What is MKV File?

MKV is an extension used by Matroska format. It is an open source container format and free standard. One of its main features is its great versatility. It can contain an unlimited amount of video, audio or subtitle tracks within a single file.

Within the same file you can have a large number of video, audio and subtitles files for different languages which you can select, depending on your preferences. MKV format also supports multiple video tracks, thus allowing to have several chapters in a single file. However, you should consider that the more tracks you have in a single file, the more space it will occupy.

Among other features, the official website mentions that the Matroska format also includes quick search within the archive, chapter entries, full metadata support and the possibility of expanding through modules. It also has DVD-style menus and can be played over the Internet and local networks (HTTP, CIFS, FTP, etc.).

The Matroska format is one of the most used to play movies given the performance for high definition and Bluray backups. Always make sure that when downloading a video, that it is stored in MKV format, which will guarantee a high definition and good quality of the video, however, if you see that the format is AVI it is more frequent that content will have a lower resolution.

In contrast with other popular containers such as the MP4 is that the MKVs are compatible with more codecs and video and audio formats. This means that when you want to join several files within an MKV container, they could have a greater variety of formats.

Matroska files can have several formats, depending on the type of multimedia it contains. MKVs are video files, which can include subtitles and audio. On the other hand, there are the MKA Matroska file extension which is used only for audio files, the MKS for subtitles, and MK3D used to play stereoscopic or 3D videos.