This program takes the input from several media files and joins their streams (all of them or just a
selection) into a Matroska file; see theMatroskawebsite[1].
Important
The order of command line options is important. Please read the section "Option order" if you're new
to the program.
Globaloptions-v, --verbose
Increase verbosity.
-q, --quiet
Suppress status output.
-o, --outputfile-name
Write to the file file-name. If splitting is used then this parameter is treated a bit differently.
See the explanation for the --split option for details.
-w, --webm
Create a WebM compliant file. This is also turned on if the output file name's extension is "webm".
This mode enforces several restrictions. The only allowed codecs are VP8, VP9 video and Opus, Vorbis
audio tracks. The DocType header item is changed to "webm".
For chapters and tags only a subset of elements are allowed. mkvmerge(1) will automatically remove
all elements not allowed by the specification.
--titletitle
Sets the general title for the output file, e.g. the movie name.
--default-languagelanguage-code
Sets the default language code that will be used for tracks for which no language is set with the
--language option and for which the source container doesn't provide a language.
The default language code is 'und' for 'undetermined'.
Segmentinfohandling(globaloptions)--segmentinfofilename.xml
Read segment information from an XML file. This file can contain the segment family UID, segment UID,
previous and next segment UID elements. An example file and a DTD are included in the MKVToolNix
distribution.
See the section about segment info XML files below for details.
--segment-uidSID1,SID2,...
Sets the segment UIDs to use. This is a comma-separated list of 128-bit segment UIDs in the usual UID
form: hex numbers with or without the "0x" prefix, with or without spaces, exactly 32 digits.
If SID starts with = then its rest is interpreted as the name of a Matroska file whose segment UID is
read and used.
Each file created contains one segment, and each segment has one segment UID. If more segment UIDs
are specified than segments are created then the surplus UIDs are ignored. If fewer UIDs are
specified than segments are created then random UIDs will be created for them.
Chapterandtaghandling(globaloptions)--chapter-languagelanguage-code
Sets the ISO 639-2 language code that is written for each chapter entry. Defaults to 'eng'. See the
section about chapters below for details.
This option can be used both for simple chapter files and for source files that contain chapters but
no information about the chapters' language, e.g. MP4 and OGM files.
The language set with this option is also used when chapters are generated with the
--generate-chapters option.
--chapter-charsetcharacter-set
Sets the character set that is used for the conversion to UTF-8 for simple chapter files. See the
section about text files and character sets for an explanation how mkvmerge(1) converts between
character sets.
This switch does also apply to chapters that are copied from certain container types, e.g. Ogg/OGM
and MP4 files. See the section about chapters below for details.
--chapter-syncd[,o[/p]]
Adjust the timestamps of the chapters in the following source file by d ms. Alternatively you can use
the --sync option with the special track ID -2 (see section special track IDs).
o/p: adjust the timestamps by o/p to fix linear drifts. p defaults to 1 if omitted. Both o and p can
be floating point numbers.
Defaults: no manual sync correction (which is the same as d = 0 and o/p = 1.0).
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--generate-chaptersmodemkvmerge(1) can create chapters automatically. The following two modes are currently supported:
• 'when-appending' – This mode creates one chapter at the start and one chapter whenever a file is
appended.
This mode also works with split modes 'parts:' and 'parts-frames:'. For these modes one chapter
will be generated for each appended timestamp range (those whose start timestamps are prefixed
with '+').
Notemkvmerge(1) requires a video or an audio track to be present in order to be able to determine
when a new file is appended. If one or more video tracks are muxed the first one is used.
Otherwise the first audio track is used.
• 'interval:time-spec' – This mode creates one chapter at fixed intervals given by time-spec. The
format is either the form HH:MM:SS.nnnnnnnnn or a number followed by one of the units 's', 'ms'
or 'us'.
Example: --generate-chapters interval:45s
The names for the new chapters are controlled by the option --generate-chapters-name-template. The
language is set with --chapter-language which must occur before --generate-chapters.
--generate-chapters-name-templatetemplate
This sets the name template for chapter names generated by the option --generate-chapters. If the
option is not used then default 'Chapter <NUM:2>' will be used.
There are several variables that can be used in the template that are replaced by their actual values
when a chapter is generated. The string '<NUM>' will be replaced by the chapter number. The string
'<START>' will be replaced by the chapter's start timestamp.
The strings '<FILE_NAME>' and '<FILE_NAME_WITH_EXT>' are only filled when generating chapters for
appended files. They will be replaced by the appended file's name without respectively with its
extension. Note that only the file's base name and extension are inserted, not its directory or drive
components.
You can specify a minimum number of places for the chapter number with '<NUM:places>', e.g.
'<NUM:3>'. The resulting number will be padded with leading zeroes if the number of places is less
than specified.
You can control the format used by the start timestamp with <START:format>. The format defaults to
'%H:%M:%S' if none is given. Valid format codes are:
• %h – hours
• %H – hours zero-padded to two places
• %m – minutes
• %M – minutes zero-padded to two places
• %s – seconds
• %S – seconds zero-padded to two places
• %n – nanoseconds with nine places
• %<1-9>n – nanoseconds with up to nine places (e.g. three places with %3n)
--cue-chapter-name-formatformatmkvmerge(1) supports reading CUE sheets for audio files as the input for chapters. CUE sheets
usually contain the entries PERFORMER and TITLE for each index entry. mkvmerge(1) uses these two
strings in order to construct the chapter name. With this option the format used for this name can be
set.
If this option is not given then mkvmerge(1) defaults to the format '%p - %t' (the performer,
followed by a space, a dash, another space and the title).
