Video to MPEG Converter

How to Convert Video to MPEG Online

1. Upload Your Video File: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to load videos from your device. Batch upload is supported — convert a folder of MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WebM, or AVCHD clips in one pass. 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.
2. Pick a Quality Preset: The default Very High (Recommended) matches DVD-grade output (~6–8 Mbit/s video). Drop to High or Medium for smaller archive copies, or step up to Highest when you're authoring a master. Power users can switch to Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate, Constant Quality, or Constraint Quality and set a specific Mbit/s or qscale (1 = best, 31 = worst for MPEG-2).
3. Set Resolution and Trim (Optional): Choose Keep original, pick a Preset Resolution (4320p down to 144p — these set height only, with the width following your source's aspect ratio), scale by percentage, lock width or height with aspect ratio, or set an explicit Width × Height, which is the only way to reach 1920×1080, 1280×720, 720×480 DVD-NTSC or 720×576 DVD-PAL exactly. Use Trim → Time Range to cut a start/duration before encoding.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert." Each file downloads individually or as a ZIP — no sign-up, no watermark, no email gating.

Why Convert Video to MPEG?

MPEG (.mpg /.mpeg) is the MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 program-stream container standardised as ISO/IEC 11172 (MPEG-1, published 1993) and ISO/IEC 13818 (MPEG-2, published 1996). It predates MP4 by roughly a decade and remains the playback target for DVD-Video, ATSC/DVB broadcast workflows, hardware DVD recorders, and a long tail of legacy editing, captioning, and broadcast equipment that simply doesn't speak H.264 or HEVC. Typical reasons people convert into MPEG today:

• Author a DVD from modern video — DVD-Video requires MPEG-2 at 720×480 (NTSC) or 720×576 (PAL) with a peak video bitrate of 9.8 Mbit/s. Software like DVD Styler, DVDFlick, and TMPGEnc Authoring Works expects a clean MPEG file as input rather than re-transcoding your MP4 again.
• Feed legacy editors and broadcast gear — Older Avid, Final Cut Pro 7, EDIUS, and many hardware MPEG decoders import MPEG-1/2 program streams natively but choke on modern H.265 or AV1.
• Match SCORM / e-learning LMS requirements — Some older corporate LMS platforms and CD-ROM-era training packages still ship video as MPEG-1 for guaranteed Windows Media Player and QuickTime playback without a codec install.
• Archive in a widely supported format — MPEG-1 plays out of the box on Windows, macOS, Linux, VLC, MPC-HC, and almost any DVD player made in the last 25 years, with no codec licensing concerns.
• Capture from a camcorder or DVR back to disc — MiniDV, HDV tape rips, and older PVR exports often live as MPEG-2; re-converting your edited MP4 back to MPEG keeps the archive format consistent.
• VCD and Video CD distribution — The MPEG-1 Source Input Format (352×240 NTSC / 352×288 PAL at ~1.15 Mbit/s) is still the spec for Video CD authoring.

Need the reverse trip or a smaller container? See MPEG to MP4 for modern playback, Compress MPEG to shrink an existing file, or Trim MPEG to cut out a segment.

MPEG vs MP4 vs MKV — Format Comparison

Codec & Quality-Preset Cheat Sheet

xconvert outputs MPEG-2 video by default inside the MPEG program-stream container. The Quality Preset below maps to ffmpeg's -qscale:v for MPEG-2; lower qscale = better quality and larger file. Audio defaults to MP2 (MPEG-1 Layer II), which is the broadcast and DVD standard.

For DVD authoring specifically: target ≤9.8 Mbit/s video peak, 224–384 kbps MP2 audio, and 720×480 NTSC or 720×576 PAL resolution. Anything above 9.8 Mbit/s violates the DVD-Video spec and may fail in hardware players.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between.mpg and.mpeg?

Nothing — they're the same MPEG program-stream format with two equally valid extensions. .mpg is the older 8.3-filename-era spelling; .mpeg is the long-form variant. Both can hold MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video. If a piece of software refuses one, rename to the other and it almost always works.

