This program extracts specific parts from a Matroska file to other useful formats. The first argument is
the name of the source file which must be a Matroska file.
All other arguments either switch to a certain extraction mode, change options for the currently active
mode or specify what to extract into which file. Multiple modes can be used in the same invocation of
mkvextract allowing the extraction of multiple things in a single pass. Most options can only be used in
certain modes with a few options applying to all modes.
Currently supported is the extraction of tracks, tags, attachments, chapters, CUE sheets, timestamps and
cues.
Commonoptions
The following options are available in all modes and only described once in this section.
-f, --parse-fully
Sets the parse mode to 'full'. The default mode does not parse the whole file but uses the meta seek
elements for locating the required elements of a source file. In 99% of all cases this is enough. But
for files that do not contain meta seek elements or which are damaged the user might have to use this
mode. A full scan of a file can take a couple of minutes while a fast scan only takes seconds.
--command-line-charsetcharacter-set
Sets the character set to convert strings given on the command line from. It defaults to the
character set given by system's current locale.
--output-charsetcharacter-set
Sets the character set to which strings are converted that are to be output. It defaults to the
character set given by system's current locale.
-r, --redirect-outputfile-name
Writes all messages to the file file-name instead of to the console. While this can be done easily
with output redirection there are cases in which this option is needed: when the terminal
reinterprets the output before writing it to a file. The character set set with --output-charset is
honored.
--flush-on-close
Tells the program to flush all data cached in memory to storage when closing files opened for
writing. This can be used to prevent data loss on power outages or to circumvent certain problems in
the operating system or drivers. The downside is that multiplexing will take longer as mkvmerge will
wait until all data has been written to the storage before exiting. See issues #2469 and #2480 on the
MKVToolNix bug tracker for in-depth discussions on the pros and cons.
--ui-languagecode
Forces the translations for the language code to be used (e.g. 'de_DE' for the German translations).
Entering 'list' as the code will cause the program to output a list of available translations.
--abort-on-warnings
Tells the program to abort after the first warning is emitted. The program's exit code will be 1.
--debugtopic
Turn on debugging for a specific feature. This option is only useful for developers.
--engagefeature
Turn on experimental features. A list of available features can be requested with mkvextract--engagelist. These features are not meant to be used in normal situations.
--gui-mode
Turns on GUI mode. In this mode specially-formatted lines may be output that can tell a controlling
GUI what's happening. These messages follow the format '#GUI#message'. The message may be followed by
key/value pairs as in '#GUI#message#key1=value1#key2=value2...'. Neither the messages nor the keys
are ever translated and always output in English.
-v, --verbose
Be verbose and show all the important Matroska elements as they're read.
-h, --help
Show usage information and exit.
-V, --version
Show version information and exit.
@options-file.json
Reads additional command line arguments from the file options-file. For a full explanation on the
supported formats for such files see the section called "Option files" in the mkvmerge(1) man page.
Trackextractionmode
Syntax: mkvextractsource-filenametracks[options] TID1:dest-filename1[TID2:dest-filename2 ...]
The following command line options are available for each track in the 'tracks' extraction mode. They
have to appear in front of the track specification (see below) they should be applied to.
-ccharacter-set
Sets the character set to convert the next text subtitle track to. Only valid if the next track ID
targets a text subtitle track. It defaults to UTF-8.
--blockaddlevel
Keep only the BlockAdditions up to this level. The default is to keep all levels. This option only
affects certain kinds of codecs like WAVPACK4.
--cuesheet
Causes mkvextract(1) to extract a CUE sheet from the chapter information and tag data for the
following track into a file whose name is the track's output name with '.cue' appended to it.
--raw
Extracts the raw data into a file without any container data around it. Unlike the --fullraw flag
this flag does not cause the contents of the CodecPrivate element to be written to the file. This
mode works with all CodecIDs, even the ones that mkvextract(1) doesn't support otherwise, but the
resulting files might not be usable.
--fullraw
Extracts the raw data into a file without any container data around it. The contents of the
CodecPrivate element will be written to the file first if the track contains such a header element.
This mode works with all CodecIDs, even the ones that mkvextract(1) doesn't support otherwise, but
the resulting files might not be usable.