If the format is given then everything except the following meta characters is copied as-is, and the
meta characters are replaced like this:
• %p is replaced by the current entry's PERFORMER string,
• %t is replaced by the current entry's TITLE string,
• %n is replaced by the current track number and
• %N is replaced by the current track number padded with a leading zero if it is < 10.
--chaptersfile-name
Read chapter information from the file file-name. See the section about chapters below for details.
--global-tagsfile-name
Read global tags from the file file-name. See the section about tags below for details.
Generaloutputcontrol(advancedglobaloptions)--track-orderFID1:TID1,FID2:TID2,...
This option changes the order in which the tracks for an input file are created. The argument is a
comma separated list of pairs IDs. Each pair contains first the file ID (FID1) which is simply the
number of the file on the command line starting at 0. The second is a track ID (TID1) from that file.
If some track IDs are omitted then those tracks are created after the ones given with this option
have been created.
If this option isn't given, tracks will be sorted by their type first & the order of their source
file second. Video tracks come first followed by audio & subtitle tracks. Other rarely used track
types come last.
--cluster-lengthspec
Limit the number of data blocks or the duration of data in each cluster. The spec parameter can
either be a number n without a unit or a number d postfixed with 'ms'.
If no unit is used then mkvmerge(1) will put at most n data blocks into each cluster. The maximum
number of blocks is 65535.
If the number d is postfixed with 'ms' then mkvmerge(1) puts at most d milliseconds of data into each
cluster. The minimum for d is '100ms', and the maximum is '32000ms'.
mkvmerge(1) defaults to putting at most 65535 data blocks and 5000ms of data into a cluster.
Programs trying to find a certain frame can only seek directly to a cluster and have to read the
whole cluster afterwards. Therefore creating larger clusters may lead to imprecise or slow seeking.
--clusters-in-meta-seek
Tells mkvmerge(1) to create a meta seek element at the end of the file containing all clusters. See
also the section about the Matroska file layout.
--timestamp-scalefactor
Forces the timestamp scale factor to factor. Valid values are in the range 1000..10000000 or the
special value -1.
Normally mkvmerge(1) will use a value of 1000000 which means that timestamps and durations will have
a precision of 1ms. For files that will not contain a video track but at least one audio track
mkvmerge(1) will automatically chose a timestamp scale factor so that all timestamps and durations
have a precision of one audio sample. This causes bigger overhead but allows precise seeking and
extraction.
If the special value -1 is used then mkvmerge(1) will use sample precision even if a video track is
present.
--enable-durations
Write durations for all blocks. This will increase file size and does not offer any additional value
for players at the moment.
--no-cues
Tells mkvmerge(1) not to create and write the cue data which can be compared to an index in an AVI.
Matroska files can be played back without the cue data, but seeking will probably be imprecise and
slower. Use this only if you're really desperate for space or for testing purposes. See also option
--cues which can be specified for each input file.
--no-date
By default mkvmerge(1) sets the "date" segment information field to the time & date when multiplexing
started. With this option that field is not written at all.
--disable-lacing
Disables lacing for all tracks. This will increase the file's size, especially if there are many
audio tracks. This option is not intended for everyday use.
--disable-track-statistics-tags
Normally mkvmerge(1) will write certain tags with statistics for each track. If such tags are already
present then they will be overwritten. The tags are BPS, DURATION, NUMBER_OF_BYTES and
NUMBER_OF_FRAMES.
Enabling this option prevents mkvmerge(1) from writing those tags and from touching any existing tags
with same names.
--disable-language-ietf
Normally mkvmerge(1) will write the new IETF BCP 47 language elements in addition to the legacy
language elements in track headers, chapters and tags. If this option is used, only the legacy
elements are written.
--normalize-language-ietfmode
Enables normalizing all IETF BCP 47 language tags to either their canonical form with mode
'canonical', to their extended language subtags form with mode 'extlang' or turns it off with mode
'off'. By default normalization to the canonical form is applied.
In the canonical form all subtags for which preferred values exist are replaced by those preferred
values. This converts e.g. 'zh-yue-jyutping' to 'yue-jyutping' or 'fr-FX' to 'fr-FR'.
For the extended language subtags form the canonical form is built first. Afterwards all primary
languages for which an extended language subtag exists are replaced by that extended language subtag
and its prefix. This converts e.g. 'yue-jyutping' back to 'zh-yue-jyutping' but has no effect on
'fr-FR' as 'fr' is not an extended language subtag.
--stop-after-video-ends
Stops processing after the primary video track ends, discarding any remaining packets of other
tracks.
Filesplitting,linking,appendingandconcatenation(moreglobaloptions)--splitspecification
Splits the output file after a given size or a given time. Please note that tracks can only be split
right before a key frame. Therefore the split point may be a bit off from what the user has
specified.
At the moment mkvmerge(1) supports the following modes:
1. Splitting by size.
Syntax: --split [size:]d[k|m|g]
Examples: --split size:700m or --split 150000000
The parameter d may end with 'k', 'm' or 'g' to indicate that the size is in KB, MB or GB
respectively. Otherwise a size in bytes is assumed. After the current output file has reached
this size limit a new one will be started.
The 'size:' prefix may be omitted for compatibility reasons.
2. Splitting after a duration.
Syntax: --split [duration:]HH:MM:SS.nnnnnnnnn|ds
Examples: --split duration:00:60:00.000 or --split 3600s
The parameter must either have the form HH:MM:SS.nnnnnnnnn for specifying the duration in up to
nano-second precision or be a number d followed by the letter 's' for the duration in seconds.
HH is the number of hours, MM the number of minutes, SS the number of seconds and nnnnnnnnn the
number of nanoseconds. Both the number of hours and the number of nanoseconds can be omitted.
