480 frame with a pixel-aspect-ratio flag telling the player to stretch it back out. DVD works exactly the same way, so an anamorphic master is a natural fit.

The thing to watch is that any resize flattens the pixel aspect ratio to square. We tested it: a 720 x 576 master flagged 64:45 (giving a 16:9 display aspect) came through Keep original with that flag intact — still 720 x 576, still 16:9 on screen. Resizing the same file to 720 x 480 produced a stream flagged 1:1, so it now displays as 3:2 and the picture is no longer the shape it was shot in.

The practical rules: leave Video resolution on Keep original whenever the master is already a legal DVD frame size, which anamorphic SD masters usually are. If you genuinely must change the frame size, expect to set the aspect ratio again in your authoring software afterwards, because it is not carried through the resize.

The Audio Codecs on This Page

The short version: keep MP2 unless you are targeting an NTSC disc or need Dolby, in which case choose AC3.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I burn this .vob straight to a disc?

No. What you get is the program stream that lives inside a DVD, but a playable disc also needs a VIDEO_TS folder holding .IFO navigation files and their .BUP backups, and the whole structure has to be laid out to the DVD-Video spec. Only authoring software builds that. Use this page for the encode, then import the .vob into a DVD-authoring application to produce the disc image.

Why is my output bigger than the file size I asked for?

Because MPEG-2 has a minimum bitrate per resolution and the encoder applies it rather than fail. At 1920 x 1080 that floor is around 7.5 Mbps, so a request for a small file at full HD simply cannot be honoured. Either drop the resolution — 720 x 576 or 720 x 480 brings the floor down to 2 Mbps — or use a modern codec instead, since MXF to MP4 will reach sizes MPEG-2 physically cannot.

Does the Constant Quality setting work here?

Not on MPEG-2. The codec has no CRF mode, so the quality value you enter is accepted by the interface and then replaced with the resolution-derived minimum bitrate before the encode runs. The file is valid, but the number you typed had no effect on it. For genuine control, use Constant Bitrate or Variable Bitrate and set the rate directly.

Why does my 16:9 master come out looking stretched or squashed?

Because you resized it. Anamorphic material carries a pixel-aspect-ratio flag rather than square pixels, and that flag does not survive a resize — we measured a 720 x 576 master flagged for 16:9 display coming out as square-pixel 3:2 after being scaled to 720 x 480. Keep Video resolution on Keep original for anamorphic sources, and if you must resize, set the display aspect ratio again in your authoring tool.

My MXF has no video in it. What went wrong?

You probably uploaded an OP-Atom essence file. Avid and Panasonic P2 media stores each track — video, and each audio channel — as a separate MXF file rather than one interleaved container, so an audio companion file legitimately contains no picture. Export a flat OP-1a master from your editor and convert that instead. Growing files pulled off a card mid-record and some vendor-specific variants can also decode imperfectly for the same kind of reason.

Should I pick MPEG-2 or MPEG-1?

MPEG-2, unless you are specifically targeting Video CD or a device that predates DVD. MPEG-2 is the codec DVD-Video is built on; MPEG-1 is its predecessor, limited to lower resolutions and noticeably less efficient. There is no compatibility benefit to choosing MPEG-1 for a DVD workflow, and a real quality cost.

What happens to the timecode and metadata in my MXF?

It does not come across. MXF carries a rich metadata model — timecode tracks, reel names, UMIDs, descriptive metadata — and an MPEG-2 program stream has no equivalent structures to receive any of it. The picture and sound transfer; the bookkeeping does not. If your workflow depends on timecode, keep the MXF as the master and treat the VOB as a delivery copy.

Is any quality lost in the conversion?

Yes. The server always re-encodes rather than copying the existing video stream across, so the picture goes through a fresh MPEG-2 encode. On an MXF holding an all-intra broadcast codec such as DNxHD, XDCAM or AVC-Intra, that means a high-quality mastering format is being converted into a 1990s delivery codec — a real generational step down, and one that is expected for a DVD target. Keep the bitrate generous and the resolution on Keep original to minimise it.

What happens to my file after the conversion?

It is uploaded over an encrypted connection, decoded and re-encoded on our servers, and both the upload and the finished .vob are deleted automatically after a few hours. Files are never shared or made public, there is no sign-up and no watermark, and your original .mxf master is never modified — the program stream is written as a new file for you to download.