Where MKV files come from
Matroska, the format behind .mkv, is an open container that can hold practically any video codec, any number of audio tracks, soft subtitles, chapters and attachments in a single file. That flexibility is why it is the default for Blu-ray and DVD rips made with MakeMKV or HandBrake, for OBS recordings (OBS long recommended MKV so that a crash cannot corrupt the file), and for yt-dlp downloads that marry a VP9 video stream to an Opus audio stream. The downside is support: Windows and Android play MKV reasonably well, but iPhones, Apple TV, many smart TVs, PowerPoint, Premiere Pro and most web upload forms want .mp4.
What happens to each track
| Inside the MKV | In the MP4 |
|---|---|
| H.264, HEVC, AV1, VP9 or VP8 video | Copied unchanged |
| AAC, MP3, Opus or FLAC audio | Copied unchanged |
| AC-3, E-AC-3, DTS or Vorbis audio | Re-encoded to AAC or Opus (needs a browser that can decode it) |
| Subtitle tracks (SRT, ASS, PGS) | Not carried over |
| Chapters and attachments | Not carried over |
For the typical rip or download that means a pure remux: Tinyvert reads the packets out of the Matroska structure and writes them into MP4 boxes without touching the compressed data. There is no generation loss, no codec licensing question and no waiting for an encoder. A two-hour film takes about as long as reading it from disk.
Subtitles need a plan
Because MP4 output does not receive the subtitle tracks, decide what you need before converting. If the MKV contains soft subtitles you want to keep, extract them with a tool such as MKVToolNix and store the resulting .srt alongside the MP4; VLC, Plex and most players pick it up by matching the file name. Burned-in subtitles are part of the picture and are unaffected.
Copied versus re-encoded
The Quality and Max resolution fields sit under the drop zone but are ignored during a copy. They come into play only when a re-encode happens, either because a stream is not allowed in MP4 or because you ask for a smaller picture. Set Max resolution to 1080p or 720p, for instance, and a 4K rip is decoded, downscaled and encoded with the browser's hardware-accelerated H.264 encoder where available; the row then says "re-encoded". Video is never upscaled.
Private by design
Rips and downloads are personal, and large. Both points favour doing the work locally: nothing is uploaded, nothing waits in a queue on a server, and the only constraint is the memory of the device you use. The page works offline after its first load in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Safari 17 or newer or Firefox 130 or newer. WebM files follow the same path with WebM to MP4, any other container goes through the Video Converter, and Video to MP3 pulls just the soundtrack out of an MKV.