There can be up to nine digits after the decimal point. After the duration of the contents in the
current output has reached this limit a new output file will be started.
The 'duration:' prefix may be omitted for compatibility reasons.
3. Splitting after specific timestamps.
Syntax: --split timestamps:A[,B[,C...]]
Example: --split timestamps:00:45:00.000,01:20:00.250,6300s
The parameters A, B, C etc must all have the same format as the ones used for the duration (see
above). The list of timestamps is separated by commas. After the input stream has reached the
current split point's timestamp a new file is created. Then the next split point given in this
list is used.
The 'timestamps:' prefix must not be omitted.
4. Keeping specific parts by specifying timestamp ranges while discarding others.
Syntax: --split parts:start1-end1[,[+]start2-end2[,[+]start3-end3...]]
Examples:
1. --split parts:00:01:20-00:02:45,00:05:50-00:10:30
2. --split parts:00:01:20-00:02:45,+00:05:50-00:10:30
3. --split parts:-00:02:45,00:05:50-
The parts mode tells mkvmerge(1) to keep certain ranges of timestamps while discarding others.
The ranges to keep have to be listed after the parts: keyword and be separated by commas. A range
itself consists of a start and an end timestamp in the same format the other variations of
--split accept (e.g. both 00:01:20 and 80s refer to the same timestamp).
If a start timestamp is left out then it defaults to the previous range's end timestamp. If there
was no previous range then it defaults to the start of the file (see example 3).
If an end timestamp is left out then it defaults to the end of the source files which basically
tells mkvmerge(1) to keep the rest (see example 3).
Normally each range will be written to a new file. This can be changed so that consecutive ranges
are written to the same file. For that the user has to prefix the start timestamp with a +. This
tells mkvmerge(1) not to create a new file and instead append the range to the same file the
previous range was written to. Timestamps will be adjusted so that there will be no gap in the
output file even if there was a gap in the two ranges in the input file.
In example 1 mkvmerge(1) will create two files. The first will contain the content starting from
00:01:20 until 00:02:45. The second file will contain the content starting from 00:05:50 until
00:10:30.
In example 2 mkvmerge(1) will create only one file. This file will contain both the content
starting from 00:01:20 until 00:02:45 and the content starting from 00:05:50 until 00:10:30.
In example 3 mkvmerge(1) will create two files. The first will contain the content from the start
of the source files until 00:02:45. The second file will contain the content starting from
00:05:50 until the end of the source files.
Note
Note that mkvmerge(1) only makes decisions about splitting at key frame positions. This
applies to both the start and the end of each range. So even if an end timestamp is between
two key frames mkvmerge(1) will continue outputting the frames up to but excluding the
following key frame.
5. Keeping specific parts by specifying frame/field number ranges while discarding others.
Syntax: --split parts-frames:start1-end1[,[+]start2-end2[,[+]start3-end3...]]
Examples:
1. --split parts-frames:137-258,548-1211
2. --split parts-frames:733-912,+1592-2730
3. --split parts-frames:-430,2512-
The parts-frames mode tells mkvmerge(1) to keep certain ranges of frame/field numbers while
discarding others. The ranges to keep have to be listed after the parts-frames: keyword and be
separated by commas. A range itself consists of a start and an end frame/field number. Numbering
starts at 1.
If a start number is left out then it defaults to the previous range's end number. If there was
no previous range then it defaults to the start of the file (see example 3).
If an end number is left out then it defaults to the end of the source files which basically
tells mkvmerge(1) to keep the rest (see example 3).
Normally each range will be written to a new file. This can be changed so that consecutive ranges
are written to the same file. For that the user has to prefix the start number with a +. This
tells mkvmerge(1) not to create a new file and instead append the range to the same file the
previous range was written to. Timestamps will be adjusted so that there will be no gap in the
output file even if there was a gap in the two ranges in the input file.
Note
Note that mkvmerge(1) only makes decisions about splitting at key frame positions. This
applies to both the start and the end of each range. So even if an end frame/field number is
between two key frames mkvmerge(1) will continue outputting the frames up to but excluding
the following key frame.
In example 1 mkvmerge(1) will create two files. The first will contain the content starting from
the first key frame at or after 137 up to but excluding the first key frame at or after 258. The
second file will contain the content starting from 548 until 1211.
In example 2 mkvmerge(1) will create only one file. This file will contain both the content
starting from 733 until 912 and the content starting from 1592 until 2730.
In example 3 mkvmerge(1) will create two files. The first will contain the content from the start
of the source files until 430. The second file will contain the content starting from 2512 until
the end of the source files.
This mode considers only the first video track that is output. If no video track is output no
splitting will occur.
Note
The numbers given with this argument are interpreted based on the number of Matroska blocks
that are output. A single Matroska block contains either a full frame (for progressive
content) or a single field (for interlaced content). mkvmerge does not distinguish between
those two and simply counts the number of blocks. For example: If one wanted to split after
the 25th full frame with interlaced content one would have to use 50 (two fields per full
frame) as the split point.
6. Splitting after specific frames/fields.
Syntax: --split frames:A[,B[,C...]]
Example: --split frames:120,237,891
The parameters A, B, C etc must all be positive integers. Numbering starts at 1. The list of
frame/field numbers is separated by commas. After the input stream has reached the current split
point's frame/field number a new file is created. Then the next split point given in this list is
used.
The 'frames:' prefix must not be omitted.
This mode considers only the first video track that is output. If no video track is output no
splitting will occur.
