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#!/usr/bin/python
# Little script to depack Matroska file, and repack them
# in a AVI + subtitle format.

import sys
import os

def message(msg):
print "=" * 78
print "= %s" % msg
print "=" * 78

def usage():
print "Mastroka repacker script"
print "  Usage: "+sys.argv[0]+ " filename"

if __name__ == "__main__":
if len(sys.argv) < 2:
usage()
else:
filename = sys.argv[1]
basename = filename[:-4]

message("Unpacking file: %s" % filename)
os.system("mkvextract tracks %s 1:temp_video.avi 2:temp_audio.ogg 3:%s.srt" % (filename,basename) )

message("Repacking file: %s.avi" % basename)
os.system("ffmpeg -i temp_audio.ogg  -i temp_video.avi  -vcodec copy  %s.avi" % (basename) )

message("Cleaning files")
os.system("rm temp_video.avi temp_audio.ogg")

15 Responses to “How to convert matroska MKV to AVI on Linux ?”

1. # Anonymouson 10 Jun 2007 at 3:48 pm

   This script depends on package mkvtoolnix

2. # Rafael31on 25 Sep 2007 at 8:18 pm

   i have a problem with this…
   built on Jan 28 2007 22:48:38, gcc: 4.1.2 20070106 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.1-21ubuntu7)
   temp_audio.ogg: could not find codec parameters
   Cleaning files
   root@desktop:/Potter
   When it finish remove the file .ogg and .avi
   Please.
   what i need?

3. # Descoreon 01 Dec 2007 at 2:57 pm

   Cool script, thanks for that !!!

4. # bretton 08 Jan 2008 at 12:22 am

   Tried the script but then fell foul with the ffmpeg params.

   After checking out the ffmpeg site I found the latest version as of 8/1/2008 supports .mkv:

   ffmpeg -i cobra.mkv -target vcd cobra.avi

5. # Albatrosson 13 Apr 2008 at 5:09 pm

   Thanks for that update, Brett, it was exactly what I needed.

6. # Kevinon 16 Apr 2008 at 8:52 am

   Thanks,

   Very useful…

7. # Keith Hanlanon 19 Apr 2008 at 4:57 am

   I’m new to this so I’m a bit confused. I tried this on a 1.1GB 720p x264 encoding and wound up with a 26MB audio file with no video. The sound quality was seriously degraded as well. I commented out the temp_video.avi file, which looks to be about the right size, but I couldn’t find anything that could play it.

   What am I missing here?

   Thanks,
   Keith

8. # adminon 19 Apr 2008 at 12:53 pm

   Keith, check the mkv contains a ogg file. It’s perhaps something else. (try the file command)

9. # Keith Hanlanon 20 Apr 2008 at 11:07 pm

   Thanks for your reply “jkx”.

   “file *” returns the following:

   keithh@pvr [106]: file *
   temp_audio.ogg: ATSC A/52 aka AC-3 aka Dolby Digital stream, 48 kHz,, complete main (CM) 3 front/2 rear, LFE on,, 384 kbit/s reserved Dolby Surround mode
   temp_video.avi: JVT NAL sequence, H.264 video @ L 51
   XXXXX.hdtv.x264-bia.avi: RIFF (little-endian) data, AVI, 0 x 0, >30 fps,
   XXXXX.hdtv.x264-bia.mkv: Matroska data

   It managed to extract a decent sized ogg file but the file command gives no indication of whether or not it is an ogg file. It probably isn’t since it’s video. Am I barking up the wrong tree here? Was your script only intended to extract the audio?

   keithh@pvr [105]: wc -c *
   139198464 temp_audio.ogg
   1012791223 temp_video.avi
   25978426 XXXXX.hdtv.x264-bia.avi
   1153155923 XXXXX.hdtv.x264-bia.mkv
   2331132311 total

   I mispoke when I said I commented out the temp_video.avi file. I meant to say that I commented out the *removal* of that file in your script.

   It looks like the tools are willing to do what I need. Perhaps I need some different options. Any more suggestions that you might have would be very welcome.

   Thanks again,
   Keith

10. # adminon 20 Apr 2008 at 11:53 pm

    Hum, take care the ogg file is a 5.2 stream. I’m quite sure you need to resample (or tweak) ffmpeg to handle this.

11. # jonon 22 May 2008 at 1:53 am

    Hi -

    Does the conversion decrease the quality of the video/audio?

    Thanks

12. # adminon 22 May 2008 at 8:06 am

    No, the quality remains the same. In fact, it’s only a repack, not a real convert

13. # Yoshiion 16 Jun 2008 at 9:54 am

    Hi i got an error when i tried this script,
    I put this script into a file called mkvtoavi and made it executeable
    then in bash#

    ./mkvtoavi
    File “./mkvtoavi”, line 9
    print “=” * 78
    ^
    IndentationError: expected an indented block

    And i am not really good with scriptprogramming. but it seems it’s something thats missing :( please reply to my email as soon as you can :)

14. # earthforce_1on 01 Jul 2008 at 5:53 pm

    Ok, figured out an answer to my own question, and got it down to one line with no intermediate files. Your modified .py script becomes:

    #!/usr/bin/python
    # Little script to depack Matroska file, and repack them
    # in a AVI + subtitle format.

    import sys
    import os

    def message(msg):
    print “=” * 78
    print “= %s” % msg
    print “=” * 78

    def usage():
    print “Mastroka repacker script”
    print ” Usage: “+sys.argv[0]+ ” filename”

    if __name__ == “__main__”:
    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
    usage()
    else:
    filename = sys.argv[1]
    basename = filename[:-4]
    message(”Converting file: %s” % filename)
    os.system(”mencoder %s -ovc lavc -oac lavc -o %s.avi” % (filename,basename) )

15. # Stevenon 13 Jul 2008 at 6:19 pm

    To Yoshii, this script needs you to tab in some things to work…

    #!/usr/bin/python
    # Little script to depack Matroska file, and repack them
    # in a AVI + subtitle format.

    import sys
    import os

    def message(msg):
    TAB—>print “=” * 78
    TAB—>print “= %s” % msg
    TAB—>print “=” * 78

    def usage():
    TAB—>print “Mastroka repacker script”
    TAB—>print ” Usage: “+sys.argv[0]+ ” filename”

    if __name__ == “__main__”:
    TAB—>if len(sys.argv) TAB—>usage()
    TAB—>else:
    TAB—>TAB—>filename = sys.argv[1]
    TAB—>TAB—>basename = filename[:-4]

    message(”Unpacking file: %s” % filename)
    os.system(”mkvextract tracks %s 1:temp_video.avi 2:temp_audio.ogg 3:%s.srt” % (filename,basename) )

    message(”Repacking file: %s.avi” % basename)
    os.system(”ffmpeg -i temp_audio.ogg -i temp_video.avi -vcodec copy %s.avi” % (basename) )

    message(”Cleaning files”)
    os.system(”rm temp_video.avi temp_audio.ogg”)

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