Date First Published: 9th August 2023
Topic: Computer Systems
Subtopic: Computer Software
Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions
Difficulty: MediumDifficulty Level: 5/10
Learn about what MKV is in this article.
Stands for Matroska Video. MKV is an all-in-one video format that supports an unlimited number of picture, audio, and subtitle tracks in a single file. It also supports extra features, including descriptions, ratings, cover art, and chapters. Although it supports high-quality video playback, it is not compatible with all media players. For example, the built-in media player on Apple devices, like iPads does not support the MKV video format.
The MKV video format supports lossless compression. This means that file sizes are often very large, but this ensures high quality, making this video format more common for professional use or when sending for assessment.
Although the MKV file format is not as common as the MP4, MOV, and AVI formats, media players, like VLC Media Player, Microsoft Windows Media Player, and MPlayer support it. MKV files can also be converted to other video formats using video conversion tools, like VLC Media Player.
The MKV video format was released in December 2002 and the Matroska project was supported by a non-profit organisation. It was released as an open-source standard that is free for both personal and commercial use as a fork of the Multimedia Container Format (MCF), after disagreements between MCF lead developer Lasse Kärkkäinen and Matroska founder, Steve Lhomme about using the Extensible Binary Meta Language (EBML) instead of a binary format.
On 31st October 2014, Microsoft confirmed that Windows 10 would support HEVC and Matroska out of the box, according to a statement from Gabriel Aul, the leader of Microsoft Operating Systems Group's Data and Fundamentals Team.
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