Anybody know of a FREE way to convert MKV files to AVI?

[bbernardini]

I've got three MKV files I need to convert to AVI, and I can't find a free way to do it. Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks!

[hunter]

1. I'm pretty sure ffmpeg via winff does it.

http://www.winff.org

I don't know if the U.S. sanitized version of ffmpeg does it. You're on your own finding a version of ffmpeg that does what you want.

For command line ffmpeg, without winff:

ffmpeg -i film.mkv -acodec mp3 -vcodec mpeg4 -sameq film.avi

-or-

ffmpeg -i film.mkv -vcodec copy -acodec copy film.avi

The second only works if the video is already in MPEG-4 and MP3 format within the mkv wrapper.

You can quickly see if ffmpeg will read whatever file you've grabbed using the command:

ffplay file.mkv

( ffplay is part of ffmpeg )

Video conversion is an art, and sometimes a dark art. Don't be evil.

[Duer 157099]

2. Here's one, but I have never used it so can't vouch for it

http://www.bestfreewaredownload.com/freeware/k-dvd-to-iphone-t-free-koyote-free-video-converter-freeware-jtmyqfsa.html

I use:

http://www.cocoonsoftware.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=106

but I don't know if it does the format you mention, as I've never run into that one yet.

Let us know what you find out

[Babel_17]

3. MKV and AVI are, IIRC, merely containers

You can put a mpeg or a Xvid or a h264 file in a MKV container. MKV is an interesting container, among other things, you can toss in extra audio tracks and subtitle tracks.

AVI is a bit more limited but it does support more than just one codec.

Anyway, http://www.alexander-noe.com/video/amg/

http://www.erightsoft.net/SUPER.html

[hunter]

5. You'll also find real player encoded stuff in mkv.

That's why you can't say definitively what will work, and what won't.

It depends what codecs you have installed on your machine.

[Babel_17]

4. I should have mentioned

that "remuxing" is superior to "re-encoding" if all you need is the avi container. Remuxing leaves the video and audio alone.

But with a good encoder it's usually not a big deal as long as you aren't trying to reduce the file size or use a less efficient codec or use low quality (fast) settings for the encoder.

Edit: May I ask why you need the AVI container? Is it because you have a DVD player that can also play DivX (mp4's) files? If it's because you're having playback issues on your PC I might be able to offer a small amount of support.