What is the mkv format, can it be trusted? What program can open a file with the MKV extension?
MKV is a format, which contains information about the multimedia data. That is, audio files, video files, as well as subtitles.
The format is also called Matroska - Matryoshka.
Now this format is firmly riding the wave of popularity; many files that can be found on the Internet have just this format.
Those who like to download movies from torrents especially often encounter it. However, there are no less frequent problems opening mkv format.
So, what players can help us in this matter?
How to open MKV format - review of free programs
If you have at least once been interested in which player is best to install on your computer, then you have obviously heard about VLC media player. What makes it different is its incredibly simple interface, many useful functions and fairly frequent updates.
Just install this player and you no longer have to think about how to open mkv file.
What else is so good about VLC media player?
- Compatible with most all operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, Android, Apple iOS, Solaris etc.
- Ability to play almost all existing media formats. There are so many of them that listing them would take too much time.
- “Native” set of codecs. In other programs, sometimes you need to manually download the codecs necessary for viewing, but in the VLC player they are built-in.
- Streams or online broadcasts. In addition to the fact that you can broadcast videos on the Internet yourself, you can also watch streams in this player.
- Capture streaming video and encode it.
- Interface in Russian.
GOM Player...
The player is the brainchild of Gretech Corporation and does an excellent job of working with a variety of modern formats, including mkv.
One of the main advantages is completely Russified interface, as well as built-in codecs, which will save you from searching on websites and forums for the necessary add-ons.
In addition, with GOM Player you can:
- Open damaged files or those that were only partially downloaded.
- Manage subtitles. Their size, font, color and position.
- Play files with high quality even on very weak computers.
- Work with DVDs.
- Configure the player for screen types: projector, monitor, TV.
- Create bookmarks, playlists, mark favorites.
The KMPlayer...
Kang's all-in-one multimedia player that can open everything media files mkv. It is quite similar in functionality to GOM Player, as well as in appearance.
In addition, it also comes with built-in codecs and opens with ease. files with mkv format (mkv).
However, KMPlayer has other features:
- The player works in portable mode.
- Working with subtitles and setting them up using the built-in editor.
- Plays partially damaged files.
- Streaming audio and video.
- Play video with external audio track.
- Ability to increase playback speed.
- Adjust image sharpness and blur.
Light Alloy...
A truly easy-to-use multimedia player that only works on an operating system such as Windows.
The main advantage of Light Alloy is that it opens and works with absolutely all formats that exist today. At the same time, he has enough small size and launches incredibly quickly.
You can rewind videos, download and configure subtitles, adjust all sorts of image settings, and also take screenshots, which are then saved in a special folder. If a film has several audio tracks, the player will easily allow you to switch to one of them at any time.
BS.Player...
This player was developed a long time ago by Webteh. Previously, it had a huge number of users, which are now much smaller due to newer programs with a lot of useful functions.
However, the program is periodically updated and still finds its fans, since it impeccably fulfills its main purpose - opens mkv files. And of course absolutely free.
Thus, you just need to install and run one of the above players to open a file not only with mkv format, but also many others.
The format allows you to store several video and audio tracks as well as subtitles in one file. MKV stores various voluminous multimedia content, such as movies or TV programs. The format is open source, unlike similar AVI and MP4.
Matroska, like most formats, uses XML to store binary data. In most cases, MKV can be opened by any media player; below is a selection of the best free programs for viewing MKV videos.
What free programs can open the MKV format?
1. – provides the user with a huge number of functions, from setting up external displays to fine-tuning audio and video. VLC media player for its long story learned to open and reproduce a large number of formats. All these advantages are emphasized by a beautiful, elegant, simple and clear interface, in which there is nothing superfluous.2. is a universal player of audio and video files for Microsoft Windows, has the same appearance as Windows Media Player 6.4; it is small and lightweight, but at the same time can handle a huge number of formats. Media Player Classic has many options and features not found anywhere else. The application supports formats such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DirectShow, QuickTime, RealPlayer, Matroska and Ogg containers, TV tuners.
3. is a compact media player that allows you to view various video and audio file formats, such as VCD, DVD, avi, mkv, ogg, ogm, 3gp and MPEG-1/2/4, WMV, RealMedia, QuickTime and many others. It displays subtitles and allows you to take screenshots, capture audio and video streams.
4. – A very popular player in Russia with a huge number of settings, ranging from localization to the choice of codecs, both external and internal. The interface is not overloaded and intuitive; when you right-click on the playback area, an extensive menu with playback settings appears.
5. – Small media player with big amount playable formats. The seemingly simple and pleasant interface is actually not very convenient. New users are saved by tooltips, so getting used to the interface will not be difficult. A great feature of this player is its support for Winamp plugins. When playing a video, you can take screenshots and save them in bmp or jpeg format.
6. – Convenient free player. For the humble and laconic design Almost an entire media center is hidden. Here you have an equalizer, custom playlists, zooming in/out of videos and much more. The utility supports subtitles, a huge number of supported formats, and flash support. QuickTime, HTML.
