Whether you're a video fan or an expert movie editor, due to the property of different video formats, most computer users find themselves needing to convert amongst their video files from time-to-time for different of applications, devices and players. There is no exception to conversion of MKV to MP4 file format.
Why you want to convert MKV to MP4 format?
As generic file containers, both MKV and MP4 are widely used in digital video field and support high quality h.264 video. While MKV file with h.264/mpeg-4 avc video is popular for big screen, MP4 file with h.264/mpeg-4 avc (or mpeg4) is mainly used for your handheld devices like tablet and phone.
Although MKV can host an unlimited number of video, audio and subtitles under the sun, as well as extra features such as bookmarking, file linking, it is only accepted by certain programs and devices. So, if you have a collection of 1080p and 720p Matroska .mkv files lying around and want to put them on your iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, for example, you'll need to copy those MKV h.264 videos and convert the audio to aac and put it into an mp4 container format for playback, a format that's compatible with most of multimedia devices on the planet.
Which MKV converter you should go with to convert MKV file to MP4?
Whatever situation you are, converting a MKV to an mp4 for Mac and Windows is easy as long as you get the right MKV converter (Mac & PC). For our favorite, Video Converter is the way to go.
for Windows | for Mac
It is a lightweight converting tool with plenty of useful features. As the name suggests, the program can convert whatever format you have into nearly any format you want. It will convert your high-definition 1080p MKV video into MP4 h.264 file easily on Mac & PC, or just for MKV to mpeg-4 file. It supports other HD video including M2TS, WMV, AVCHD, and MPEG-TS videos and more. In addition, it comes with a basic video editor to enhance the video before the MKV to MP4 conversion, and has preset profiles you might need for a portable devices.
Convert MKV to MP4 on Mac. Easily convert MP4, HD video, camcorder video to common video. Convert video to fit your iPhone, iPad, iPod, HTC, Android Phone, Tablet and so on. Edit MKV video or MP4 video with flexible editing functions. Convert video and audio quickly with excellent quality. Compatible with the new macOS 11 Big Sur. Free download and install Mac Video Converter Ultimate on your Mac OS X. Launch this powerful MKV to MP4 video converter. Then click 'Add File' option on the top toolbar of its main interface. Well, it is also supported to drag and drop MKV videos.
In this article, I'm going to convert a MKV to MP4 on Mac OS X for example, the process in Windows is same as that in Mac. It's actually pretty simple. Here's how.
Jul 12, 2021 How to convert MKV to MP4 on a Mac. MKV, also known as Matroska, is a commonly used video file format, but it won't run on all devices or with all programs. So you may need to make use of a converter to convert MKV to MP4 on your Mac. In this article, we'll look at a few different ways you can convert MKV files quickly and easily. Here are our picks for the top 5 free video converter for Mac, so you can convert any types of videos on Mac OS X(El Capitan included) for playable on practically any device you choose. Read More: Top 4 Best MXF Converters for Mac Top 5 Free Video Converter for Windows Top 3 H.265/HEVC Encoding and Decoding Tools.
How to convert 1080p/720p MKV to MP4 (h.264, mpeg-4) for Mac OS X
(For those who wish to convert MKV into QuickTime format on your computer, please refer to how to convert MKV to MOV on Mac/ PC article.)
Stage 1 – Install the Video Converter
Click the link above to download the right copy of the software, depending on your computer operating system, and install on your computer.
After the installation, launch the program, you will see the main interface like this:
Stage 2 – Selecting a source file
First we need to drop your MKV file(s) into this MKV to MP4 converter so that we can begin converting. You can do this by dragging the MKVs and drop into the blank area of the main interface. Alternatively, you can click the Add File option on the top left corner to browse to the location of the MKV video files and highlight them to load onto the program window.
Also, you are allowed to import a folder full of other audio and video files you need.
Once the files are loaded, they will appear in the process area.
Stage 3 – Choose the format, or device, you wish to convert the video to.
