OGV to MPEG Converter

Convert OGV to MPEG: What This Tutorial Covers

.ogv is Xiph.Org's Ogg video profile — the extension RFC 5334 assigns to video/ogg, normally holding Theora video and Vorbis audio. .mpeg is the other end of the timeline: an MPEG program stream, the container behind Video CDs, DVDs and a generation of set-top hardware. This page converts one into the other, and the output defaults to MPEG-2 video with MP2 audio.

Two things about MPEG-2 catch people out, and this tutorial covers both. First, MPEG-2 has no CRF mode, so the Constant Quality and Constraint Quality sliders on this page do not do what their names suggest. Second, MPEG-2 cannot compress far — our encoder enforces a minimum bitrate derived from the output resolution, so a 1080p .mpeg will never be a small file. Both are fixable once you know which control to reach for.

How to Convert OGV to MPEG

1. Upload Your OGV File: Drag the .ogv onto the page or click "Add Files" to browse. Several clips can be queued and converted on identical settings.
2. Choose MPEG-2 or MPEG-1 as the Video Codec: Advanced Options opens on MPEG-2, which is what DVD and set-top hardware expects. MPEG-1 is the only other option and is the VCD-era choice for very low bitrates.
3. Set the Quality Preset and Resolution: File Compression opens on Quality Preset at "Very High (Recommended)" — on this page that preset scales the source bitrate rather than setting a CRF. Video resolution opens on "Keep original"; the Preset Resolutions dropdown sets height only, so use Width x Height when you need an exact raster like 720x480.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the .mpeg. No sign-up, no watermark.

Walk-through: MPEG-1 or MPEG-2?

Only two codecs are offered here, and the split between them is genuinely about bitrate rather than "new versus old".

The practical rule: if you are aiming a small SD clip at genuinely ancient hardware, MPEG-1 is defensible. For everything else — and for anything you intend to author onto a DVD — leave it on MPEG-2.

What Actually Controls the Output Size

This is the part worth reading before you convert, because two of the five File Compression modes behave differently on MPEG-2 than their names imply.

• Quality Preset — works, by scaling the source bitrate. MPEG-2 has no CRF mode, so our encoder falls back to taking the bitrate of your .ogv and multiplying it. Highest is 1.5x the source, Very High 1.32x, High 1.14x, Medium 0.9x, Low 0.72x, Very Low 0.54x and Lowest 0.3x. Because it is anchored to the source, a low-bitrate Theora clip stays a low-bitrate MPEG regardless of preset.
• Constant Bitrate / Variable Bitrate / Specific file size — work, and are the precise controls. These are the modes to use when you have a real number in mind.
• Constant Quality and Constraint Quality — the CRF value is discarded. MPEG-2 has no quality-based rate control, so our encoder logs that fact and substitutes the resolution-derived minimum bitrate instead. The slider moves, the output does not respond to it. Use one of the bitrate modes instead.

That resolution-derived minimum is the second surprise. Our encoder computes an MPEG-2 floor from the output pixel count — roughly 0.10 bits per pixel at 30 fps up to 720p, 0.12 through 1080p, 0.15 through 1440p and 0.18 above that — with a hard floor of 2 Mbit/s. If you request less than the floor, you get the floor.

So the real lever for a smaller .mpeg is resolution, not quality. Downscaling a 1080p source to 480p drops the floor from about 7.5 Mbit/s to 2 Mbit/s before any other setting is touched.

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "I lowered the CRF slider and nothing changed." You were on Constant Quality or Constraint Quality, which MPEG-2 discards. Switch File Compression to Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate or Specific file size.
• "The file is far bigger than my OGV." MPEG-2 is roughly two codec generations behind Theora in efficiency, and the minimum-bitrate floor sets a hard lower bound. Downscale the resolution, or accept that MPEG-2 at HD is a large-file format by nature. If size is the actual goal, OGV to MP4 will be several times smaller at the same quality.
• "I picked the 480p preset but got 854x480, not 720x480." Preset Resolutions set height and let width follow the source aspect ratio, so a 16:9 source lands on 854x480. For the DVD raster, use the Width x Height fields and type 720 and 480.
• "Only ten seconds came out." Trim was switched from "Unchanged" to "Time Range", and the Duration field is pre-filled with 10 seconds. Set it to the real length, or switch Trim back to "Unchanged".
• "There is no sound on my set-top box." You probably selected AC3 or DTS from the audio dropdown. MP2 is the default and the audio codec MPEG program streams natively carry; MP3 also works. AC3 and DTS appear in the list but sit outside the set our pipeline treats as container-native for .mpeg.
• "The picture has comb-like tearing." That is interlacing already baked into the source. This converter has no deinterlacer, so combing carries straight through into the MPEG.

