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Batch conversion of HD MKV to HD MP4 on Mac
If you’re a Mac user like me interested in plenty of HD video files conversion, the batch conversion ability will surely strike us as a good use of our time. So are there any cheap or free programs that will allow batch conversion? After inquiring via Twitter, I wound up with two programs that allow batch conversion of HD MKV to HD MP4 files.
The first is iFunia's $32 HD Video Converter for Mac, which includes batch conversions amongst its many features. However, if all you want to do is batch convert a bunch of videos from HD MKV format to HD MP4, iFunia HD Video Converter for Mac may be overkill. Its batch conversion feature worked well, though it took some time to convert the HD files from the source list one by one.
The second alternative is MPEG Streamclip, a freeware program that handles batch video conversion and more. As a test, I converted my HD MKV video using MPEG Streamclip, and the process worked perfectly. After launching the program, select List -> Batch List, or press Command-B to open the Batch List window.
Click the Add Files button, use Shift and/or Command to select multiple HD MKV video files from your source folder, then click Open.
This will open a new window in which you specify the task you’d like to perform on all the files; select Export to MP4, click OK, and then specify a save location in the dialog that appears. Finally, click Select to close the save dialog and open the Movie Exporter window. It’s here where you’ll specify the conversion to be applied to all your clips.There are a ton of settings here, but I got good results by simply setting the compression (I used H.264, as H.264 is a very common codec that can deliver high quality video at low bit rates), quality (I set it to 50%), and frame size (I reduce the frame size to 1440*900 for reduceing their file size).
Once everything is set, click To Batch, and the selected files will appear in the Batch List window. Click Go, and then just wait. When the program’s done, you’ll find your converted videos in the destination specified. Because MPEG Streamclip provides access to the same QuickTime compression options as you get with QuickTime Pro or Final Cut Studio Compressor, the end results should be identical to what you’d get using those programs.
If you ever find yourself with what seems to be an unusable collection of video clips, you might try running them through a batch converter instead of just dropping them in the trash—I was able to salvage what I originally thought might have been a waste of money.