Note
The numbers given with this argument are interpreted based on the number of Matroska blocks
that are output. A single Matroska block contains either a full frame (for progressive
content) or a single field (for interlaced content). mkvmerge does not distinguish between
those two and simply counts the number of blocks. For example: If one wanted to split after
the 25th full frame with interlaced content one would have to use 50 (two fields per full
frame) as the split point.
7. Splitting before specific chapters.
Syntax: --split chapters:all or --split chapters:A[,B[,C...]]
Example: --split chapters:5,8
The parameters A, B, C etc must all be positive integers. Numbering starts at 1. The list of
chapter numbers is separated by commas. Splitting will occur right before the first key frame
whose timestamp is equal to or bigger than the start timestamp for the chapters whose numbers are
listed. A chapter starting at 0s is never considered for splitting and discarded silently.
The keyword all can be used instead of listing all chapter numbers manually.
The 'chapters:' prefix must not be omitted.
Note
The Matroska file format supports arbitrary deeply nested chapter structures called 'edition
entries' and 'chapter atoms'. However, this mode only considers the top-most level of
chapters across all edition entries.
For this splitting mode the output filename is treated differently than for the normal operation. It
may contain a printf like expression '%d' including an optional field width, e.g. '%02d'. If it does
then the current file number will be formatted appropriately and inserted at that point in the
filename. If there is no such pattern then a pattern of '-%03d' is assumed right before the file's
extension: '-o output.mkv' would result in 'output-001.mkv' and so on. If there's no extension then
'-%03d' will be appended to the name.
Another possible pattern is '%c' which will be replaced by the name of the first chapter in the file.
Note that when '%c' is present, the pattern '-%03d' will not be added automatically.
--link
Link files to one another when splitting the output file. See the section on file linking below for
details.
--link-to-previoussegment-UID
Links the first output file to the segment with the segment UID given by the segment-UID parameter.
See the section on file linking below for details.
If SID starts with = then its rest is interpreted as the name of a Matroska file whose segment UID is
read and used.
--link-to-nextsegment-UID
Links the last output file to the segment with the segment UID given by the segment-UID parameter.
See the section on file linking below for details.
If SID starts with = then its rest is interpreted as the name of a Matroska file whose segment UID is
read and used.
--append-modemode
Determines how timestamps are calculated when appending files. The parameter mode can have two
values: 'file' which is also the default and 'track'.
When mkvmerge appends a track (called 'track2_1' from now on) from a second file (called 'file2') to
a track (called 'track1_1') from the first file (called 'file1') then it has to offset all timestamps
for 'track2_1' by an amount. For 'file' mode this amount is the highest timestamp encountered in
'file1' even if that timestamp was from a different track than 'track1_1'. In track mode the offset
is the highest timestamp of 'track1_1'.
Unfortunately mkvmerge cannot detect which mode to use reliably. Therefore it defaults to 'file'
mode. 'file' mode usually works better for files that have been created independently of each other;
e.g. when appending AVI or MP4 files. 'track' mode may work better for sources that are essentially
just parts of one big file, e.g. for VOB and EVO files.
Subtitle tracks are always treated as if 'file' mode were active even if 'track' mode actually is.
--append-toSFID1:STID1:DFID1:DTID1[,...]
This option controls to which track another track is appended. Each spec contains four IDs: a file
ID, a track ID, a second file ID and a second track ID. The first pair, "source file ID" and "source
track ID", identifies the track that is to be appended. The second pair, "destination file ID" and
"destination track ID", identifies the track the first one is appended to.
If this option has been omitted then a standard mapping is used. This standard mapping appends each
track from the current file to a track from the previous file with the same track ID. This allows for
easy appending if a movie has been split into two parts and both file have the same number of tracks
and track IDs with the command mkvmerge-ooutput.mkvpart1.mkv+part2.mkv.
+
A single '+' causes the next file to be appended instead of added. The '+' can also be put in front
of the next file name. Therefore the following two commands are equivalent:
$ mkvmerge -o full.mkv file1.mkv + file2.mkv
$ mkvmerge -o full.mkv file1.mkv +file2.mkv
[file1file2]
If multiple file names are contained in a pair of square brackets then the second and all following
files will be appended to the first file named within the brackets.
This is an alternative syntax to using '+' between the file names. Therefore the following two
commands are equivalent:
$ mkvmerge -o full.mkv file1.mkv + file2.mkv
$ mkvmerge -o full.mkv '[' file1.mkv file2.mkv ']'
=
For certain file types (MPEG program streams = VOBs) mkvmerge(1) normally looks for files in the same
directory as an input file that have the same base name and only differ in their running number (e.g.
'VTS_01_1.VOB', 'VTS_01_2.VOB', 'VTS_01_3.VOB' etc) and treats all of those files as if they were
concatenated into a single big file. This option, a single '=', causes mkvmerge not to look for those
additional files.
The '=' can also be put in front of the next file name. Therefore the following two commands are
equivalent:
$ mkvmerge -o full.mkv = file1.vob
$ mkvmerge -o full.mkv =file1.vob
(file1file2)
If multiple file names are contained in a pair of parenthesis then those files will be treated as if
they were concatenated into a single big file consisting of the content of each of the files one
after the other.
This can be used for e.g. VOB files coming from a DVD or MPEG transport streams. It cannot be used if
each file contains its own set of headers which is usually the case with stand-alone files like AVI
or MP4.
Putting a file name into parenthesis also prevents mkvmerge(1) from looking for additional files with
the same base name as described in option =. Therefore these two command lines are equivalent:
$ mkvmerge -o out.mkv = file.mkv
$ mkvmerge -o out.mkv '(' file.mkv ')'
Several things should be noted:
1. There must be spaces both after the opening and before the closing parenthesis.
2. Every parameter between parenthesis is interpreted as a file name. Therefore all options applying
to this logical file must be listed before the opening parenthesis.