When This Doesn't Work

An .mpeg file is not a DVD. The output here is an MPEG program stream with the right codecs inside, which is exactly what DVD authoring software wants as an input, but building a playable disc still needs that software to generate the VIDEO_TS structure with its VOB and IFO files. If you want a file that is already closer to disc layout, OGV to VOB writes the DVD object format directly.

The other case where this is the wrong page: modern playback. Nothing made in the last fifteen years prefers MPEG-2 — browsers do not play it, phones do not want it, and it costs several times the bitrate of H.264 for the same picture. Convert to MPEG only when a specific piece of legacy hardware or authoring software demands it; otherwise take OGV to MP4.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the Constant Quality slider have no effect on my MPEG?

Because MPEG-2 has no constant-quality rate control to apply it to. Our encoder detects the mismatch, logs that MPEG-2 does not support a quality mode, and substitutes a bitrate derived from the output resolution — so the CRF number you set is accepted and then dropped. Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate and Specific file size all work normally; use one of those when you need to control the result precisely.

Why can't I make the MPEG file small?

MPEG-2 was standardised in 1995 and is far less efficient than anything modern; below a certain bitrate its encoder simply fails rather than degrading gracefully. Our pipeline avoids that failure by enforcing a floor computed from the output resolution — 2 Mbit/s minimum, about 7.5 Mbit/s at 1080p. Reducing the resolution lowers the floor, which is the only reliable way to make the file meaningfully smaller while staying on MPEG-2.

Will the MPEG play on a DVD player?

The codec pairing is right for one: MPEG-2 video with MP2 audio is the family DVD-Video is built on, which is why authoring tools accept these files. Whether a specific player reads a bare .mpeg from a data disc or USB stick is down to that player. For an actual DVD you still need authoring software to build the disc structure around the stream.

Do I owe licensing fees for MPEG-2 output?

Almost certainly not. The last US patent on MPEG-2 expired on 13 February 2018, and the same reporting notes the video encoder/decoder patents had expired everywhere except the Philippines and Malaysia. That is a neat symmetry with the source file: Theora was designed to be royalty-free from the start, and MPEG-2 has largely arrived at the same place by expiry.

Does my Vorbis audio survive?

Not as Vorbis — MPEG program streams do not carry it. The soundtrack is decoded and re-encoded, to MP2 by default. That is a second lossy pass on audio that was already lossy, though MP2 at a reasonable bitrate is transparent enough for speech and typical web-video music. MP3 is the other safe choice in the dropdown.

How much quality do I lose converting Theora to MPEG-2?

More than you would going to a modern codec, because MPEG-2 needs a lot more bitrate to hold the same detail. There is one unavoidable lossy generation from the decode-and-re-encode, and MPEG-2's inefficiency means artifacts show up sooner if the bitrate is constrained. Keeping the resolution unchanged and using a high preset or an explicit high bitrate is the way to minimise it.

Should I choose MPEG-1 instead?

Only for very low bitrates or very old targets. ISO/IEC 11172-2 defines MPEG-1 for digital storage media at up to about 1.5 Mbit/s and it is progressive-only, which is exactly the Video CD use case. Below roughly 2 Mbit/s MPEG-1 tends to look better than MPEG-2; above about 3 Mbit/s MPEG-2 is clearly ahead. For DVD-oriented work MPEG-2 is the only correct answer.

.mpeg or .mpg — is there a difference?

Not in the bytes. Both extensions select FFmpeg's MPEG program-stream muxer and produce the same container; the three-letter form simply survives from the DOS-era 8.3 filename limit. Pick whichever your authoring tool or player expects — OGV to MPG is the identical conversion under the other name.

What happens to my files after converting?

Your .ogv is uploaded over an encrypted connection, decoded and re-encoded on our servers, and both the upload and the finished .mpeg are deleted automatically after a few hours. There is no sign-up, no watermark, and files are never shared or made public.