Recently lots of MKV format videos (Matroska Video) came into vogue. The developer announced that this file format, as an open standard free container format, is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content. MKV is similar in concept to other containers like AVI, MP4 or ASF, but is entirely different with regard to specifications and implementations as these consist mostly of open source software.

Well, leaving the industry factors aside, what the MKV stuff really does give us is tons of trouble. Container format is always a nuisance, especially when it’s a rookie (I would say “newcomer” as rookie is very American) in the multimedia market. It’s never an easy job to find the proper media player for MKV files, and even harder to find a really professional MKV converter. Unfortunately, we have to find such an item, since this annoying video format is becoming more and more popular everyday due to its industry flexibility.

Last week I encountered the following dilemma: my friend Michael has collected and installed the whole soap of “Friends” in his computer. Knowing that I was a big fan of “Friends”, he copied the soap to my computer and then went on a long journey. That night when I started my computer and tried to enjoy the fun of the six funny characters, I found that the videos were in MKV format – which is out of my media player’s reach. Furthermore, as I wanted to put them on my PSP to make my dull daily journey on the bus more colorful, I then realized that I needed a proven professional MKV file converter for converting MKV to AVI or MP4 format.

Well, it’s easy to find a MKV player now:  type in “MKV player” in Google and after a few minutes you will find some MKV players, many of which are free. So did I but let’s not dwell on this experience.

While most of the video players are free, most of the MKV converters are not. So I took some time to compare several MKV converters and accumulated some useful knowledge doing so. Now I would like to share the knowledge with you out there.

First of all, most of the self-glorified MKV converters are so lousy that I couldn’t bear the torture of just mentioning them here. If you are to use one of them, their lower-than-snails speed and formats constraint will drive you crazy.

Still, there are some MKV converters worth mentioning here: ojosoft MKV Converter, Wondershare MKV Converter and Xilisoft MKV Converter. Considering the number of formats supported, the conversion speed and the terse interface, I much prefer Xilisoft MKV Converter, which supports the largest number of formats, has the fastest video conversion speed, and is especially easy to use.

With Xilisoft MKV Converter’s assistance, I helped my friends to convert MKV to AVI, MP4 format for their iPod, PSP, Apple TV, PS3, and Xbox. And I can use it to convert MKV to AVI and other popular video formats like H.264/AVC, WMV, MP4 and MOV, or extract MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC or M4A music file from MKV file.

What’s more, to get customized effects I tried a wide range of settings in this MKV converter: split one MKV file into several, compress a large MKV file into smaller ones, output multiple files from one MKV file simultaneously and so on.

Download for free a Xilisoft MKV Converter and try it for yourself now. All your comments are welcome here, but make sure you have tried this MKV converter first and then pass on your experience.

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