Home > Resources > How Tos > How to convert MKV to AVI on Mac for free
How to convert MKV to AVI on Mac for free?
What are MKV files?
MKV (.MKV), a new video and audio container format similiar to AVI, one of compression formats, but with several new features like support for OGG audio, Variable Framerate Video. It aims to become the standard of multimedia container formats. It was derived from a project called MCF, but differentiates from it significantly because it is based on EBML (Extensible Binary Meta Language), a binary derivative of XML. EBML enables the Matroska Development Team to gain significant advantages in terms of future format extensibility, without breaking file support in old parsers. Matroska (MKV) is an open standards project. This means for personal use it is absolutely free to use and that the technical specifications describing the bitstream are open to everybody, even to companies that would like to support it in their products. The source code of the libraries developed by the MDT is licensed under GNU L-GPL.
How to play MKV file s on Mac?
I recommend trying either Handbrake or VLC Media Player. They are all free.
These excellent and free multimedia players can tackle many of the video formats unknown to QuickTime. They contain a decoder to decode the .MKV files. They will also play many of the formats you will find inside the .MKV file.
Convert MKV to AVI with freeware Handbrake
The latest version of Handbrake (0.93 or above) allows MKV source files. Then, you can convert the file to various supported formats like any other conversion using Handbrake. Note that Handbrake may have to re-encode and/or re-compress videos, and if this is the case, be prepared to leave your Mac on for processing for a considerable amount of time, as it will be time and resource-hungry.
Download handbrake and install, follow the steps to convert videos with handbrake!
Step1: Insert Video on Mac with Handbrake.
Click 'Source' to add video such as MP4, M4V, FLV, M2TS, MTS, MOV, MOD, MPEG-4, H.264 etc. Handbrake only enables you to add video one by one.
Step 2, Output settings
Click 'Format' to choose a output format and adjust preferences to what you like. After the steps to add video and adjust the preferences for output, click 'Add to Queue' to add into the waiting queue for conversion. If you ignore this step, the conversion for the video will be missed. Then you can add another video to set up to add to the queue. Click 'Start' to convert the videos waiting in the queue.
Solution 2. Convert MKV to AVI with iFunia MKV Converter(OS X Lion included)
Compare to Handbrake, iFunia MKV Converter for Mac is a more powerful and easier Mac MKV video conversion software that can convert MKV to any video formats including AVI, MP4, MOV, FLV, etc. It's priced at only $29 and includes simple video editings like video trimming, cropping, watermarking, etc. You can download iFunia MKV Converter for free here.
Step 1. Run iFunia MKV Converter on your Mac and click the big button "Add Files" to add MKV or HD MKV video files, you may add as many videos as you want for MKV to AVI batch conversion.
Step 2. Select AVI output format for each video file and specify a directory on your computer to save the output files.
Step 3. Click "Start" to begin MKV to AVI conversion. The convert progress bar shows you how much of the encoding is completed.
Note: This MKV to AVI Converter for Mac fully supports Mac OS X Lion, it allows you to manually set video resolution, bite rate, codec and frame rate to get perfect output videos.