7. – Multifunctional media player with a nice minimalistic interface that can be changed thanks to the support of skins. In addition to all popular formats, including mkv, there is support for the AVCHD format, which is used in modern professional digital video cameras. There are functions for capturing frames and slow motion playback, displaying and editing subtitles.
I wrote you a letter in which I briefly outlined my problem, namely how to open mkv file or more correctly, what codec needs to be installed so that a movie in mkv format can be played by the Windows Media Player built into Windows 7? You explained to me that I need to download and install the free K-Lite Codec Pack and it will solve all my problems. On the official website you indicated www.codecguide.com, the K-Lite Codec Pack program exists in four or, if I’m not mistaken, five versions. Which one do I need? I don’t want to install something that is not needed in advance. Please answer another question. Why does the image in films, mkv format look so much better? better picture AVI format, because they are the same size. Anatoly.
And the second letter that came to us by mail, friends, with another problem, but it also concerns files with the mkv extension.
Tell me, what program should I open the mkv file to edit it? It turns out my TV can show movies in this format from a flash drive and the quality is just Ah. They say that despite small size of this file (on average 2 GB), it can be further reduced, without loss of quality, by removing from there the audio tracks I don’t need from foreign language and subtitles. And another question. Is it possible to add an audio track taken from a DVD I purchased to a mkv movie? In many video editors, this can be done only with complete recoding of the film and, accordingly, a deterioration in its quality.
How to open mkv file
Contents of our article: First, I will answer the second question. How to open and edit mkv file, free program MKVToolnix, it is very simple and without a doubt you will need it more than once if several films in mkv format do not fit on your flash drive, when you go to friends on the weekend, watch films in this format on their new and big TV. By the way, now more and more digital TVs support this format, and their owners don’t even know about it. Then we will download and install the K-Lite Codec Pack together and ensure that our Windows Media Player will show movies with the mkv extension.
By the way, the K-Lite Codec Pack has its own Media Player Classic - a pretty good multimedia player that can play anything.
A file in mkv format is a kind of container, it is also called “Matryoshka”, containing different videos and audio data processed by various high-end codecs (for example newest video H.264 codec and AAC audio), as well as audio tracks, subtitles, video chapters, menus, and so on. Reminds me of a DVD, doesn't it? The now widespread AVI format cannot accommodate this, that is, mkv is the same container for video and audio files as AVI, but much more modern and of higher quality. Most importantly, the mkv file is very easy to edit without full processing, for example, we can easily remove and remove unnecessary audio track and subtitles from it, thereby significantly reducing its size.
Initially in the established operating room Windows system 7 and Windows XP, there is no codec that supports the mkv format, so many novice users are faced with the problem of playing movies on their computer in this format.
Editing a mkv file with MKVToolnix
We open any movie in mkv format in it. File->Open or directly drag and drop the movie file into the main program window. As we see in our film there is one video track, as well as three audio tracks and one with subtitles. We leave one video track and one audio track, uncheck the remaining tracks, click the Browse button and indicate the name and where exactly to save our future film with one audio track and no subtitles. Press the button Start processing. In a few minutes, a file with the mkv extension will appear where we indicated. This will be our film. In my case, it became instead of 2.3 GB -> 1.7 GB.
You can add an audio track in the same way, for example, it can be extracted from a DVD using DVD Audio Extractor and inserted using the aforementioned MKVToolnix. You can experiment. Unfortunately, I cannot discuss all the intricacies of this and interesting question, since we are going very far off topic.
Well, we've come to our main question. how to open mkv file. Let's go to the official website K-Lite programs Codec Pack. The K-Lite Codec Pack consists of ffdshow decoder libraries that can play almost any audio and video files.
Well, here we are on the website - www.codecguide.com
Click download.
As we see, 5 options await us.
Basic - the package contains everything you need to play the most common formats - AVI, MKV, FLV, MPEG, MOV, HDMOV, MP4 and so on.
Standart - I personally chose it, not only can it play almost all media files, it also has a very good Media Player Classic, for which you will thank me more than once.
Full – for particularly picky users and professionals.
Mega – additional filters, codecs and so on, those who choose this package know why they need it.
K-Lite Codec Pack 64-bit - for 64-bit players.
So we are advanced and experienced users, select –Standart and click Download Standard.
Mirror 1. Select mirror No. 1
Click Download Now (11,880 kb)
I have the free Download Master installed and it intercepted the download.
Have you downloaded it? Now let's install.
First option - Simple installation. We will choose the second option – Advanced mode or Advanced installation.
Installation folder C:\Program Files\K-Lite Codec Pack It suits us quite well.
Profile 1: Default is the most optimal, let's select it.
If you are looking for how to open a mkv file, then you have come to the right place.
Everyone has ever downloaded movies from torrents.
Everything seems to be fine, but the files periodically do not open because they have *.mkv resolution. Why not AVI, which we have become accustomed to for so much time?
The AVI format was developed by the well-known company Microsoft for commercial purposes.
Everything was great until the moment they “released” it on the market in principle new format blu-ray with incredible video quality.
