Publisher to MTS Converter

Convert Publisher to MTS: What This Tutorial Covers

.pub is the proprietary file format of Microsoft Publisher, and almost nothing other than Publisher itself opens it cleanly — which matters now that Microsoft is retiring the app on October 1, 2026. This tutorial converts each page of your publication into an MTS (AVCHD) video clip for an AVCHD camcorder or Blu-ray timeline; it walks through the page-to-frame mechanics, the silent/letterboxed result you should expect, and when a different target is the smarter rescue. If you just need to preserve or share a Publisher file, MTS is the wrong format — convert to Publisher to PDF (Microsoft's own recommended path) or Publisher to JPG instead. MTS only makes sense when you specifically need an AVCHD-format clip.

How to Convert Publisher to MTS

1. Upload Your Publisher File: Drag and drop your .pub file onto the page or click "+ Add Files" to browse. You can queue several Publisher files at once.
2. Pick the Merge Strategy: Under "Merge strategy," choose "Merge images" to render every page into one continuous MTS clip, or "Video per image" to output a separate MTS file for each page.
3. Set Image Duration and Background Color (Optional): "Image Duration" controls how many seconds each rendered page holds on screen (the default is 5 seconds per frame); "Background Color" sets the letterbox padding color around print-shaped pages — black is the default and the safest for TV playback.
4. Convert and Download: Pick a "Quality Preset" ("Very High (Recommended)" is the default), click "Convert," and download your .mts file. No sign-up, no watermark, no Publisher licence required.

Walk-through: How Pages Become AVCHD Frames

This conversion is a two-stage process. First, each page of the .pub is rendered to a still image — the same rasterizing step that Publisher to JPG performs. Then those stills are encoded into an AVCHD H.264 video stream, each page held on screen for the "Image Duration" you set. The result is a static, silent slideshow: there is no motion within a page and no audio track, because a Publisher document carries neither. That is expected, not a defect.

The two "Merge strategy" options decide how a multi-page publication is packaged, and the behavior is worth understanding before you convert:

• Merge images — a 4-page newsletter becomes a single .mts file that shows page 1, then page 2, then page 3, then page 4 in sequence, each held for the Image Duration. Use this for a one-file clip you can drop on a USB stick and play start-to-finish.
• Video per image — the same 4-page newsletter becomes 4 separate .mts files, one per page, delivered together. Use this when each page needs to be its own clip on an editing timeline with its own duration or transition.

For pacing, match the Image Duration to the content: 5–8 seconds suits a dense page someone needs to read, while 2–3 seconds is enough for a title or cover page. Because Publisher pages are usually portrait print layouts and AVCHD frames are landscape 16:9 (1920×1080 or 1280×720), a portrait page is fit inside the frame with vertical bars on either side in your chosen Background Color — the page is never cropped. If most of your pages are portrait, black bars are unavoidable in a 16:9 clip; that is a property of fitting print pages into a video frame, not a quality problem.

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "The video has no sound" — Correct, and expected. A .pub file has no audio, so the rendered MTS is silent. If you need narration or music, add an audio track afterward in a video editor; this converter cannot invent one.
• "My page has black bars on the sides" — Your page is portrait and the MTS frame is landscape 16:9, so the page is letterboxed (never cropped). Change "Background Color" to white if that suits your page better, or accept the bars — fitting a portrait print page into a 16:9 video always pads the sides.
• "Each page only flashes by too fast" — The default Image Duration is 5 seconds per frame; raise it to 8 or 10 seconds for pages with a lot of text so viewers can actually read them.
• "My fonts or layout look slightly off" — .pub is Microsoft's proprietary format, so non-Microsoft renderers cannot reproduce it with absolute precision. Fonts not embedded in the file get the closest available match, and heavy layering can shift. Simple flyers and certificates render cleanly; spot-check complex publications.
• "My Blu-ray player won't play the MTS file" — Some players only read AVCHD inside a proper BDMV folder structure rather than as a loose file. Burning an AVCHD-compliant disc, or placing the file in the expected folder layout, usually fixes direct playback.

When This Doesn't Work — and What to Use Instead

If your goal is to preserve, email, or print a Publisher file rather than feed an AVCHD workflow, MTS is the wrong target and you are making the file harder to use, not easier. Convert to Publisher to PDF for an openable, shareable, multi-page document — this is the path Microsoft itself recommends before Publisher retires — or to Publisher to JPG for a plain page image that opens on any device. MTS earns its place only when you genuinely need an AVCHD-format clip: matching a camcorder's .mts files on an editing timeline, or building an AVCHD slideshow disc for older Blu-ray hardware. For a clip you intend to share online or play on a phone, Publisher to MP4 produces a far more widely playable file than MTS.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the MTS video have any sound or animation?

No. A Publisher document contains static page layouts with no audio and no motion, so the resulting MTS is a silent slideshow of still page renders — each page held on screen for the Image Duration you set. There is nothing in a .pub file to animate or play as audio. If you need narration or background music, import the MTS into a video editor and add an audio track there.

Why does the video show black bars around my Publisher pages?

Publisher pages are usually portrait print layouts (such as A4 or US Letter), while MTS/AVCHD frames are landscape 16:9 at resolutions like 1920×1080. To show the whole page without cropping it, the converter fits the page inside the frame and pads the empty space with the "Background Color" (black by default). You can switch the padding to white or another color, but for a 16:9 clip made from portrait pages, some bars are unavoidable.

Does a multi-page Publisher file become one MTS or several?

That is exactly what the "Merge strategy" option controls. "Merge images" renders all pages into a single .mts clip that plays them in sequence; "Video per image" outputs one .mts file per page instead. Pick "Merge images" for a single playable slideshow, or "Video per image" when each page needs to be a separate clip on an editing timeline. If you instead want every page bundled in one openable document, convert to Publisher to PDF.

What is MTS, and why would I convert a Publisher file to it?

MTS is the on-camcorder file extension for AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition), a format jointly introduced by Sony and Panasonic in 2006 for HD consumer camcorders. It wraps H.264/AVC video and Dolby AC-3 (or linear PCM) audio in an MPEG-2 Transport Stream derived from the Blu-ray spec (AVCHD on Wikipedia). Converting a .pub to MTS only makes sense for AVCHD-specific needs — matching camcorder clips on a Sony Vegas or PowerDirector timeline, or building an AVCHD slideshow disc. For preserving or sharing the document itself, Publisher to PDF is the right target.

How faithful is the rendered page, given Publisher is being retired?

Microsoft has confirmed that Publisher loses support on October 1, 2026, after which Microsoft 365 subscribers can no longer open .pub files in Publisher — so getting your artwork out while a tool can still read the file is genuinely time-sensitive. Because .pub is proprietary, non-Microsoft renderers cannot reproduce it perfectly: in our testing, single-page flyers and certificates rendered cleanly, while pages with unusual non-embedded fonts or heavy layering were more likely to shift. Spot-check complex publications, and for a print-exact result export from Publisher itself while you still can.

How is my Publisher file handled, and is it kept private?

Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically a few hours after conversion — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared or made public. For very large publications, the practical limit is upload time rather than the page count itself.