Is "MPEG" the same as "MP4"?

No. MPEG (.mpg/.mpeg) is the MPEG-1/MPEG-2 program stream container from the early 1990s; MP4 (.mp4) is the ISO Base Media File Format defined by MPEG-4 Part 14 (ISO/IEC 14496-14), ratified in 2003. They share a lineage through the Moving Picture Experts Group but use different container structures, support different codec ranges, and serve different playback ecosystems. If you want web/mobile playback, you almost certainly want MP4 — try Video to MP4 instead.

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 — which does xconvert output?

The default codec is MPEG-2 (ISO/IEC 13818-2), wrapped in an MPEG program stream. MPEG-2 is the right answer for DVD authoring, broadcast workflows, and anything from the late-1990s onward. If you specifically need MPEG-1 (Video CD authoring, very old hardware), pick the MPEG1 entry in the Video Codec dropdown under Constant Quality mode and constrain the resolution to 352×240 (NTSC SIF) or 352×288 (PAL SIF) at ~1.15 Mbit/s.

Can I burn the output directly to a DVD?

The MPEG file is the video asset, not a finished DVD-Video disc. DVD authoring also requires an IFO/VOB structure with chapter markers, menus, and a UDF filesystem. Drop the converted MPEG into DVD Styler, DVDFlick, TMPGEnc Authoring Works, or Apple's DVD Studio Pro (legacy) to wrap it into a burnable disc image. Make sure resolution is 720×480 (NTSC) or 720×576 (PAL) and total bitrate stays ≤10.08 Mbit/s.

Why is the MPEG output so much bigger than my MP4?

MPEG-2 is roughly 2–3× less efficient than H.264 and 4–6× less efficient than H.265 / HEVC at equivalent quality. A 1-hour 1080p H.264 MP4 at 5 Mbit/s (2.3 GB) typically needs 10–12 Mbit/s of MPEG-2 (4.5–5 GB) to look the same. That's not a bug — it's the cost of using a 1990s codec that needs to run on 1990s hardware. If you want both DVD compatibility and small size, consider keeping an H.264 MP4 master and only re-encoding to MPEG-2 when you actually burn a disc.

Do you support converting from AVCHD, MTS, M2TS, or MXF?

Yes. The accepted input list covers 3GP, ASF, AV1, AVCHD, AVI, CAVS, DivX, DV, DVR, F4V, FLV, HEVC, M2TS, M2V, M4V, MJPEG, MKV, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MTS, MXF, OGV, RM, RMVB, SWF, TS, VOB, WebM, WMV, WTV, Xvid, and more. AVCHD camcorder rips (.mts/.m2ts) convert cleanly into MPEG-2 for DVD authoring — that's one of the most common workflows for this tool.

Will my audio be re-encoded?

Yes. MPEG program streams ship audio as MP2 (MPEG-1 Layer II) by default, 224 kbps for stereo, which is the DVD-Video and ATSC standard. You can switch to AC-3 (Dolby Digital), MP3, or PCM via the Audio Codec dropdown if your downstream pipeline expects something else. AAC is not part of the MPEG-PS spec and isn't an option here.

What's the maximum resolution I can output to MPEG?

MPEG-2 Main Profile @ High Level supports up to 1920×1080 at 80 Mbit/s, which is what ATSC HD broadcast uses. xconvert's resolution presets go all the way to 7680×4320 (8K) — but be aware that resolutions above 1920×1080 in an MPEG program stream are not supported by most consumer hardware decoders, and definitely not by DVD or Video CD players. Stick to 720×480 / 720×576 for DVD, 1920×1080 for HD broadcast or archival, and use MP4/MKV for anything above that.

Is anything uploaded to your servers permanently?

No. files are processed on our servers and deleted automatically after a few hours and deleted after the session ends. There's no account requirement, no watermark, no file-count limit, and no Pro tier hiding the resolution or bitrate controls — every preset shown above is available on the free anonymous tier.