TS to AV1 Converter

How to Convert TS to AV1 Online

1. Upload Your TS File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select MPEG-2 Transport Stream (.ts) files — DVR captures, HDHomeRun recordings, IPTV dumps, OBS stream segments, or Blu-ray rips. Batch is supported: drop in a whole season of recordings and each segment encodes in parallel.
2. Pick Quality Preset or Bitrate Mode: Default is the "Very High (Recommended)" Quality Preset, which targets a visually-lossless AV1 encode. Switch to Specific file size to cap output at an exact MB target, Constant Bitrate for predictable streaming sizes, Variable Bitrate for the smallest files at a given quality, or Constant Quality for AV1's CQ slider (0-63 — 23 = visually lossless, 30 = balanced, 35 = small file with mild softening).
3. Resize or Trim if Needed (Optional): Under Video resolution, keep original, pick a Preset Resolution (4320p / 2160p / 1440p / 1080p / 720p / 480p / 360p / 240p / 144p), scale by Resolution Percentage, or enter custom Width × Height. Under Trim, choose Time Range and enter start time + duration in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss to drop ad breaks, EPG padding, or unwanted intro/outro padding from DVR captures.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared. Download individually or as a ZIP.

Why Convert TS to AV1?

TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream, ISO/IEC 13818-1) is the container designed for broadcast and IPTV: 188-byte packets with error resilience for unreliable channels like satellite, cable, and over-the-air ATSC. It usually carries MPEG-2 or H.264 video at high bitrates because broadcast bandwidth is cheap relative to encode complexity. AV1 (released by the Alliance for Open Media in 2018) is a royalty-free codec aimed at internet delivery; independent comparisons typically place it 30-50% more efficient than H.264 and 20-30% better than H.265/HEVC. Re-encoding TS to AV1 inside an MP4 or MKV container produces a far smaller file that streams over residential connections without falling back to lower resolutions. Common reasons:

• DVR and OTA archives — A typical 1080i over-the-air ATSC capture runs 7-12 GB per hour at 15-19 Mbps MPEG-2. Re-encoded to AV1 at CQ 28, the same hour usually lands at 1-2 GB with no visible quality loss, freeing terabytes on home media servers.
• IPTV and HLS segment cleanup — TS is the segment format for HLS streaming, but a folder of .ts chunks is awkward to play and share. Convert to a single AV1 MP4/MKV for normal playback in VLC, mpv, or Plex.
• Streaming to bandwidth-limited viewers — AV1 keeps watchable quality at 1-2 Mbps for 1080p, vs. 4-6 Mbps for H.264 at the same perceptual quality. Useful for travel, hotel Wi-Fi, or international cellular.
• Plex / Jellyfin / Emby libraries — Modern media servers stream AV1 directly to AV1-capable clients (Chromecast with Google TV 4K, Apple TV 4K with A15+, Shield TV Pro 2019, recent Roku Ultra, Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2nd gen). The smaller files also transcode faster when older clients need an H.264 fallback.
• YouTube and Vimeo source files — YouTube re-encodes everything it receives to AV1 at higher view counts. Uploading AV1 directly skips a lossy transcoding generation and preserves more detail in the published video.
• Open and royalty-free — AV1 carries no per-unit licensing fees, unlike H.264 (MPEG LA pool) and H.265 (multiple competing patent pools). Companies shipping AV1 content avoid the legal ambiguity that's kept HEVC out of Chrome until late 2022.

TS vs AV1 (in MP4/MKV) at a Glance

AV1 Quality (CQ) Quick Guide

AV1 encoding takes meaningfully longer than H.264 — even with modern SVT-AV1 a 1080p 30 fps source typically encodes at 1-5× realtime on a desktop CPU. The trade is one-time encode cost for smaller permanent storage and lower delivery bandwidth.

If you also want to keep the original H.264 or H.265 video tracks intact and just change containers, see TS to MP4 or TS to MKV. Want to shrink without changing codec? Use Compress TS.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert TS to AV1 instead of H.265?

AV1 is roughly 20-30% more efficient than H.265 at the same perceived quality, and it carries no patent royalties — H.265 is split across at least three competing patent pools, which is why Chrome held off on H.265 decoding until late 2022 and many web platforms still avoid it. Pick AV1 when storage or bandwidth matters and your playback devices are recent (post-2020 SoCs for hardware decode). Pick H.265 if every minute of encode time counts or your devices lack AV1 hardware support.

Will my devices play AV1?

Hardware AV1 decode is now common: Intel Arc and 11th-gen+ iGPUs, AMD RX 7000+, NVIDIA RTX 40 series, Apple Silicon M3/M4 and A17 Pro / A18 chips, recent Chromecast / Shield TV / Fire TV / Roku Ultra. Software decode (dav1d) works in Chrome 70+, Firefox 67+, Edge 121+, and Safari 17+ on supported Apple Silicon — global browser support is roughly 94%. On older phones and laptops without hardware decode, AV1 plays but uses more CPU and battery; MP4/H.264 is friendlier on those targets.

Why is my AV1 encode so slow compared to H.264?

AV1 trades encode speed for compression efficiency. Even with SVT-AV1 (the fastest open encoder, used by Netflix and Meta), expect single-digit-multiple-of-realtime on a desktop CPU for 1080p, and slower for 4K. XConvert runs server-side encodes with sensible defaults so you don't tune the encoder yourself. If you only need to clean up the container, use TS to MP4 — a remux finishes in seconds.

Can I trim ad breaks while converting?

Yes. Under Trim, pick Time Range and enter start time + duration in seconds (12.5) or HH:MM:SS.sss format (00:18:30.000). Trim before the AV1 encode and you save proportionally — cutting an hour of content down to 45 minutes cuts roughly 25% off the encode time and the output size. For frame-accurate multi-segment cuts (removing several ad breaks individually), see Video Cutter.

Will the audio still work after converting?

Yes. TS commonly carries MP2, AC-3 (Dolby Digital), E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus), or AAC audio. XConvert re-muxes the audio into the AV1 container — MP4 carries AAC, AC-3, E-AC-3, and Opus natively; MKV carries virtually any codec. The default keeps AAC if present and re-encodes other tracks to AAC for maximum compatibility. Multiple audio tracks (e.g., main + descriptive audio) are preserved.

What's the file size limit?

XConvert handles large TS files including multi-hour DVR captures running tens of GB. the practical limit is upload size and connection speed and patience for the upload; there's no fixed per-file cap and no quantity limit on batch jobs. For very large archives, consider trimming or splitting the source into per-show segments before queueing.

Why does my TS file have an odd duration or report the wrong length?

TS is a streaming format — there's no global header announcing the total duration the way MP4 has. Players estimate it from the file size and bitrate, which is often wrong for variable-bitrate broadcasts. Re-encoding to AV1 in MP4 or MKV writes a proper duration into the container, so seek bars and time displays match the actual content.

Can AV1 be carried in a TS container?

In theory yes — the Alliance for Open Media published a draft spec for "Carriage of AV1 in MPEG-2 TS" — but the draft is not widely deployed and most consumer playback chains expect AV1 inside MP4, MKV, or WebM. XConvert outputs AV1 inside MP4 by default (best compatibility) and offers MKV via the TS to MKV page if you need to carry multiple subtitle/audio tracks.