Now select an output format in which you want to convert the MKV video. In our case, we just need to get MP4.
Since the program has already made MP4 as the output format to the default when you open it the first time, so you don't have to change anything.
You can still go through the full step: click the Profile drop-down menu on the bottom left side of program window. and then HD Video > H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (or MPEG-4 Video).
Related: how to convert camcorder AVCHD files to MOV videos on a Mac.
Stage 3.1 – Encoding Settings (optional)
Additionally, you can change the encoding settings (codec, resolution, bit rate, frame rate...) to adjust the final quality of your movie to enhance the conversion.
Click the 'Settings' next to the 'Profile', this will bring you to enter to a new window (see below). Generally, you can leave them to the default. Though if you wanted to, you could use MPEG-4, for example, as video codec if you wanted lower quality and a faster encode, but H.264 with AAC audio would be better.
Stage 3.2 – using presets
Instead of choosing a specific format, you sometimes find yourself with a particular need in mind. For example, you just need to convert the MKV movies to your iPad or Kindle Fire. Luckily, this MKV to MP4 converter for Mac has made a group of built-in preset profiles for portable players ranged from iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, to PS4, Xbox One, to Android phones, Windows phones, tablets and more, which can save a huge amount of time and simplify the output configuring.
Stage 4 – Editing the video (optional)
Before the actual converting, the software does allow you to edit videos - trim and crop footage, put personal logo/watermark, apply useful special effects, and even take 3D looking.
Stage 5 – Start the encode from MKV to MP4
With format chosen, or preset selected, and video edited, we will go ahead and click the blue 'Convert' button on the lower right side of main screen to begin converting .mkv to .mp4 format in Mac.
You may be interested in our detailed walkthrough on how to convert AIFF audio to MP3 on Mac OS X.
Something to consider is that if your MKV file(s) is full quality 1080p or 720p with a large size, converting that big MKV file(s) to an .mp4 format on Mac would take a lot of time. You can stare at the progress bar and calculate the time to decide what the business you will go.
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Overview
Free MKV to MP4 Converter is the perfect tool to assist you in converting MKV files to MP4 video with super fast speed and wonderful quality.
Free MKV to MP4 Converter is the perfect tool to assist you in converting MKV files to MP4 video with super fast speed and wonderful quality.
Comparison
| Features | Free MKV to MP4 Converter | MP4 Converter for Mac |
| Convert all video formats | ||
| Convert all audio formats | ||
| Convert some video | ||
| Convert some audio | ||
| Adjust video effect | ||
| Adjust video volume | ||
| Merge source video files | ||
| Clip source file | ||
| Batch conversion | ||
| Free update | ||
| NVIDIA® CUDA™ technology | ||
| Price | Price: $ | |
| Buy Now | ||
| Download |
Screenshot
Reference
Processor: Intel® processor
OS Supported: Mac OS X 10.7 or later (including macOS Catalina)
Hardware Requirements: 512MB RAM, Super VGA (800×600) resolution, 16-bit graphics card or higher
| Support Input File Formats | |
| Video | MPG, MPEG, MPEG 2, VOB, DAT, MP4, M4V, TS, RM, RMVB, WMV, ASF, MKV, AVI, 3GP, 3G2, FLV, SWF, MPV, MOD, TOD, QT, MOV, DV, DIF, MJPG, MJPEG |
| HD Video | HD TS, HD MTS, HD M2TS, HD MPG, HD MPEG, HD MP4, HD WMV, QuickTime HD MOV, HD H.264, HD RM |
| 4K UHD Video | MP4, TS, MKV, AVI, FLV, WebM, MOV, MXF |
| Audio | MP3, MP2, AAC, AC3, WAV, WMA, M4A, RM, RAM, OGG, AU, AIF, AIFF, APE, FLAC, NUT |
| Support Output File Formats | |
| Video | AMV, MP4, ASF, AVI, 3GP, WMV, DV, VOB, FLAC, FLV, MKV, MOV, TS, M4V, 3G2, MPG, MTV, DPG, SWF, DivX, XviD |
