12 Methods to Convert MKV to MP4 Free on Windows 10 and Mac

MKV and MP4 are two video container formats for storing audio and video data. DVD and Blu-ray rips are often found in MKV, which gives more freedom to contain as many audio/video/subtitle tracks as needed. However, to watch those rips on iPad, iPhone, or other portable devices, MKV suffers from poor compatibility in comparison with MP4. And this is when we find it necessary to convert MKV to MP4 on Windows 10/11, Mac, or online.

In the following guide, we will walk you through 12 practical ways to convert MKV to MP4 using VLC, VideoProc Converter, HandBrake, FFmpeg, Avidemux, and free online tools. Check them now.

How to Convert MKV to MP4 on Mac & Windows

VideoProc Converter is an all-in-one video and audio processing software that utilizes hardware acceleration technologies to convert media files at a lightning-fast rate. Using it as the best video converter software, you can change MKV to MP4 fast without losing quality in easy steps.

• Have a very clean UI, so you don’t have any problems with how to use it. Just do as the guides which we will show you in the following, and it will work smoothly.
• Support batch .mkv to .mp4 conversion. You can use it to process MKV files into MP4 format with no limit.
• The Auto Copy mode lets you change the container format of MKV to MP4, without re-encoding. No quality will be lost if there are no other changes made.
• Provide a quality set of video settings: configure resolution, bit-rate, and video quality.
• 4K resolution and 1:1 video conversion are fully supported.
• Not just MKV and MP4 formats, almost all types of known video formats are supported by VideoProc Converter.
• Built-in video editor provides tools like cut, crop, rotate, and subtitles. The cut tool is pretty advanced here as it lets you apply multiple cuts in a video simultaneously. This feature is not a part of free video converters.
• VideoProc Converter also fully supports hardware acceleration technologies like Intel Quick Sync, NVIDIA CUDA, Apple Metal, and AMD Acceleration. If your computer supports any of these technologies then video conversion will be even faster.
• Compatible with both Windows and Mac OS.

With so many outstanding features, VideoProc Converter is highly recommended as the best MKV to MP4 converter. So why not download and give it a try on your Mac or Windows 7/8/10/11 computers and follow the steps below?

Step 1. Launch VideoProc Converter after installing it on your Windows or Mac, and then choose the Video menu.

Choose Video Menu from VideoProc Converter Homepage

Step 2. Click the +Video button to import the MKV video.

You can also click the +Video Folder button to load the entire file folder; or you can just directly drag the MKV files into this software.

Step 3. Choose MP4 as the output format.

Jump to the bottom of this application, where you will see 5 options: Popular, Video, Device, Music, and Toolbox. Click the Video option and choose MP4 (h.264). If MP4 is not there, you can also check the Target Format button to find it.

Tips to Convert MKV to MP4 without Losing Quality Using VideoProc Converter

If you need to turn MKV into MP4 without losing quality in sound and video, you can make use of the Auto Copy mode in VideoProc Converter. But to pass through MKV to MP4, please check the following conditions:

• Check Auto Copy on the right.
• Make sure the input MKV format and the output MP4 format share the same codec, for example, MKV H264 to MP4 H264, or MKV HEVC to MP4 HEVC. Do not change the video and audio codecs.
• Do not make other changes and edits, or else the auto copy and 1:1 video audio conversion will be invalid.

Step 4. Manage output settings and click the RUN button.

Now we finish almost all the work. The rest operations are checking the Hardware Acceleration Engine option, which will ensure you the fast conversion speed, and choosing the Output Folder which you prefer.

Convert MKV to MP4 in VideoProc Converter

Bonus Tip 1: If you want to change some parameters of the output file, like its frame rate, resolution, aspect ratio, etc., click the gear button of the Codec Option, and you will see the window below.

VideoProc Converter Codec Option

Bonus Tip 2: Right beside it, there is another feature named Edit Video where you can find some editing options, like rotating, changing speed, adding effects or subtitles, cutting, etc.

VideoProc Converter Edit Video Feature

VLC media player, the world knows it as a free audio and video player. VLC is currently the most trusted software for playing audio and video files on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux. It is also free and open source and supports all kinds of audio and video codecs. It also supports external media libraries which can also play Blu-ray media.

VLC is highly successful as a media player, but only a handful of its audiences know that it can also change video file type. Yes! This isn’t a lie, VLC media player can also be used to convert MKV to MP4 and compress videos free. It’s built-in video converter is of intermediate level which can convert almost any video format. Please check ‘Media > Convert/Save’ in VLC to know about its built-in video converter.

