TS to MKV Converter

How to Convert TS to MKV Online

1. Upload Your TS File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream) files. HDHomeRun captures, Tvheadend / Plex DVR / NextPVR recordings, satellite-receiver dumps, IPTV grabs, and HLS segments saved by yt-dlp all work. Batch is supported — drop a whole season's worth of episodes at once.
2. Pick a Video Codec and Quality: Default keeps the source video. Pick H.264 for the most universal modern codec, H.265 / HEVC for ~40-50% smaller files at the same visual quality, AV1 for the smallest output on 2022+ hardware, or MPEG-2 to keep the TS source codec untouched (near-lossless re-wrap). Set Quality Preset (Highest → Lowest, default Very High), target a percentage of source size, lock to a specific file size in MB, or fine-tune with Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate, Constant Quality (CRF), or Constraint Quality.
3. Resize or Trim (Optional): Pick a Preset Resolution (2160p / 1440p / 1080p / 720p / 480p / 360p), enter a custom Width × Height, scale by Resolution Percentage, or use Time Range trim with start time + duration in HH:MM:SS.sss to chop out commercials, intros, or the dead air at the end of a DVR capture. Audio codec defaults preserve the source — switch to AC-3 / E-AC-3 to keep broadcast surround, AAC for size, FLAC for lossless archive, or DTS for home-theater mixes.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files process in your browser session — no sign-up, no watermark, no upload to a third-party server.

Why Convert TS to MKV?

TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream) is what every DVR, broadcast tuner, IPTV recorder, and ATSC / DVB capture device writes. It's designed for error-resilient transmission, not local playback — which is why a .ts file often won't scrub cleanly, won't show accurate duration, and won't import into most media-server libraries. MKV (Matroska) is the open container the Plex / Jellyfin / Emby / Kodi ecosystem standardized on. It preserves multiple audio tracks, subtitle tracks, and chapter markers, fixes seek tables, and presents the recording as a clean indexable file. Common reasons to convert TS → MKV:

• Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Kodi library import — Media servers prefer MKV for shows and movies. Direct-play works reliably, scrubbing is instant, and the server's metadata agents can attach episode info, posters, and chapters without fighting the transport-stream wrapper.
• Preserving multi-track broadcast audio — Over-the-air ATSC and DVB broadcasts often carry a primary 5.1 AC-3 track plus a secondary stereo SAP / descriptive-audio track. MKV keeps all audio tracks; AVI / MP4 typically force you down to one. Same story for multi-language IPTV captures.
• Keeping subtitles and closed captions — Broadcast TS streams carry EIA-608 / 708 captions baked into the video. MKV stores extracted SRT or PGS subtitle tracks as switchable streams. Useful for archiving news, sports, and foreign-language content where captions matter.
• Fixing broken duration and seek on DVR recordings — A raw .ts from a cable-box export or HDHomeRun often shows wrong duration, won't scrub, and crashes when you try to skip ahead. Re-muxing into MKV rebuilds the index and produces a file that scrubs frame-accurately.
• Splitting multi-program ATSC captures — Over-the-air ATSC mux often packs a primary HD program plus 1-2 SD subchannels into a single 6 MHz transport stream. Converting to MKV flattens the recording to one selected program with clean audio/subtitle pairing.
• Long-term archive without re-encoding — Pick MPEG-2 as the video codec and AC-3 for audio, and the conversion becomes a near-lossless remux (container swap) rather than a re-encode. Quality is bit-for-bit preserved at a fraction of the time of a full transcode. See also TS to MP4 for universal device playback and TS to AVI for legacy hardware targets.

TS vs MKV — Format Comparison

Video Codec Choice Inside the MKV

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my multi-track audio (5.1 AC-3 plus stereo descriptive audio) survive the conversion?

Yes — MKV preserves multiple audio tracks. The primary AC-3 surround track and any secondary tracks (SAP, descriptive audio, second language) are kept as switchable streams in the output. Set audio codec to AC-3 or E-AC-3 to keep the original Dolby Digital track bit-for-bit; pick AAC or Opus to re-encode for size. For best results when archiving broadcast captures, leave the primary audio in AC-3 and let MKV carry it untouched.

Why is my TS file's duration wrong or seek broken in players?

Raw transport streams from DVRs and tuners don't carry a clean duration field or seek index — they're a continuous stream that was meant to be played live. VLC, MPC-HC, and Kodi work around it; Windows file properties, web players, and most media servers don't. Converting to MKV rebuilds the index, writes a correct duration, and makes scrubbing instant. This alone is the reason many people remux TS captures the moment they land on disk.

Should I pick MPEG-2, H.264, H.265, or AV1?

MPEG-2 when you want to keep the source video untouched — fastest, near-lossless, but file size unchanged. H.264 for a modern universal target with broad Plex / Jellyfin direct-play support and ~40-50% size reduction. H.265 / HEVC for newer devices (Apple TV 4K, 2017+ smart TVs, modern phones) at ~25-35% of the source size. AV1 for the smallest possible archive when your audience is on 2022+ hardware. For a Plex / Jellyfin library that mixes old and new client devices, H.264 is the safest direct-play default.

Will closed captions and subtitles transfer?

Embedded EIA-608 / 708 closed captions in broadcast TS streams can be extracted to a switchable subtitle track in the MKV output. SRT, ASS, and PGS subtitle tracks (if your TS source is from an IPTV provider that includes them) are preserved as separate selectable tracks. This is one of MKV's main advantages over MP4 — subtitle handling is first-class instead of a workaround.

How big a TS file can I convert?

Multi-hour DVR captures (4-12 GB transport streams from a full football game or an overnight recording) work. Conversion runs in your browser session, so the practical ceiling is your device's available memory and your patience for the upload. For very long broadcasts, trim first with Time Range to extract just the part you want — converting a 30-minute slice of a 6-hour recording is dramatically faster than processing the whole stream.

Is the conversion lossless if I keep MPEG-2?

Effectively yes. Picking MPEG-2 as the video codec and AC-3 as the audio codec converts the operation from a re-encode into a container remux — the codec data is copied from TS into MKV unchanged. There's no generation loss, conversion is dramatically faster (CPU-light), and the output is bit-for-bit identical to the source video. The only thing that changes is the wrapper.

What about multi-program ATSC streams from an HDHomeRun or USB tuner?

ATSC over-the-air captures often pack a primary HD program plus 1-2 SD subchannels (a network feed plus a weather subchannel, for example) into a single 6 MHz mux written to one .ts file. The converter selects the primary video and audio program by default and writes a single-program MKV. If you need a specific subchannel, demux the TS first with a tool like Project X or ffmpeg -map 0:p:N, then convert the extracted program to MKV here.

What's the difference between this and converting to MP4?

MKV is the media-library format — multiple audio tracks, multiple subtitle tracks, chapter markers, anything-goes codec support. MP4 is the universal-playback format — phones, browsers, smart TVs, AirPlay, Chromecast all play it natively. Pick MKV when the destination is Plex / Jellyfin / Emby / Kodi or when you need to preserve multi-track broadcast audio and subtitles. Pick TS to MP4 when the destination is a phone, a generic smart TV, or a web embed.