| 4K UHD Video | MP4, WebM, TS, AVI, FLV, MKV |
| Audio | AAC, AC3, AIFF, AMR, AU, M4A, MKA, MP3, MP2, OGG, WAV, WMA |
| Snapshot Image | JPEG, GIF, BMP |
| Support Devices | |
| iPad (iPad Pro, iPad mini 4, iPad Air 2), iPhone (iPhone 11 Pro Max/11 Pro/11, iPhone XS/XS Max, iPhone XR/X, iPhone 8/8 Plus, iPhone 7/7 Plus, iPhone 6/6 Plus), iPod (iPod touch, iPod nano, iPod classic), Apple TV Android devices: Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG, Acer, Dell Mobile phones: BlackBerry, Nokia, Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson, Sony Xperia, Sony Walkman NDS, PSP, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 Archos, Creative ZEN, iRiver, Sony Walkman, ZEN Player, Zune, Sansa General Pocket PC, HP iPAQ, Palm Pre, etc. | |
It happens to all of us. There is a MKV file you wanna watch on your MacBook or iMac. You click on it, trying to open with default player QuickTime, but end up with an error message 'There is no application set to open mkv' or mkv no sound in QuickTime even if you opened it. Similar case, when you play MKV on game consoles, your MKV video is still unplayable. What's worse, you transfer MKV videos to iPhone iPad to watch on the trip, but iTunes tells you the MKV file is incompatible with your device. In other cases, when uploading MKV files to YouTube or Facebook, you encounter a heavy Waterloo, again.
Why could these be? Mainly because MKV is incompatible with majority of the modern mobile devices and platforms, alongside with its comparatively large file size. To make MKV playable on most devices and platforms, you need to convert MKV to MP4 since MP4, also a container format, keeps quite a good balance between high quality and file size. And more importantly, it's compatible with almost all the players, devices and platforms. So first things first, you need a MKV video converter that has good peformance in 2020.
To Convert MKV to MP4 on Mac (incl. Catalina) with Better Compatibility
MacX Video Converter Pro is your best mate. It is a totally free yet 100% clean video transcoder, letting you freely decode and encode MKV videos to MP4, MOV, H.264, HEVC, and any other video and audio formats at the highest performance.
Free Download MacX Video Converter Pro to Convert MKV to MP4 without Quality Loss!
How to Convert MKV to MP4 on Mac OS X Mountain Lion or Higher
MacX Video Converter Pro (32-bit and 64-bit) supports converting 4K and HD 1080P MKV videos to MP4, MOV, AVI, FLV, and 370+ others. It has various editing features available for you to trim, cut, crop, rotate, add subtitles, add effects, and do more. The support of unique Intel QSV/Nvidia/AMD hardware acceleration, built-in hyper-threading tech and Multi-core CPU utility ensures the fastest speed to convert videos into H.264 or H.265 MP4 video. Additionally, the built-in advanced High Quality Engine alongside with the Auto Copy feature ensures the highest possible quality for MKV to MP4 conversion task. Now follow the steps below and learn how to encode MKV videos to MP4 on your Macbook or iMac.
Step 1: Import MKV file by clicking 'Add File'.
Free download the MKV to MP4 converter on Mac, or your Windows PCs ( MacX HD Video Converter Pro for Windows). Then click 'Add File' button to load the MKV files. You can load multiple MKV videos as it supports batch conversioin. First, select the video track, audio and subtitle you want to keep in the output MP4 file by click the up and down arrow icon behind the source video. You can select multiple audio tracks and subtitle tracks at the same time.
Step 2: Choose the Output Video Format.
After the input MKV video importing, you can see video formats options at the bottom of the window. It allows to freely convert MOV to MP4, WMV/WebM to MP4, MKV to H.264, and even transcode MP4 to MP3, MOV, MKV, and more like a piece of cake. Select MP4 format in HEVC, H.264, MPEG4 as you like, or simply choose preset profiles of iPhone iPad Android.
