How-to: Remux MKV & MKV>TS

[chris57]

Quite often in the forum you will see members asked to remux a file into an MKV or to Remux an MKV to a TS file.
The reason why remuxing is the best solution is that it is an entirely lossless process and it is very quick.
Certain file types are meant to go into MKV files and they are exceptionally easy to work with.

The reason why a TS file may play and an MKV not is due to the fact that playback of a MKV requires cpu power to parse the tracks prior to playback whereas a TS file does not. This small difference may mean that some MKV files that are encoded too high may play in a TS container due to the lack of parsing and its associated cpu power requirement.

First we shall do a simple remux to correct any index errors to see if the NMT can play the MKV after a remux.

Remuxing MKV

We shall use MKVMerge which is part of MKVToolnix. MKVToolnix has versions for most platforms.

Install MKVMerge and open the app:-



Click on the 'Add' button to open the Browser to select your file:-



When the file is added the following boxes will be populated:-



Box A - details of the file name and location. You can via the Add button Add further additional tracks such as DTS/AC3/Vorbis Audio Tracks or Subtitles if required. You can also Append further video files.
Box B - details of each track with the order of the tracks in accordance to track number. You can move tracks up and down the list through the Up/Down buttons to the right if required. You can deselect a track by unchecking the box to the left of each track.
Box C - details of the location and file name of the remuxed output. Make sure you change this via the Browse button as you cannot resave the same file you have opened in the same location. I tag mine with the change so if I'm simply remuxing I add remux to the filename, if I add subtitles then either sub or the language abbreviation. It is entirely your decision and of course you can rename before including a file in any jukebox or archives.

When you are happy with the location, filename, order or tracks etc simply press the 'Start Muxing' button:-



A window will open showing you the progress and any error message if there are problems with the content or files.

Hopefully after about 5 mins you will have a properly indexed and NMT compliant MKV.


Remuxing to a TS

First thing we need to do is to install an app called TSMuxer. TSMuxer has versions for most platforms.

Opening the software after installation gives:-



Select the Add button as before:-





You can again move tracks up/down, add additional tracks, and a whole lot of other features that I will not go into in this simple walkthrough.

When you are ready to output your TS file again make sure that you change the output file name and location before pressing 'Start Muxing'



Again it is lossless and should take about 5 mins.

[marryroy01]

I like so much movies in mkv format . It is a format for which there can be many audio, video and subtitles streams, allowing the user to store a complete movie or CD in a single file. It's resolution is too good. It saves the size of hard disk. I do not like the TS format. MKV is the more better than the TS.

[wvn]

Thanks for the guide.

[ian cadman]

Good guide but how do you do it the other way around. I have video_ts folders which I want to remux to MKV for space savings etc. MKV merge doesn't recognise the video_ts format as valid. Please help, I am starting to lose sleep with this.

[chris57]

Try makeMKV for DVD to MKV, make an ISO with the video_ts folder if makeMKV doesn't accept video_ts folders as input.