Step 1. Run VLC on your computer. Then go to find Media > Convert / Save, which will lead you to another window.

Choose Convert / Save Option in VLC

Step 2. Click Add button to import the MKV file(s). After all files are imported, just click the Convert / Save button to go on.

Add MKV File(s) in VLC

Step 3. In the new windows, before you finish MKV to MP4, there are just three steps to go. First, choose the output format; second, choose the output path; third, click the Start button. But, before you click the Start button, there are extra something important that we need to do in the step of choosing the output format. Please carefully read the following words.

Choose Output Format and Path in VLC

Step 4. In the step of choosing the output format, if you have installed the VLC application with version 3.0.11 or earlier, please choose Video – h.264 + MP3 (MP4) option.

Note: If you are using the latest version of 3.0.11, there is no such an option, and you need to choose Video for MPEG4 720p TV/device or Video for MPEG4 1080p TV/device. Then choose the wrench tool which will allow us to set more parameters about this format. In Encapsulation, choose MP4/MOV; in Video codec and Audio codec, you can choose different coding ways for the original video and audio tracks, or you can also just check the Keep original video/audio track to change nothing.

Choose MP4/MOV in VLC

After all the settings are done, you can click the Start button to start converting MKV to MP4 in VLC.

Note: Using VLC media player for MKV to MP4 conversion may have some problems, such as being slow, no audio, choosing wrong audio track as the default language

HandBrake is an open source and free MKV to MP4 converter for Mac, Windows, and Linux which is trusted by a lot of people. It comes with a very nice user interface which is easy to learn. It can process almost every video format used by us. With HandBrake, you can also apply video filters, change dimensions, adjust codec and frame rate, add audio track, etc.

You can use its built-in device presets to convert your MKV files to MP4 for your favorite devices. It runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. So no matter what kind of computer you are using, HandBrake can do you a favor. Check the detailed steps below.

Step 1. Install the latest version of Handbrake from its official page.

Handbrake runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. Choose the correct version according to your system.

For instance, for Windows computer, you can go to Control Panel\System and Security\System to check whether its x64 based, or ARM based, 32bit or 64bit.

Step 2. Launch Handbrake, and follow its instruction to install .NET 6.0 framework.

For the first time when you initiate Handbrake, you may see a prompt saying “install missing frameworks for .NET“.

Click that link provided in Handbrake, or visit it here:

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/6.0

Step 3. Add MKV into Handbrake.

Hit the button File to import the MKV file(s). You can click the Folder menu for batch scanning, or the File menu for single item, or just directly drop the file into it.

Import MKV File(s) in HandBrake

Step 4. Choose an output preset according to your specific situation.

For instance, if you only want to swap MKV to MP4, without changing video resolution, you need to make sure the preset use the same resolution as your source video.

To do so, click the Dimension tab to check the resolution of the source video. If it says 3840×2160, then you will want to use a 2160p preset.

Step 5. Select MP4 as the output format.

After the file imported, first choose the MP4 option under the Summary tab. Then you can go to other columns to adjust more settings for this file.

Change M4V to MP4

If the file extension is .m4v, you can force it into .mp4 by adjusting the preference settings. Go to Tools > Preferences > Output files > Mp4 File Extension. Select “Always use MP4” from the dropdown menu, instead of “Automatic”.

Step 6. After all settings are done, jump to the Save As option to choose the output path.

Step 7. Click the Start Encode button to convert MKV to MP4 in Handbrake.

Convert MKV to MP4 in HandBrake

FFmpeg is an open-source tool to deal with multimedia data. It supports to convert .mkv to .mp4 and other formats without quality loss. Besides, it enables you to record, stream media files, and decode, encode, transcode, play, filter, mux, demux almost anything created by machine or human. As a cross-platform converter, FFmpeg goes compatible with Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and other platforms like Android and iOS in mobile platforms.

The MKV to MP4 converter app is impressively powerful to many extents, but the drawback for many users is that it doesn’t provide you a common and straightforward interface like +Video or Select Output Format. But no need to worry about it, and we will show you the beginner-friendly tutorial on how to use it.

On Windows Computers:

We will start from how to intall FFmpeg on your Windows computer. If you have FFmpeg installed, please directly jump to Step 6.

Step 1. Download FFmpeg Windows’s package and choose the latest 32bit or 64bit Static version from here.

Step 2. Right-click it and extract the ffmpeg.exe from the 7z file with 7zip.

