MKV to MP3: Extract Audio from MKV(Matroska Video) Video to MP3(MPEG Layer-3) with River Past Audio Converter, MKV2MP3 converter, conversion

What is MKV?

Matroska 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.

It is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content, like movies or TV shows. Matroska is similar in conception to other containers like AVI, MP4 or ASF, but is completely open source. Matroska file types are .MKV for video (and audio) and .MKA for audio-only files.

To convert MKV files to other video formats, please have CCCP installed.

What is MP3?

MP3 is a digital audio compression algorithm that acheives a compression factor of about twelve while preserving sound quality. It does this by optimising the compression according to the range of sound that people can actually hear. MP3 is currently (July 1999) the most powerful algorithm in a series of audio encoding standards developed under the sponsorship of the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and formalised by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

MP3 is very different from Layer 2, using an additional MDCT layer to increase frequency resolution. Its scale factor groups are more optimised for the human ear, and it uses nonlinear sample quantisation and Huffman coding. MP3 files (filename extension ".mp3") can be downloaded from many World-Wide Web sites and can be played using software available for most operating systems (also downloadable), e.g. Winamp for PC, MacAmp for Macintosh, and mpeg123 for Unix. MP3 files are usually downloaded completely before playing but streaming MP3 is also possible. A program called a "ripper" can be used to copy a selection from a music CD onto your hard disk and another program called an encoder can convert it to an MP3 file.

Windows ships with limited MP3 encoding support. The output sample rate is limited to 24khz and the bitrate is limited 56kbps. However, many add-on packages from open source community make it possible to encode at higher sample rate and bitrate.

A commonly used open source codec is LAME. LAME comes in different forms, including a ACM (Audio compression manager) codec and a DLL (lame_enc.dll). Caution: LAME ACM does not work well on many computers, regardless which software is loading it. It is best to avoid installing LAME ACM and use lame_enc.dll instead.

MPEG.ORG is an excellent source for additional information on MPEG format and usage.

When you encode MP3 audio, we recommend you to install lame_enc.dll.

Launch River Past Audio Converter

Once River Past Audio Converter is installed properly, launch Audio Converter.

Install Matroska Pack

To convert from MKV files, please install CCCP (Combined Community Codec Pack), which includes Matroska Splitter 1.1.2.

CCCP

Select Audio Lanuage

Matroska Pack 1.1.2 expose only one audio track and one subtitle track. You can change the preferred track language. Launch Haali Splitter configuration by selecting "(Windows)Start | Program Files | Combined Community Codec Pack | Filters | Haali Media Splitter Settings" menu.

Select the "Options" tab, then expand "Languages" node.

Change the "Audio language priorities" and "Subtitle language priorities". For example, use "eng" for English or "jap" for Japanese.

Add File

Click on the "Add File" button on the tool bar. The standard file open dialog appears. Select "MKV - Matroska" in its "Files of type" combo box.

Select the file you want to convert and click "Open". The file will be added to the conversion file list.

If you cannot add the file, please make sure CCCP is installed. You may also need other codecs depending on the video and audio compression used to encode the MKV file.

River Past Audio Converter

Select output format

Use the setting panel on the bottom of the window to control the output format. Click on the toggle to the left of the "Format" label to expand the panel. Select "MP3 - MPEG Layer-3" as the "Audio Type".

You can change the sample rate, channel (stereo or mono) and bitrate.

Note: The standard MPEG Layer-3 audio compressor is limited to maximum 24khz and 56kbps. Please install Lame_enc.dll for higher sample rate and bitrate.