A mkv file is a Matroska Multimedia container, which may contain an unlimited number of audio, video, picture, and even subtitle tracks within the container. Similar to formats such as .avi and .mp4, this file type aims to be the number one standard for media files (vs. avi) in general use. It’s features exceed that of many other media containers, and to top it all off it’s open source.

There are several types of Matroska file, in fact. There is mkv, for video with audio and even subtitles. Others include .mka, which is for audio only files, and even .mks, which just contains subtitle information. MKV files are becoming more common in use, and are favored for use with HD video content.

It’s previous history usage was quite low, being used primarily for foreign DVD rips, as it would allow for easy switching of subtitle languages. In the past few years, however, it has become more popular. The increased viewing of HD video files has made this container more popular. The format usually carries H.264 video, which is a higher quality codec that is has been adopted for use in high quality web streaming and supports high frame rates. The audio type varies between .aac, .ac3, and .dts, which are all higher quality audio codecs. However, the Matroska container has support for virtually any type of audio and video formats.

Because it is open source, this promotes companies to freely use the container as they like, which helps support the use of MKV files. With HD video being more frequently watched, MKV files will most likely only become more and more popular. The source code for Matroska is licensed under GNU LGPL (Lesser General Public License).

How do I play mkv files?

The easiest method in playing these files is using the VLC media player. It naively supports playing mkv files, and is also lightweight and provides quite a few other useful features. Downloads for various operating systems can conveniently be found below::

You can download VLC to play mkv files from here, it is available for all operating systems.

There are other methods in playing mkv files with media players you may already have installed, such as Windows Media Player, which involve installing codec packs. However, these can become quite messy and can install a bunch of other codecs you may not even need and merely take up space. Downloading VLC is the recommended option in this situation, and will make viewing your MKV files a breeze. Enjoy!

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