3. Some shells treat parenthesis as special characters. Hence you must escape or quote them as shown
in the example above.
Attachmentsupport(moreglobaloptions)--attachment-descriptiondescription
Plain text description of the following attachment. Applies to the next --attach-file or
--attach-file-once option.
--attachment-mime-typeMIMEtype
MIME type of the following attachment. Applies to the next --attach-file or --attach-file-once
option. A list of officially recognized MIME types can be found e.g. at theIANAhomepage[2]. The
MIME type is mandatory for an attachment.
If no MIME type is given a for an attachment, its type will be detected automatically.
--attachment-namename
Sets the name that will be stored in the output file for this attachment. If this option is not given
then the name will be derived from the file name of the attachment as given with the --attach-file or
the --attach-file-once option.
--attach-filefile-name, --attach-file-oncefile-name
Creates a file attachment inside the Matroska file. The difference between the two forms is that
during splitting the files attached with --attach-file are attached to all output files while the
ones attached with --attach-file-once are only attached to the first file created. If splitting is
not used then both do the same.
mkvextract(1) can be used to extract attached files from a Matroska file.
--enable-legacy-font-mime-types
Enables the use of legacy MIME types for certain types of font attachments. For example,
'application/x-truetype-font' will be used for TrueType fonts instead of 'fonts/ttf'.
This affects both new attachments if its MIME type is detected automatically and existing attachments
whose stored MIME types will be remapped to the legacy ones.
The affected MIME types are 'font/sfnt', 'font/ttf' and 'font/collection' which are all mapped to
'application/x-truetype-fonts' and 'font/otf' which is mapped to 'application/vnd.ms-opentype'.
Optionsthatcanbeusedforeachinputfile-a, --audio-tracks[!]n,m,...
Copy the audio tracks n, m etc. The numbers are track IDs which can be obtained with the --identify
switch. They're not simply the track numbers (see section track IDs). Default: copy all audio tracks.
Instead of track IDs you can also provide ISO 639-2 language codes. This will only work for source
files that provide language tags for their tracks.
Default: copy all tracks of this kind.
If the IDs are prefixed with ! then the meaning is reversed: copy all tracks of this kind but the
ones listed after the !.
-d, --video-tracks[!]n,m,...
Copy the video tracks n, m etc. The numbers are track IDs which can be obtained with the --identify
switch. They're not simply the track numbers (see section track IDs). Default: copy all video tracks.
Instead of track IDs you can also provide ISO 639-2 language codes. This will only work for source
files that provide language tags for their tracks.
If the IDs are prefixed with ! then the meaning is reversed: copy all tracks of this kind but the
ones listed after the !.
-s, --subtitle-tracks[!]n,m,...
Copy the subtitle tracks n, m etc. The numbers are track IDs which can be obtained with the
--identify switch. They're not simply the track numbers (see section track IDs). Default: copy all
subtitle tracks.
Instead of track IDs you can also provide ISO 639-2 language codes. This will only work for source
files that provide language tags for their tracks.
If the IDs are prefixed with ! then the meaning is reversed: copy all tracks of this kind but the
ones listed after the !.
-b, --button-tracks[!]n,m,...
Copy the button tracks n, m etc. The numbers are track IDs which can be obtained with the --identify
switch. They're not simply the track numbers (see section track IDs). Default: copy all button
tracks.
Instead of track IDs you can also provide ISO 639-2 language codes. This will only work for source
files that provide language tags for their tracks.
If the IDs are prefixed with ! then the meaning is reversed: copy all tracks of this kind but the
ones listed after the !.
--track-tags[!]n,m,...
Copy the tags for tracks n, m etc. The numbers are track IDs which can be obtained with the
--identify switch (see section track IDs). They're not simply the track numbers. Default: copy tags
for all tracks.
If the IDs are prefixed with ! then the meaning is reversed: copy everything but the IDs listed
after the !.
-m, --attachments[!]n[:all|first],m[:all|first],...
Copy the attachments with the IDs n, m etc to all or only the first output file. Each ID can be
followed by either ':all' (which is the default if neither is entered) or ':first'. If splitting is
active then those attachments whose IDs are specified with ':all' are copied to all of the resulting
output files while the others are only copied into the first output file. If splitting is not active
then both variants have the same effect.
The default is to copy all attachments to all output files.
If the IDs are prefixed with ! then the meaning is reversed: copy everything but the IDs listed
after the !.
-A, --no-audio
Don't copy any audio track from this file.
-D, --no-video
Don't copy any video track from this file.
-S, --no-subtitles
Don't copy any subtitle track from this file.
-B, --no-buttons
Don't copy any button track from this file.
-T, --no-track-tags
Don't copy any track specific tags from this file.
--no-chapters
Don't copy chapters from this file.
-M, --no-attachments
Don't copy attachments from this file.
--no-global-tags
Don't copy global tags from this file.
--regenerate-track-uids
When this option is used for a Matroska source file, mkvmerge(1) will create new random unique track
IDs instead of keeping the existing ones in the file. Existing track UIDs in chapters & tags read
from the same file will be remapped to the newly generated values.
This behavior is enabled automatically for Matroska files created by the MakeMKV software. The reason
is that MakeMKV uses consecutive numbers (1, 2, 3...) as UIDs instead of generating random ones.
-y, --syncTID:d[,o[/p]]
Adjust the timestamps of the track with the id TID by d ms. The track IDs are the same as the ones
given with --identify (see section track IDs).
o/p: adjust the timestamps by o/p to fix linear drifts. p defaults to 1 if omitted. Both o and p can
be floating point numbers.