Mkv To Mp4 Converter Software
Step 3: Edit MKV Video (Optional).
Meanwhile, you can also see some icons of editing like cut, crop, subtitle, effect, rotate below the video information. If you need to cut off certain parts from MKV video, free set up video Start Time and End Time, add fans made funny subtitled to MKV or rotate MKV video 90 or 180 degrees, you can click the corresponding icon to edit MKV video before conversion.
Step 4: Start to Convert MKV to MP4 on Mac.
Hit Folder button to select a destination folder. Followed by a click on 'RUN' button, which gives an order to this top video processing tool for Mac to begin to transcode MKV video to MP4 on macOS. Only seconds and you will get the output MP4 files with lossless quality (High Quality Engine tech built-in).
Step 5: Time for MKV to iPhone Transfer. (Optional)
This is not a must-have step, but the one for those who gonna transfer MKV video from Mac to iPhone. You can just use iTunes or free download and launch MacX MediaTrans, if you are annoyed by iTunes complex process, and then enter its 'Video' section to 'Add Video' from Mac to this video transfer app. Afterwards, give a hit to 'Sync' button and then the MKV videos are transferred to your iOS iPhone iPad iPod within seconds only.
Solution 2: Handbrake
Handbrake is a famous converter for both MKV and MP4. It supports macOS 10.7 and later. The free MKV converter remains popular mainly for its fast speed and good output quality in 2020. Plus, it has some advanced features to let users adjust the bit rate, resolutions, video codecs, quality, other video parameters, add subtitles etc. It will also convert videos to various ready presets for mobiles directly. Therefore, it's another good choice when you need to convert videos from MKV to MP4 on Mac computers.
Mac Mkv To Mp4 Converter
Step 1: Download Handbrake from it's official site. Then launch the program downloaded on Mac and click Source > Open File to load the MKV file. You can also select all your MKV files into Handbrake.
Panzoid
Step 2: Select MP4 in the Output Setting. Then customize the video settings if necessary.
Step 3: In the destination section, set an output folder. Then click Start on the top bar to begin MKV to MP4 conversion process.
See Also: Encounter Errors While Converting MKV to MP4 with Handbrake? Here's How to Fix It >>
MKV to MP4 Conversion Test: MacX Video Converter Pro vs Handbrake
You get the detailed steps to convert MKV to MP4 on Mac with 2020 top free video converter from MacXDVD. Yet, some of you might be curious about the specific conversion datas: how long it will take? any loss on output MP4 video quality? would output file size be smaller? any crashes?..
To answer your guys questions, we compare MacX Video Converter Pro with Handbrake to let you clearly see the differences. Let data do the work. Afterwards, I guess you can make a decision to download free MKV video converter or not.
Input MKV (AVC) Video | MacX Video Converter Pro | Handbrake |
Length: 3 mins 54 seconds | the same | the same |
Resolution: 1280x720 | the same | the same |
Video Bit rate: 2500 kbps | 2741 kbps | 2817 kbps |
Frame Rate: 23 fps | Chip.de youtube converter for mac. the same | the same |
Audio Bit rate: 192 kbps | the same | the same |
Channels: 2 | the same | the same |
Audio sample rate: 44 KHz | the same | the same |
File Size: 89.4 MB | 66.3 MB | 78.7 MB |
Conversion Time | 38.64 seconds | 54.91 seconds |
Output Video Quality | Excellent | Excellent Cmbl file converter for mac. |
From the above table, we can see there is no big gap between these two free MKV converters for 2020. In general, MacX Video Converter Pro performs better than Handbrake in video converting speed and video compressing side. Certainly, it's just a single test. You can still download both free MKV to MP4 converter to have a test if you have spare time. This comparison table just provides you with a reference.
