“I simply want to convert video files from MKV to MP4-h264 without losing quality, but I’m not sure how to use this with the help of FFmpeg? Can you please show me the detailed guide to use FFmpeg to convert MKV to MP4 files?”

As a leading multimedia framework, FFmpeg is able to decode, encode, transcode, mux, demux, stream, filter, play and crop multimedia files. It supports the most obscure ancient formats up to the cutting edge. It is also highly portable: FFmpeg compiles, runs, and passes our testing infrastructure FATE across Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, the BSDs, Solaris, etc. under a wide variety of build environments, machine architectures, and configurations. In this guide, we would like to show you a full guide of using FFmpeg to convert video files from MKV to MP4 without quality loss.

Part 1: How to install FFmpeg on Windows

When it comes to using FFmpeg, many people might get lost in even the installation of FFmpeg. Such kind of command-line programs are not very familiar to regular customers. Programmers would be good at and familiar with these command-line programs.

ffmpeg

You could follow the below guide to learn how to install FFmpeg on your computer:

  1. Go to https://ffmpeg.org/download.html. It contains the latest FFmpeg install packages and binary files. Make sure you have unzipping programs installed like WinRAR or 7Zip.
  2. Click the blue square Windows logo.
  3. Click "Windows builds from gyan.dev" option to a page that contains FFmpeg builds specifically for Windows that contains all of the hardware libraries you could possibly need.
  4. Scroll down to the "git" section, and then click https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/ffmpeg-git-full.7z to download ffmpeg-git-full.7z installer. This link downloads the latest FFmpeg files to your PC in a compressed format to specific folder.
  5. Open the download folder that contains the FFmpeg installer and then right click it to choose "Extract Here" option to extract the download FFmpeg file.
  6. Simple one click on the folder to rename the extracted folder to FFmpeg, and then press the Enter key.
  7. Open the bin file from your FFmpeg build folder.
  8. And then copy and paste the files with .exe extension to your “C:\Windows\System32” directory.

With FFmpeg installed successfully, now you could try to convert video files from MKV files to MP4 or others.

Part 2: Detailed guide on converting MKV to MP4 with FFmpeg

Now, it turns to convert MKV to MP4 with FFmpeg on your computer. It’s quite easy and simple. Once you have learned how to convert MKV to MP4 with FFmpeg, you could use FFmpeg to convert video files between any format.

You could follow the below guide to learn the detailed steps on how to convert MKV to MP4 with FFmpeg:

Step 1: Press the Windows icon and S key on your keyboard to open the search bar, and then input cmd command before pressing the “Enter” button.

Step 2: Once the Command Prompt interface shows out, enter FFmpeg and then press Enter key on your keyboard. This will launch FFmpeg.

Step 3: Then, input the command line before you press the Enter key on the keyboard:

  • ffmpeg -i C:\Users\GAGI-D\Desktop\landscape.mp4 C:\Users\GAGI-D\Desktop\landscape.mkv
convert-mkvto-mp4

Note: Please change “C:\Users\GAGI-D\Desktop\landscape.mp4” and “C:\Users\GAGI-D\Desktop\landscape.mkv” according to your own file and destination directory.

Step 4: After the conversion completes, you could then open the target folder to view the converted video files. Now, they are MP4 files.

Part 3: Best alternative to FFmpeg to convert MKV to MP4

If you still feel hard of understanding the above MKV to MP4 conversion with FFmpeg, we would like to recommend you a better FFmpeg alternative to help you convert MKV to MP4 files or other files in easier way. That’s Leawo Leawo MKV to MP4 Converter, a comprehensive video/DVD media pack that could help you convert video/DVD files between various formats, copy and back up DVD, convert and burn video to DVD, turn photos to slideshow video, burn photos to DVD, etc. It’s much easier to use for converting DVD/video files compared to FFmpeg.

The below guide would show you how to use FFmpeg alternative to convert MKV to MP4 files. You need to firstly download and install Leawo MKV to MP4 Converter on your computer. Get source MKV files ready for converting.

Note: Leawo Video Converter Ultimate is a module built in Leawo Prof. Media.

Step 1: Load source MKV files

Launch Leawo Prof. Media, and then open the "Convert" tab, and then click "Add Video" button to browse and add source MKV files for converting. You could add either MKV video files or MKV video folder for batch conversion.

Leawo MKV to MP4 Converter

Note

    After loading source MKV video files, you could select subtitles and audio tracks, play source movies, edit MKV video files, snap screenshots, merge MKV files into one, etc.

Step 2: Set output format

Next to the “Add Photo” button, click the drop-down box and select “Change”. You will then arrive at the Profile panel. Open the "Format > Common Video" group to select either MP4 Video as output. You could also choose other formats from either “Format” or “Device” group according to your needs.

Leawo MKV to MP4 Converter

Optional settings: After you’ve set the output format, click the same drop-down box and click “Edit” option and then you could adjust video and audio parameters of selected profile, including: video codec, audio codec, bit rate, aspect ratio, frame rate, channel, etc.

Leawo MKV to MP4 Converter

Step 3: Set output directory

Back to the main program interface, click the green “Convert” button. You could then set an output directory on the right popup sidebar in the "Save to" box. The required space could be viewed here as well.

Leawo MKV to MP4 Converter

Step 4: Convert MKV to MP4 files

Click the bottom “Convert” button on the right sidebar to start converting MKV files to MP4 files on your computer. You then only need to wait for the conversion to complete. Once the conversion completes, you could easily transfer the converted video files to your devices for unlimited playback.

Leawo MKV to MP4 Converter

Note: If you are using a Mac computer, you could turn to Leawo Video Converter Ultimate for Mac to convert video files on Mac computer, like MP4 to MKV, MKV to MOV, AVI to MP4, etc.

Conclusion

You could easily see that FFmpeg could help you convert video files between various formats without changing the video and audio quality. However, it’s really complicated to use. Quite a few regular netizens could handle the conversion with FFmpeg well, except those programmers. On the contrast, Leawo MKV to MP4 Converter offers an easier and better service for you to convert media files between various formats. It’s quite practical, useful, and yet easy to use. You simply need to download and install the program on your computer, then follow the on-screen instructions to easily convert media files, including DVD, video, audio and image files. Besides the basic converting feature, Leawo MKV to MP4 Converter even provides many side bonus features, such as video editing feature, 2D to 3D conversion, media playback, merging files, etc. Without doubt, Leawo MKV to MP4 Converter would be a better choice for you.