Defaults: no manual sync correction (which is the same as d = 0 and o/p = 1.0).
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--cuesTID:none|iframes|all
Controls for which tracks cue (index) entries are created for the given track (see section track
IDs). 'none' inhibits the creation of cue entries. For 'iframes' only blocks with no backward or
forward references ( = I frames in video tracks) are put into the cue sheet. 'all' causes mkvmerge(1)
to create cue entries for all blocks which will make the file very big.
The default is 'iframes' for video and subtitle tracks and 'none' for audio tracks. See also option
--no-cues which inhibits the creation of cue entries regardless of the --cues options used.
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--default-track-flagTID[:bool]
Sets the "default track" flag for the given track (see section track IDs) if the optional argument
bool is set to 1 or if it isn't present. The flag will be set if the source container doesn't provide
that information and the user doesn't specify it via this option.
If the user does not explicitly select a track during playback, the player should select one of the
tracks that has its "default track" flag set, taking user preferences such as their preferred
language into account.
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--track-enabled-flagTID[:bool]
Sets the "track enabled" flag for the given track (see section track IDs) to the given value bool (0
or 1; defaults to 1 if not specified). Tracks are enabled by default if no option is specified for
them and the source container doesn't provide this information either.
Only tracks whose "track enabled" flag is set should be considered for playback.
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--forced-display-flagTID[:bool]
Sets the "forced display" flag for the given track (see section track IDs) if the optional argument
bool is set to 1 or if it isn't present. Use this for tracks containing onscreen text or
foreign-language dialogue.
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--hearing-impaired-flagTID[:bool]
Sets the "hearing impaired" flag for the given track (see section track IDs) if the optional argument
bool is set to 1 or if it isn't present. This flag can be set if the track is suitable for users with
hearing impairments.
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--visual-impaired-flagTID[:bool]
Sets the "visual impaired" flag for the given track (see section track IDs) if the optional argument
bool is set to 1 or if it isn't present. This flag can be set if the track is suitable for users with
visual impairments.
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--text-descriptions-flagTID[:bool]
Sets the "text descriptions" flag for the given track (see section track IDs) if the optional
argument bool is set to 1 or if it isn't present. This flag can be set if the track contains textual
descriptions of video content suitable for playback via a text-to-speech system for a
visually-impaired user.
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--original-flagTID[:bool]
Sets the "original language" flag for the given track (see section track IDs) if the optional
argument bool is set to 1 or if it isn't present. This flag can be set if the track is in the
content's original language (not a translation).
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--commentary-flagTID[:bool]
Sets the "commentary" flag for the given track (see section track IDs) if the optional argument bool
is set to 1 or if it isn't present. This flag can be set if the track contains commentary.
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
--track-nameTID:name
Sets the track name for the given track (see section track IDs) to name.
--languageTID:language
Sets the language for the given track (see section track IDs). Both ISO 639-2 language codes and ISO
639-1 country codes are allowed. The country codes will be converted to language codes automatically.
All languages including their ISO 639-2 codes can be listed with the --list-languages option.
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
-t, --tagsTID:file-name
Read tags for the track with the number TID from the file file-name. See the section about tags below
for details.
--aac-is-sbrTID[:0|1]
Tells mkvmerge(1) that the track with the ID TID is SBR AAC (also known as HE-AAC or AAC+). This
options is needed if a) the source file is an AAC file (not for a Matroska file) and b) the AAC file
contains SBR AAC data. The reason for this switch is that it is technically impossible to
automatically tell normal AAC data from SBR AAC data without decoding a complete AAC frame. As there
are several patent issues with AAC decoders mkvmerge(1) will never contain this decoding stage. So
for SBR AAC files this switch is mandatory. The resulting file might not play back correctly or even
not at all if the switch was omitted.
If the source file is a Matroska file then the CodecID should be enough to detect SBR AAC. However,
if the CodecID is wrong then this switch can be used to correct that.
If mkvmerge wrongfully detects that an AAC file is SBR then you can add ':0' to the track ID.
--audio-emphasisTID:n|symbolic-name
Sets the emphasis for the audio track with the track ID TID. The mode can either be a number n
(certain values between 0 and 16) or a symbolic name. All valid numbers & symbolic names can be
listed with the --list-audio-emphasis option.
--reduce-to-coreTID
Some audio codecs have a lossy core and optional extensions that implement lossless decoding. This
option tells mkvmerge(1) to only copy the core but not the extensions. By default mkvmerge(1) copies
both the core and the extensions.
Currently only DTS tracks are affected by this option. TrueHD tracks that contain an embedded AC-3
core are instead presented as two separate tracks for which the user can select which track to copy.
For DTS such a scheme would not work as the HD extensions cannot be decoded by themselves – unlike
the TrueHD data.
--remove-dialog-normalization-gainTID
Some audio codecs contain header fields that tell the decoder or player to apply a (usually negative)
gain for dialog normalization. This option tells mkvmerge(1) to remove or minimize that gain by
modifying the corresponding header fields.
Currently only AC-3, DTS and TrueHD tracks are affected by this option.
--timestampsTID:file-name
Read the timestamps to be used for the specific track ID from file-name. These timestamps forcefully
override the timestamps that mkvmerge(1) normally calculates. Read the section about external
timestamp files.
--default-durationTID:x
Forces the default duration of a given track to the specified value. Also modifies the track's
timestamps to match the default duration. The argument x must be postfixed with 's', 'ms', 'us',
'ns', 'fps', 'p' or 'i' to specify the default duration in seconds, milliseconds, microseconds,
nanoseconds, 'frames per second', 'progressive frames per second' or 'interlaced frames per second'
respectively. The number x itself can be a floating point number or a fraction.