Step 3. Create a new folder under system directory (usually the OS/C: folder), and name it as FFmpeg.

Step 4. Paste all the unpacked files to the file folder FFmpeg.

Step 5. Go to My computer > Properties > Advanced system settings > Environmental Variables > New, then set the variable name as Path, and the Variable value as C:\FFmpeg\bin. > Click OK.

Install FFmpeg on Windows

Step 6. Press Windows Key and R, and then tap in CMD to open Command Prompt in administrator mode.

Step 7. Tap in ffmpeg –version, and press Enter. If there are many content displays, you have got the installation work done.

Step 8. Copy the path of the source MKV video.

Step 9. Enter a space, tap in cd, press space, then paste the path of the source video there. Press Enter.

Step 10. Enter ffmpeg -i my_movie.mkv -vcodec copy -acodec copy my_movie.mp4, then press Enter.

Convert MKV to MP4 in FFmpeg

Tip: my_movie means the name of the source video. Do not miss any space.

On Mac Computers:

Still, we first show you how to install FFmpeg on your Mac computer. If you have FFmpeg installed, please directly jump to Step 3.

Step 1. Install Homebrew by running the following line of code on your Terminal.

$ /usr/bin/ruby -e “$(curl –fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)”.

Step 2. Then install the FFmpeg by the command line of $ brew install ffmpeg.

Step 3. Press Space and tap in clear to clear the Terminal.

Step 4. Press Space and tap in cd, press Space again, and then paste the path of the source video. Press enter.

Step 5. Press Space to enter ffmpeg -i my_movie.mkv -vcodec copy -acodec copy my_movie.mp4, just like what we do on Windows above.

Avidemux, as a free and open-source video editor, showcases outstanding performances in video processing and editing. You are allowed to cut and filer the video before or after converting. To speak of converting, the most concerned question by you, Avidemux can convert videos from, to all common formats. In other words, you are free to use Avidemux to convert MK4 to MP4, MP4 to MKV, MKV to AVI, etc. Besides, Avidemux has good compatibility and usability, which goes compatible with different operating systems, such as Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

Before we go into the details about how to use it for changing MKV files into MP4 format, please first make sure that you have installed the latest version of Avidemux. Otherwise, it may go crashes while working. 64-bit and 32-bit version are both available for you to choose. Check your PC to find the specific system information, don’t install the wrong one.

Step 1. Start up Avidemux > Click File on the top bar and hit Open to choose MKV file(s) and import them into Avidemux.

Step 2. Select Copy as the output codec. By doing this, you can convert MKV to MP4 without re-encoding.

Step 3. Set the audio output codec as AAC. There are some audio codec is not compatible with MP4 container. Therefore, check the audio codec information. If it is not in AAC codec, select AAC (FDK/FAAC) as the audio output codec.

Step 4. Select video output format as MP4 Muxer.

Step 5. Set the output file storage Path by clicking File > Choose Save to select location and the converting process will start automatically.

Convert MKV to MP4 in Avidemux

If you want to convert MKV video to MP4, you can easily get it done using iMyFone Filme. It is a simple and professional video editor, which can be used for video editing and video converting. Moreover, you can change the video to any format like AVI, MOV, MPEG, etc. Filme requires only a few clicks to finish the video conversion.

Step 1. Download and install iMyFone Filme on your computer, and then launch it.

Step 2. Click on the Import option and import the MKV video you want to convert. After importing the video, you will see it in My Media area. Then drag the video clip to the timeline.

Import MKV Video in iMyFone Filme

Step 3. Hit on the Export button and select MP4 format as the output format. Finally, click on the Export option to export the video. That’s it!

Export MP4 Video in iMyFone Filme

How to Convert MKV to MP4 Free Online

Web-based tools become more and more popular recently. They are easy to use and require no downloading installation packages. In this part, we have 5 such online MKV to MP4 converter tools recommended for you.

Cloudconvert is a free and fast online file converter. Established nearly 8 years, the website has helped convert more than a million files. Not only converting videos like MKV to MP4, Cloudcovnert also converts audios, images, documents, e-books, PPTs, archives, fonts, vectors, and more. Just go to the homepage, choose the input and output formats, and you can convert files within clicks. It also allows you to choose resolutions, aspect ratios, codecs, fps, constant qualities, speed presets, profiles, Fit (for video sizing and scaling), and more.

Pros:

• Converts MKV to MP4 within clicks.
• Friendly to advanced users. Customize video and audio parameters.
• Editing features: trim, subtitles, and watermark.
• Unlimited in video file size.

