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Why does it seem to be so difficult to simply change a video's container?

For example, when I download ".avi" & ".mkv" video's from the internet & want to watch them on my Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV), I need them to be ".mp4" instead.

I don't want to spend the time to go through the whole "conversion/transcoding" process with apps like Handbrake when it seems you can simply change their containers out with apps like Mkv2Mp4 or the old Video Container Switcher apps in a fraction of the time.

Problem is, when I use those container changing utilities, various problems arise, like...

  • having mp4's with audio out of sync, or
  • having mp4's with no audio at all, or
  • having mp4's with very jittery video.

I love the speed of these container changing apps but why don't the video's play exactly the same since they're not actually converting the codecs & such?

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First reason:
Videos / audios in AVI or MKV containers may be encoded by various codecs, and not all them are supported by MP4 containters.

Second reason:
Containers are more than simple boxes for videos, audios, subtitles, etc. with some not so important metadata as author or date/time. They have a lot of unevitable valuable information, e. g. the synchronization between audio and video is possible only due to it.

So there is not a reliable algorithm to convert any AVI -> MP4 or any MKV -> MP4 (and, generally speaking, from one type of container to a different one) without changing the streams (audios, videos, etc.) contained in them - the result may be similar to the one you described.

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  • ah! thank you for that explanation. i got an app called "MediaInfo" (on Mac) & after looking at some video's, i see the differences in the MKV's that the MKV2MP4 app can simply change the container on vs the ones it cannot. and i haven't found any AVI's that have any innards that can be used in an MP4. so i guess i can't just have a global batch tool, i'm gonna have to look at each video & make a decision on which utility to use on it. that's a bummer for speed. i wish i could find a handy easy chart that shows which codecs & containers are compatible etc. anyways, thanks!
    – SyberKnight
    Commented Jun 2, 2017 at 18:48
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Faster than converting and possibly ending up with a file that has problems is to install another player like VLC or KMPlayer, etc.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kmplayer/id835776444?mt=8

VLC is great on PC Desktop but on Android and iOS it's a bit buggy. There are a few 3rd Party Players for iOS that also claim to play everything.

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  • i need mp4's to play on Apple TV & iOS. as far as i'm aware, there's no VLC type options for those. my post isn't about players but thanks for your time anyways.
    – SyberKnight
    Commented Jun 2, 2017 at 18:49
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It is worth mentioning that you don't always have to 'convert/transcode' the file (as you have mentioned), in order to change the wrapper. There is an operation called re-wrap, which re-packages the media from one wrapper to another. This isn't the same as the 'fast container switching' that you have described, as re-wrapping works reliably and is often used in broadcast workflows.

For example, XSquare/XTAccess software allows you to re-wrap media without a licence. If you refer to the list of supported codecs, you will see what re-wraps are possible.

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  • This isn't the same as the 'fast container switching' - what's the difference?
    – Gyan
    Commented Jun 29, 2017 at 4:58
  • @Mulvya - it isn't the same because you don't get the negative side effects mentioned by the author of the question (no audio out of sync, missing audio or glitchy video). Why exactly is a good question - XTAccess is not GPL, unlike the other piece of software so my statement is based on empirical evidence, not theoretical.
    – Tony Sepia
    Commented Jun 29, 2017 at 12:19
  • Ok, so XTAccess, as per you, does better remuxing. But they refer to the same process.
    – Gyan
    Commented Jun 29, 2017 at 12:29

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