If the default duration is not forced then mkvmerge will try to derive the track's default duration
from the container and/or the encoded bitstream for certain track types, e.g. AVC/H.264 or MPEG-2.
This option can also be used to change the FPS of video tracks without having to use an external
timestamp file.
--fix-bitstream-timing-informationTID[:0|1]
Normally mkvmerge(1) does not change the timing information (frame/field rate) stored in the video
bitstream. With this option that information is adjusted to match the container timing information.
The container timing information can come from various sources: from the command line (see option
--default-duration), the source container or derived from the bitstream.
Note
This has only been implemented for AVC/H.264 video tracks so far.
--compressionTID:n
Selects the compression method to be used for the track. Note that the player also has to support
this method. Valid values are 'none', 'zlib' and 'mpeg4_p2'/'mpeg4p2'.
The compression method 'mpeg4_p2'/'mpeg4p2' is a special compression method called 'header removal'
that is only available for MPEG4 part 2 video tracks.
The default for some subtitle types is 'zlib' compression. This compression method is also the one
that most if not all playback applications support. Support for other compression methods other than
'none' is not assured.
Optionsthatonlyapplytovideotracks-f, --fourccTID:FourCC
Forces the FourCC to the specified value. Works only for video tracks in the 'MS compatibility mode'.
--display-dimensionsTID:widthxheight
Matroska files contain two values that set the display properties that a player should scale the
image on playback to: display width and display height. These values can be set with this option,
e.g. '1:640x480'.
Another way to specify the values is to use the --aspect-ratio or the --aspect-ratio-factor option
(see below). These options are mutually exclusive.
--aspect-ratioTID:ratio|width/height
Matroska files contain two values that set the display properties that a player should scale the
image on playback to: display width and display height. With this option mkvmerge(1) will
automatically calculate the display width and display height based on the image's original width and
height and the aspect ratio given with this option. The ratio can be given either as a floating point
number ratio or as a fraction 'width/height', e.g. '16/9'.
Another way to specify the values is to use the --aspect-ratio-factor or --display-dimensions options
(see above and below). These options are mutually exclusive.
--aspect-ratio-factorTID:factor|n/d
Another way to set the aspect ratio is to specify a factor. The original aspect ratio is first
multiplied with this factor and used as the target aspect ratio afterwards.
Another way to specify the values is to use the --aspect-ratio or --display-dimensions options (see
above). These options are mutually exclusive.
--croppingTID:left,top,right,bottom
Sets the pixel cropping parameters of a video track to the given values.
--color-matrix-coefficientsTID:n
Sets the matrix coefficients of the video used to derive luma and chroma values from red, green and
blue color primaries. The parameter n is an integer rangeing from 0 and 10.
Valid values and their meaning are:
0: GBR, 1: BT709, 2: unspecified, 3: reserved, 4: FCC, 5: BT470BG, 6: SMPTE 170M, 7: SMPTE 240M, 8:
YCOCG, 9: BT2020 non-constant luminance, 10: BT2020 constant luminance
--color-bits-per-channelTID:n
Sets the number of coded bits for a color channel. A value of 0 indicates that the number of bits is
unspecified.
--chroma-subsampleTID:hori,vert
The amount of pixels to remove in the Cr and Cb channels for every pixel not removed
horizontally/vertically.
Example: For video with 4:2:0 chroma subsampling, the parameter should be set to TID:1,1.
--cb-subsampleTID:hori,vert
The amount of pixels to remove in the Cb channel for every pixel not removed horizontally/vertically.
This is additive with --chroma-subsample.
Example: For video with 4:2:1 chroma subsampling, the parameter --chroma-subsample should be set to
TID:1,0 and Cb-subsample should be set to TID:1,0.
--chroma-sitingTID:hori,vert
Sets how chroma is sited horizontally/vertically (0: unspecified, 1: top collocated, 2: half).
--color-rangeTID:n
Sets the clipping of the color ranges (0: unspecified, 1: broadcast range, 2: full range (no
clipping), 3: defined by MatrixCoefficients/TransferCharacteristics).
--color-transfer-characteristicsTID:n
The transfer characteristics of the video.
Valid values and their meaning are:
0: reserved, 1: ITU-R BT.709, 2: unspecified, 3: reserved, 4: gamma 2.2 curve, 5: gamma 2.8 curve, 6:
SMPTE 170M, 7: SMPTE 240M, 8: linear, 9: log, 10: log sqrt, 11: IEC 61966-2-4, 12: ITU-R BT.1361
extended color gamut, 13: IEC 61966-2-1, 14: ITU-R BT.2020 10 bit, 15: ITU-R BT.2020 12 bit, 16:
SMPTE ST 2084, 17: SMPTE ST 428-1; 18: ARIB STD-B67 (HLG)
--color-primariesTID:n
Sets the color primaries of the video.
Valid values and their meaning are:
0: reserved, 1: ITU-R BT.709, 2: unspecified, 3: reserved, 4: ITU-R BT.470M, 5: ITU-R BT.470BG, 6:
SMPTE 170M, 7: SMPTE 240M, 8: FILM, 9: ITU-R BT.2020, 10: SMPTE ST 428-1, 22: JEDEC P22 phosphors
--max-content-lightTID:n
Sets the maximum brightness of a single pixel (Maximum Content Light Level) in candelas per square
meter (cd/m²). The value of n should be a non-negtive integer.
--max-frame-lightTID:n
Sets the maximum brightness of a single full frame (Maximum Frame-Average Light Level) in candelas
per square meter (cd/m²). The value of n should be a non-negtive integer.
