ODG to MXF Converter

ODG to MXF: A Drawing Wrapped for a Broadcast Workflow

.odg is an OpenDocument Graphics drawing — the vector shapes, connectors and text frames LibreOffice Draw and Apache OpenOffice Draw save as XML inside a ZIP package. MXF (Material Exchange Format) is the professional post-production and broadcast wrapper, first standardised in 2004 as SMPTE 377M and maintained today as SMPTE ST 377-1, with its application/mxf media type registered in RFC 4539. It is a container, not a codec. This page renders your drawing and encodes each page as a silent held frame inside that wrapper, which is what an Avid, Premiere or playout ingest folder expects when it will not take a picture file.

How to Convert ODG to MXF

1. Upload Your ODG File: Drag the .odg onto the page or click "+ Add Files". With several files, Merge strategy decides the result: "Merge images" writes one MXF holding each drawing in turn, "Video per image" writes one file per upload.
2. Choose the Video Codec: Video Codec offers exactly two entries — MPEG-2 (preselected) and H.264. MPEG-2 long-GOP is the essence most broadcast MXF workflows were built around; H.264 suits a modern ingest chain that accepts it.
3. Set the Video Resolution and Image Duration: Video resolution opens on "Keep original", which for an A4 drawing is a 300 DPI render near 2480 x 3508 pixels — pick Fixed Resolutions → 1920 x 1080 (or the raster your facility runs) so the clip drops onto a timeline without rescaling. Image Duration → Duration sets how long each page is held, 5 seconds by default.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and save the .mxf. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark.

MXF at a Glance

MPEG-2 or H.264 Essence on This Page

What the Wrapper Does and Does Not Carry

LibreOffice opens the .odg as a Draw document, exports it through Draw's own PDF filter, and each PDF page is rendered at 300 DPI into a frame before the encoder compresses it and the MXF muxer wraps it. What comes out is a valid MXF carrying a silent video essence — but it is not a substitute for a camera original. The rich production metadata that makes MXF worth using in a facility — frame-stamped SMPTE 12M timecode, descriptive KLV metadata, ancillary data — has no source in a drawing, so none of it is populated beyond the basics the muxer writes itself. Treat this file as a graphic delivered in the right envelope, not as broadcast-conformed media.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why would I wrap a drawing in MXF at all?

Because the ingest point demands the wrapper. Broadcast playout servers, Avid workflows and some facility watch-folders accept MXF and reject everything else, so a slate, a caption card, a lower-third background or a technical diagram that has to enter that chain has to arrive as MXF. If your editor will take a picture or an MP4, use one of those instead — they are smaller and simpler.

Which essence should I choose, MPEG-2 or H.264?

MPEG-2 if the facility's spec was written around long-GOP MXF, which is common in broadcast; H.264 if the chain is modern and accepts it. For a still frame the visual difference is negligible, but the file sizes are not: MPEG-2 enforces a minimum bitrate derived from the frame size, so a large render costs far more in MPEG-2 than in H.264.

Will the MXF carry timecode and metadata?

Not in any meaningful sense. A drawing has no timecode, no camera metadata and no ancillary data, so the file carries only what the muxer needs to be valid. If your delivery spec requires stamped timecode or descriptive KLV, apply it in a broadcast tool after conversion — this page produces essence, not a conformed deliverable.

Does the file have audio?

No. An ODG carries no sound, so the Audio Codec group does not render and the output has a video track only. Many facility specs require an audio track, often stereo or a specific channel map — add silent tracks in your editor or a dedicated MXF tool before delivery if yours does.

What happens to a multi-page Draw document?

Each page becomes its own held frame inside the same MXF, in page order, shown for the Image Duration you set. That works well for a sequence of slates. If you would rather have one file per page, save the pages as separate .odg files in LibreOffice Draw, upload them together and set Merge strategy to "Video per image".

Why will VLC not play my MXF?

VLC opens some MXF files and stumbles on others, usually because it does not recognise the specific essence or operational pattern rather than because the file is broken. Professional editors are the reliable readers here. If you simply want to check the picture, convert the same drawing to ODG to MP4 and view that; the frame is identical.

What frame rate and duration will the clip have?

One frame per second, held for the Image Duration you chose per drawing page — so three pages at 5 seconds gives a 15-second clip. If your facility requires a specific broadcast rate, conform the clip on ingest; because every frame within a hold is identical, changing the rate does not change what anyone sees.

How are my uploaded files handled?

Your drawing travels over an encrypted connection, is rendered and encoded on our servers, and is deleted automatically a few hours later along with the MXF it produced. Nothing is shared, published or reused, no account is required, and no watermark is applied. The ODG converter hub lists every other target for the same source file.