[Update] FAQ on MKV to MP4 Conversion on Mac
Q1:I want to convert mkv to mp4 without re-encoding to keep the same file size and video quality. I need a program that allows me to just drag my 720P MKV video file onto, set it to mp4 and get the file with no quality loss. Any help?
A1: If the video streams in the MKV file are in an mp4 compatible codec like H.264, then you can move content from mkv to mp4 intactly by simply changing the format. In MacX Video Converter Pro, the Auto Copy box on the right lower interface is designed for that job. There are many other demuxers on the market for the same task. An extra benefit is that it can copy a large high-definite MKV to MP4 few hundred times faster than re-encoding.
Q2:I have a MKV file with subtitle muxed, now i want to convert it to mp4 without losing the subtitle. I already tried the other softwares like Handbrake, rebox.NET and VLC to convert it but the subtitles didn't carry over.
How To Change Mkv File To Mp4
Mkv To Mp4 Online
A2: It will depend on the type of subtitles. You should note that MP4 supports less types of subs than MKV. If the subtitle is in XSUB, SAMI, MPSub, SubRip or others, you can't pass-through the subtitle into MP4. To keep the subtitles, you can either: 1; extract the subtitles out of MKV and convert them to .srt format. 2; go to handbrake, select subtitles tab, select the subtitle track and then burn in the subtitle. With MacX Video Converter Pro, it will pass-through supported subtitles from MKV to MP4 as soft subtitles, and automatically burn in subtitles to MP4 when it's not supported. Not o mention that this program can extract subtitles and save them in .srt format in one stop.
Q3:I'm trying to convert an MKV container to MP4/M4V with the existing video and audio codecs (HEVC x265 and AAC audio). I used the 'Convert/Stream' function and selected the 'keep original video track' and 'keep original audio track' checkboxes. But the M4V output file contains only the audio track; the video is missing. If I use the 'Streaming/Exporting Wizard' instead of the 'Convert/Stream', the MP4 output option is greyed out and can't be selected unless I enable transcoding to 264 (which I don't want to do). Any ideas? Running VLC 2.2.1 on OS X El Capitan.Thanks!
A3: The highest possible reason why you fail to convert MKV to MP4 on Mac with HEVC x265 is that x264 works fine in MP4 file container while x265 is not supported in an MP4 container, at least not in VLC. So if you insist on transcoding MKV to HEVC x265, you're suggested to ditch away VLC player, instead using MacX Video Converter Pro to decode MKV to HEVC x265.
Free Mkv File Converter
Convert Mkv To Mp4 Mac Free Download
Q4: I have a lot of HD MKV files that I wish to convert for iTunes. I want a converter, but need to keep the same good quality!! (the videos/movies are 720 and 1080p) Any suggestions please? OS X or Windows, I can use both. Linux too if it crops up.Thanks - Vortar from mac-forums
Mac Convert Mkv To Mp4 Without Encoding
A4: You see, iTunes supports video formats including MP4, MOV, M4V, limited types. If you're itching to convert MKV to iTunes, one way is to change MKV format to MP4 iTunes acceptable format. Another better way is to directly convert MKV codec to iTunes profile, with iTunes best parameter settings. In case you are a layman and don't know much about iTunes suitable video parameter settings, you'd better resort to the MKV to iTunes conversion with most ideal profile offered.
Q5: Hi anyone know who is best .mkv to .mp4 video converter with high quality video and audio and low Mb size so if its possible. Now I'm using Handbake to convert a 4K MKV file but it takes much mb size (10 mins for 1.5GB). Which will give me the smallest output size with best possible quality?
Mkv To Mp4 Converter Free
Convert Mkv On Mac
A5: First of all, you should know that file size = bitrate * running time, and bit rate will influence the video quality. If you don't nitpick the video quality, lower the bitrate and resolution to one level below will result in smaller size with acceptable quality. Beyond that, editing features like cropping and trimming will also help. Put aside the objective factors, software design will lead to difference in output size. MacX Video Converter Pro has a unique compression engine which will be worth your try.