Tech Facts: Sizing up MKV and MP4

What's he tdifference between MKV and MP4 via in-depth MKV vs MP4 comparison? How to choose the proper format to play depending on your needs?

MP4 (MPEG-4) files and MKV (Matroska Video) files are two container formats for storing digital video. Both video formats have advantages and disadvantages, which vary depending on their intended purpose and audience. Read Brief Introduction of 10 Popular Video Formats.

Q1 What is difference between MKV and MP4?

This is what i have searched all over and get learnt:
1. both mkv/mp4 can hold multiple streams video/audio/subtitle.
2. both mkv/mp4 can contains MPEG-4/H.264 codec.
3. both mkv/mp4 provide hd video quality.

But what i am looking for is what is difference between MKV and MP4? please help me soon, really greatly appreciate that.

Answer: MKV is a flexible, open standard video file format wildly used for HD videos. MKV is also the basis of WebM video, which is dedicated to developing a high-quality, open video format for the web that is freely available to everyone. That is why MKV has quickly become the preferred file extension for high definition video on the Internet (similar with WebM and VP8, which have highly efficient bandwidth usage and lower storage requirements can help you save both band resources and hard disk storage).

Yet mp4 have best performance on portable devices, that is why there are MP4 player.

From: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101027004920AAWzFWb

* Get MKV Player | MP4 Player

Q2: What is difference between MKV and MP4? I am suggested to rip my DVD library to MKV with Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate (Read Review) because I want highest audio and video quality and confused as to whether MP4 is much suitable for playback on my Android tablet and PS4 or not.

Answer: I have been ripping my DVD/BluRay Library. I am just getting started but I have discovered a couple of things

1. I have ripped test Blu Rays to both MP4 (H.264) and MKV and compared each format on a Panasonic 42" Viera. RESULT: Blu Rays ripped to MKV format stream flawlessly. The same Blu Rays ripped to MP4 are jerky and discontinuous on the same system and TV. Otherwise picture quality is comparable. CONCLUSION: MKV is better for ripping and streaming Blu Rays in my environment.

2. I have ripped test DVDs to both MP4 and MKV and compared each format in the same environment. RESULT: DVDs ripped to MKV format show discontinuous video streaming and continuous, uninterrupted audi. DVDs ripped to MP4 format stream flawlessly. Picture quality between the two formats is equally good. CONCLUSION: MP4 is better for ripping and streaming DVDs in my environment.

After read the questions and answers, you may learn more about MKV and MP4 format. Although many users may have to convert their videos into other formats sometime, the world of video formats can be pretty confusing to them. Actually, it's nothing new that users can hardly figure out the right format from MKV vs MP4, two most common video formats. Here this article gives detailed information about the two video formats to help you choose the one better suits your need.

What is MKV?

MKV, the file format for Matroska Multimedia Container, is an open standard free container format, a file format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks inside a single file. It is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content, like movies or TV shows. MKV can hold all of the same digital elements of MP4. MKV can also compress high quality videos into smaller files.

Note: if you want to convert MKV to any mobile device to enjoy on the go, such as MKV to iPad, MKV to iPhone 6/6 Plus, MKV on Gear VR, MKV to PS4, MKV to WDTV and so on, just click the guide and solve your problems.

What is MP4?

MP4 is short for MPEG-4 and succeeds the MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 formats. Like MKV, it's a container format because it includes video, audio, images, playlists, chapter markers and subtitles defined by MPEG. This container format allows to combine different multimedia streams into one file. This file format is created to contain timed media information in a flexible, extensible format in order to interchange, manage and edit multimedia.

Note: If you want to convert your videos to MKV to MP4, you can accomplish your task with Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate. Built in 300+ video & audio codecs, this video converter ultimate can convert among HD videos like MKV, M2TS, MTS and MP4, MOV, FLV, WMV, AVI, etc with 6x faster and no quality loss.

Compare MKV with MP4, we can draw the conclusion below from the above table:

1. MKV is mostly used to store compressed movie files and it's suitable for those who want to get high quality videos (convert HD videos and Blu-ray).

2. MP4 is a compression format/container typically used to get movies into a format for portable players (such as ipad/ipod/iphones).

3. MP4 has more compatibility but lesser quality, while MKV has better quality but larger space and poor compatibility.

Different video formats have their special purposes to satisfy various users' needs. Which one is the most suitable one depends on your own specific requirement. If you expect to backup DVD with extremely excellent quality of movies, TV shows, anime and have a powerful HD video player which can play videos in any formats installed, MKV is a good choice. On the other hand, MP4 is much more appropriate for playing videos on your Android devices and game consoles. Certainly, you can opt for converting your DVDs to H.264 for playback on devices with possible highest quality.