How to open an .mkv video in Quicktime?

I can't seem to do it, it's kind of crazy because I thought .mkv is just a wrapper, it usually contains an mp4 and an mp3 soundtrack... Really strange design decision and a frustrating one.

Posted on Aug 31, 2022 11:55 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 1, 2022 12:01 AM

You are actually correct, a lot of .mkv files are simply mp4 files which are totally playable in Quicktime. Here's how you can work around it while Apple dig their heels in for however many years this has been plaguing their corporate decision making...


  1. Open VLC
  2. File > Convert/Stream...
  3. Drop your .mkv file in there
  4. Choose "Video - H.264 + MP3 (MP4)" as the profile then hit customize
  5. If the codec is already H.264 you can just click "Keep original video track" under the Video codec tab
  6. If they audio is MPEG audio, mp3 etc you can click "Keep original audio track" under the Audio codec tab
  7. Save out your .m4v file


It will be very fast as VLC won't even have to convert anything because you are indeed correct, it's just changing the wrapper for a bog standard mp4.


Enjoy!

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 1, 2022 12:01 AM in response to Captain Lardnicus

You are actually correct, a lot of .mkv files are simply mp4 files which are totally playable in Quicktime. Here's how you can work around it while Apple dig their heels in for however many years this has been plaguing their corporate decision making...


  1. Open VLC
  2. File > Convert/Stream...
  3. Drop your .mkv file in there
  4. Choose "Video - H.264 + MP3 (MP4)" as the profile then hit customize
  5. If the codec is already H.264 you can just click "Keep original video track" under the Video codec tab
  6. If they audio is MPEG audio, mp3 etc you can click "Keep original audio track" under the Audio codec tab
  7. Save out your .m4v file


It will be very fast as VLC won't even have to convert anything because you are indeed correct, it's just changing the wrapper for a bog standard mp4.


Enjoy!

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How to open an .mkv video in Quicktime?

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