TID:outname
Causes extraction of the track with the ID TID into the file outname if such a track exists in the
source file. This option can be given multiple times. The track IDs are the same as the ones output
by mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option.
Each output name should be used only once. The exception are RealAudio and RealVideo tracks. If you
use the same name for different tracks then those tracks will be saved in the same file. Example:
$ mkvextract input.mkv tracks 0:video.h264 2:output-two-vobsub-tracks.idx 3:output-two-vobsub-tracks.idx
Attachmentsextractionmode
Syntax: mkvextractsource-filenameattachments[options] AID1:outname1[AID2:outname2 ...]
AID:outname
Causes extraction of the attachment with the ID AID into the file outname if such an attachment
exists in the source file. If the outname is left empty then the name of the attachment inside the
source Matroska file is used instead. This option can be given multiple times. The attachment IDs are
the same as the ones output by mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option.
Chaptersextractionmode
Syntax: mkvextractsource-filenamechapters[options] output-filename.xml-s, --simple
Exports the chapter information in the simple format used in the OGM tools (CHAPTER01=...,
CHAPTER01NAME=...). In this mode some information has to be discarded. Default is to output the
chapters in XML format.
--simple-languagelanguage
If the simple format is enabled then mkvextract(1) will only output a single entry for each chapter
atom encountered even if a chapter atom contains more than one chapter name. By default mkvextract(1)
will use the first chapter name found for each atom regardless of its language.
Using this option allows the user to determine which chapter names are output if atoms contain more
than one chapter name. The language parameter must be an ISO 639-1 or ISO 639-2 code.
The chapters are written to specified output file. By default the XML format understood by mkvmerge(1) is
used. If no chapters are found in the file, the output file is not created.
Tagsextractionmode
Syntax: mkvextractsource-filenametags[options] output-filename.xml
The tags are written to specified output file in the XML format understood by mkvmerge(1). If no tags are
found in the file, the output file is not created.
Cuesheetextractionmode
Syntax: mkvextractsource-filenamecuesheet[options] output-filename.cue
The cue sheet is written to specified output file. If no chapters or tags are found in the file, the
output file is not created.
Timestampextractionmode
Syntax: mkvextractsource-filenametimestamps_v2[options] TID1:dest-filename1[TID2:dest-filename2 ...]
TID:outname
Causes extraction of the timestamps for the track with the ID TID into the file outname if such a
track exists in the source file. This option can be given multiple times. The track IDs are the same
as the ones output by mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option.
Example:
$ mkvextract input.mkv timestamps_v2 1:ts-track1.txt 2:ts-track2.txt
Cuesextractionmode
Syntax: mkvextractsource-filenamecues[options] TID1:dest-filename1[TID2:dest-filename2 ...]
TID:dest-filename
Causes extraction of the cues for the track with the ID TID into the file outname if such a track
exists in the source file. This option can be given multiple times. The track IDs are the same as the
ones output by mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option and not the numbers contained in the CueTrack element.
The format output is a simple text format: one line per CuePoint element with key=value pairs. If an
optional element is not present in a CuePoint (e.g. CueDuration) then a dash will be output as the
value.
Example:
timestamp=00:00:13.305000000 duration=- cluster_position=757741 relative_position=11
The possible keys are:
timestamp
The cue point's timestamp with nanosecond precision. The format is HH:MM:SS.nnnnnnnnn. This element
is always set.
duration
The cue point's duration with nanosecond precision. The format is HH:MM:SS.nnnnnnnnn.
cluster_position
The absolute position in bytes inside the Matroska file where the cluster containing the referenced
element starts.
Note
Inside the Matroska file the CueClusterPosition is relative to the segment's data start offset.
The value output by mkvextract(1)'s cue extraction mode, however, contains that offset already
and is an absolute offset from the beginning of the file.
relative_position
The relative position in bytes inside the cluster where the BlockGroup or SimpleBlock element the cue
point refers to starts.
Note
Inside the Matroska file the CueRelativePosition is relative to the cluster's data start offset.
The value output by mkvextract(1)'s cue extraction mode, however, is relative to the cluster's
ID. The absolute position inside the file can be calculated by adding cluster_position and
relative_position.
Example:
$ mkvextract input.mkv cues 1:cues-track1.txt 2:cues-track2.txt
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