It was not possible to compress the source information into AVI format when trying to create BD-rip files, since the final product was terrible in every way:
- Low resolution;
- Inability to insert subtitles;
- No change of languages.
As a result, the domestic “Kulibins” created their own container and called it “Matroska” (Matryoshka).
The format name is formed by transliteration: Matroska – mk, video – v = mkv. He initially has more possibilities than AVI, but not as common.
Because of this, many people have a question about how to open a mkv file on a PC? The developers took care of this by providing their products with the appropriate feature. Let's consider the most famous representatives, namely:
- The KMPlayer;
- GOM Player;
- MKV Player;
- Media Player Classic;
- VLC media player.
The KMPlayer
This player should not be confused with KMPlayer, even though they have identical names. The latter was developed in the KDE environment.
Ours has a distinctive prefix “The” and is “tailored” for Windows and Android.
In other words, if you don’t know how to open mkv on Android, you can safely download this application from the Play Market.
Otherwise, the program supports almost the entire list of popular formats, both audio and video.
Among them are also FLV, WMV, AVI, MKV and QuickTime. Its main difference is its support for a huge number of codecs.
There are rumors that some of them are built into the software package not entirely legally, but this only benefits the user, since he does not have to overpay for a license.
There are plenty of opportunities.
Firstly, this player can easily play even “broken” and under-downloaded files of any format (except DVD).
Secondly, the installation package initially includes the libavcodec library, so the registry will not be additionally “clogged” with various garbage.
Note! For lovers unusual design Support for skins and additional plugins from Winamp is provided. And most importantly: support for almost all languages is implemented.
GOM Player
Another good option for those who don’t know how to open a mkv file on Windows 8 or more earlier versions OS.
The installation package has a built-in set of codecs that are needed to play more or less known formats.
In addition to basic functionality, the player is capable of “eating” both under-downloaded and broken multimedia files.
Another thing is that the picture quality may suffer. In addition, you can make subtitles in GOM.
Great option for with characteristics of 2004–2007.
Any movie will be played without jerking or stuttering, since post-processing is well implemented here.
Unfortunately, the player cannot be customized due to the closed source code.
Because of this, it is impossible to remove built-in advertising, which is periodically annoying.
MKV Player
Perfect option for those who don’t know how to open mkv. The name itself already seems to hint.
The program was originally conceived as a primitive and handy tool for playing MKV format, as well as popular audio and video files.
Appearance The window is somewhat reminiscent of the classic WM player version 7. The only difference is that here the buttons do not have icons with designations, but text labels.
In other words, if you want to click on play, you need to click not on the triangle, but on the “play” button.
The functionality is frankly meager. Here you will not find any equalizers, effects settings, or a reference book.
You can only vary the speed of playing tracks and displaying subtitles.
Media Player Classic
This player is often confused with Windows Media. There is a certain grain of truth in this: the product has an appearance identical to WMP version 6.4.
But that's where the similarities end, because MPC is based on completely different code.
It is noteworthy that only one programmer named Gabest is working on the program.
Attentive people will notice that MPC does not include support for MKV and will begin to panic.
You should not do this, since the program supports DivX version 7, so there will be no problems with mkv files. Even codecs do not have to be updated additionally.
In addition, the player copes well with flash video, frame capture via a TV tuner, and more.
As for the shortcomings. First, you won't be able to adjust brightness and contrast automatically. You'll have to tinker with the settings manually, which is not entirely convenient.
Secondly, on weak systems the program will slow down because it requires SSE support.
Overall, a good household player for non-trivial tasks.
Most users, mostly beginners, ask the same question on various forums: “How to open this or that file.” In this article we will consider the question of how to open a mkv file format (extension). But before we talk about which programs can open this format, you need to know what kind of format (extension) it is and what it is intended for, since, knowing this, we reveal the gender of the issue.
What is mkv format and what is it for?
MKV (Matroska Video Format) is an extension of an open cross-platform (including hardware platforms) special media container with a huge set of libraries and software to work with information of this format (extension). In other, more understandable words, we can say that mkv is a video format. This format allows you to store a very large number of streams. Some modern films use this particular format for saving and are subsequently reproduced various videos players. The main advantages of the MKV extension are that when viewing, it is possible to quickly rewind, divide one file into fragments, have a colorful menu like on a DVD, and audio and video streams. Streaming via the Internet is also possible, and the ability to expand the format by means has been introduced. additional modules, the highest error resistance, the ability to switch audio tracks and subtitles during playback, and so on. The main advantage of this is that it is completely free, since all the information about this file is available. It is a direct alternative to such well-known extensions as “AVI”, “MOV”, “WMV”, “MPG”, “MP4”.
How to play mkv file?
Play MKV file is possible using many programs, but we will talk about the most famous players: “Windows Media Player”, “”, “” player and “HQ Player”. It is recommended to use the standard player that appears when you download operating system, as it is configured for almost all formats. In order to view a file with this extension, you just need to double-click on it and the file will open. In case you don't have installed program, which can reproduce this file, or your computer for some reason does not see it, then specify the path to it yourself by clicking the “Browse” button, then specify the path. After this, the file will be played.