Cons:

• The speeds of uploading, converting, and exporting depend highly on your internet condition.
• Has a limit in conversion numbers; 25 conversions per day.

Cloudconvert MKV to MP4

This high-quality online MKV to MP4 converter can help you both download and convert videos to MP4, or to other preferred format from different video-sharing portals like MetaCafe and YouTube. You can take your pick amongst common video and audio formats such as MKV, VOB, 4K MP4, AVI, HEVC, MOV, MP3, M4V, WMV, FLV, 3GP, MPEG and many more.

Pros:

• Provides the flexibility of converting a file found by its URL.
• The converted file is displayed in the form of a message carrying a link for downloading the file.
• Converted file is stored for one hour.

Cons:

• Has a maximum limit of 250 MB in terms of file upload.

ConvertFiles

Aconvert is not just an MKV to MP4 online converter. With it, people can process various types of file formats, including PDF, document, e-book, image, video, audio, archive file, and webpage. The best thing about this online portal is that it can cater to both the video file and the video link and renders support to numerous output video formats such as RM, MP4, SWF, VOB etc.

Pros:

• Offers the option of altering video bitrate, video size, video aspect and frame rate.
• Supports batch processing of files.
• Confidentiality of all files are maintained.

Cons:

• Has a maximum limit of 200 MB in terms of file upload.

Aconvert

This online tool can provide you with a comprehensive solution to all your video, audio, image, document and e-book conversion needs. You can take your pick amongst different formats such as 3GP, 3G2m MP4, AVI etc. to convert your selected video URL or video file. When converting MKV to MP4, you also have options to select audio channels, video resolution, and aspect ratio.

Pros:

• Offers preprogrammed device profile for converting video to iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, PS3 and similar devices.
• You can alter the video bitrate, screen size and even select the audio codec.
• Video can be rotated and flipped.

Cons:

• You will require their paid version for converting videos exceeding 100MB.

Online-Convert

You can avail this online converter for processing video links secured from Dailymotion, YouTube and Vimeo. Video files can be converted to numerous formats such as MP3, MKV, MP4, AAC, AVI without having to install a completely different program in your computer.

Pros:

• Has an extremely easy to use interface which can cater to users of all skill levels.
• The video quality as well as the start and end time can be specified in advance.
• It is compatible with mobile devices and thus allows conversion of video in Apple, Android and Windows smartphones.

Cons:

• Has maximum file size limit of 3072 MB

OnlineVideoConverter

This full-featured online video converter can serve as the ideal choice for users who wish to convert videos without having to create an account or registering themselves.

Pros:

• Allows adding effects, rotating videos, adjusting volume and many more without having to trim the video.
• Supports all popular video and audio formats such as AVI, MP4, AC3, MOV, MP3 and many more.
• Bitrate, resolution and frame rate can be set in advance.

Cons:

• First time users have to download the launcher.

Apowersoft Free MKV Converter

Just like we have mentioned above, these online tools are very much easy to use, so we have not shown you how to use them one by one in details. With them, you can simply upload the MKV files to their servers, click the convert button to start, and lastly download the converted files to your computer. That’s it. And you just finish how to use them for your work.

FAQs

How do I convert MKV to MP4 for free?

There are several ways to convert MKV to MP4 for free. You can download some video converter freeware, such as VLC media player and HandBrake, go find the free (trial or giveaway) version of VideoProc Converter, or try the free online tools like CloudConvert and ConvertFiles.

Does converting MKV to MP4 lose quality?

It is possible to convert MKV to MP4 without losing quality. You only need to remux MKV to MP4, namely, only change the container format of the video, without re-encoding or changing anything else. The Auto Copy mode of VideoProc Converter is made to do this job. You only need to input the file, check Auto Copy, click RUN, and let the software do the rest.

Is MP4 better quality than MKV?

MP4 and MKV are both container formats to store videos, audio, and subtitles. It’s hard to say which one has a better quality, because the quality of a video file is decided by many factors but not the container. If you need to keep multiple audio and subtitle tracks, for example, in a DVD or Blu-ray, then choose MKV, since MKV can store any number and type of video and audio codes, subtitle tracks, metadata, and still pictures. If you need to output a video file in a smaller size or want it playable on more devices, then MP4 would be better.

Is MKV bigger than MP4?

It depends. When the MKV container format is used to store multiple audio tracks, subtitle tracks, and data streams, it would be larger in file size. But MKV is not always bigger than MP4 because the file size of a video depends mainly on the codec and the compression algorithm, but not the container format.