--chromaticity-coordinatesTID:red-x,red-y,green-x,green-y,blue-x,blue-y
Sets the red/green/blue chromaticity coordinates as defined by CIE 1931.
--white-color-coordinatesTID:x,y
Sets the white color chromaticity coordinates as defined by CIE 1931.
--max-luminanceTID:float
Sets the maximum luminance in candelas per square meter (cd/m²). The value should be less than
9999.99.
--min-luminanceTID:float
Sets the minimum luminance in candelas per square meter (cd/m²). The value should be less than
999.9999.
--projection-typeTID:method
Sets the video projection method used. Valid values are 0 (rectangular projection), 1
(equirectangular projection), 2 (cubemap projection) and 3 (mesh projection).
--projection-privateTID:data
Sets private data that only applies to a specific projection. Data must be given as hex numbers with
or without the "0x" prefix, with or without spaces.
--projection-pose-yawTID:float
Specifies a yaw rotation to the projection.
--projection-pose-pitchTID:float
Specifies a pitch rotation to the projection.
--projection-pose-rollTID:float
Specifies a roll rotation to the projection.
--field-orderTID:n
Sets the field order for the video track with the track ID TID. The order must be one of the
following numbers:
0: progressive; 1: interlaced with top field displayed first and top field stored first; 2:
undetermined field order; 6: interlaced with bottom field displayed first and bottom field stored
first; 9: interlaced with bottom field displayed first and top field stored first; 14: interlaced
with top field displayed first and bottom field stored first
--stereo-modeTID:n|symbolic-name
Sets the stereo mode for the video track with the track ID TID. The mode can either be a number n
between 0 and 14 or a symbolic name. All valid numbers & names can be listed with the
--list-stereo-modes option.
Optionsthatonlyapplytotextsubtitletracks--sub-charsetTID:character-set
Sets the character set for the conversion to UTF-8 for UTF-8 subtitles for the given track ID. If not
specified the charset will be derived from the current locale settings. Note that a charset is not
needed for subtitles read from Matroska files or from Kate streams, as these are always stored in
UTF-8. See the section about text files and character sets for an explanation how mkvmerge(1)
converts between character sets.
This option can be used multiple times for an input file applying to several tracks by selecting
different track IDs each time.
Otheroptions-i, --identifyfile-name
Will let mkvmerge(1) probe the single file and report its type, the tracks contained in the file and
their track IDs. If this option is used then the only other option allowed is the filename.
The output format used for the result can be changed with the option --identification-format.
-Jfile-name
This is a convenient alias for "--identification-format json --identify file-name".
-F, --identification-formatformat
Determines the output format used by the --identify option. The following formats are supported: text
(the default if this option isn't used) and json.
1. The text format is short and human-readable. It consists of one line per item found (container,
tracks, attachments etc.).
This format is not meant to be parsed. The output will be translated into the language
mkvmerge(1) uses (see also --ui-language).
2. The json format outputs a machine-readable JSON representation. This format follows the JSON
schema described in the following file:
mkvmerge-identification-output-schema-v20.json[3]
All versions of the JSON schema are available both online and in the released source code
archives.
--probe-range-percentagepercentage
File types such as MPEG program and transport streams (.vob, .m2ts) require parsing a certain amount
of data in order to detect all tracks contained in the file. This amount is 0.3% of the source file's
size or 10 MB, whichever is higher.
If tracks are known to be present but not found then the percentage to probe can be changed with this
option. The minimum of 10 MB is built-in and cannot be changed.
--list-audio-emphasis
Lists all valid numbers & their corresponding symbolic names for the --audio-emphasis option.
--list-languages
Lists all languages and their ISO 639-2 code which can be used with the --language option.
--list-stereo-modes
Lists all valid numbers & their corresponding symbolic names for the --stereo-mode option.
-l, --list-types
Lists supported input file types.
--prioritypriority
Sets the process priority that mkvmerge(1) runs with. Valid values are 'lowest', 'lower', 'normal',
'higher' and 'highest'. If nothing is given then 'normal' is used. On Unix like systems mkvmerge(1)
will use the nice(2) function. Therefore only the super user can use 'higher' and 'highest'. On
Windows all values are useable for every user.
Selecting 'lowest' also causes mkvmerge(1) to select idle I/O priority in addition to the lowest
possible process priority.
--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. This settings applies to arguments of the following
options: --title, --track-name and --attachment-description.
--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.
--deterministicseed
Enables the creation of byte-identical files if the same version of mkvmerge(1) is used with the same
source files, the same set of options and the same seed. Note that the "date" segment information
field is not written in this mode.
The seed can be an arbitrary string and does not have to be a number.
The result of byte-identical files is only guaranteed under the following conditions:
1. The same version of mkvmerge(1) built with the same versions of libEBML and libMatroska is used.
2. The source files used are byte-identical.
3. The same command line options are used in the same order (with the notable exception of --output...).
Using other versions of mkvmerge(1) or other command-line options may result in the same
byte-identical file but is not guaranteed to do so.
--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 mkvmerge--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.
@options-file.json
Reads additional command line arguments from the file options-file. See the section about option
files for further information.
If you want to use the @ sign as the first character in the argument to an option such as '--title',
you have to escape it with a second @ sign. Example:
$ mkvmerge -o midnight-s01e01.mkv --title @@midnight midnight-s01e01.mp4
--capabilities
Lists information about optional features that have been compiled in and exit. The first line output
will be the version information. All following lines contain exactly one word whose presence
indicates that the feature has been compiled in. These features are:
• 'FLAC' -- reading raw FLAC files and handling FLAC tracks in other containers, e.g. Ogg or
Matroska.
-h, --help
Show usage information and exit.
-V, --version
Show version information and exit.
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