What is an MKV File?

An MKV file is not your regular video and audio compression format. An MKV file is an open source container format. It is a general-purpose audio and video container and a contending format to the more popular AVI and MP4 formats. With its futuristic design approach, it can provide support for a vast number of audio, video and subtitle compression formats. Its features exceed even those of AVI and MP4 files.

An MKV file contains compressed video and audio streams along with an encoder. A codec or Coder/Decoder is required to play this type of file. MKV aims to be the leading standard for multimedia container formats. It is based on EBML (Extensible Binary Meta Language), a subclass of XML.

Specifically, MKV is a Matroska file - an open source container that houses an unlimited amount of video, audio, and even subtitle data in a single file. Its primary purpose is to create a unifying or universal format for multimedia storage with the benefit of being completely open source.

What are its MKV files' features?

Like any other modern-day multimedia container, MKV files boast the following features:

DVD-like menu systems
Streaming Capability over the internet
Tools and libraries for developers adding MKV support to their apps
Cross-platform Audio/Video multimedia container format

How about the licensing of MKV files?

MKV is an open source project, which means it is absolutely free for public distribution and use. Its source code is licensed under GNU LGPL.

Troubleshooting MKV files problems.

If you happen to download a file that has an .mkv extension and you just can't play it, this advice should help you out:

Make sure you have the latest codec pack downloaded. A codec pack is a collection of the most common and latest decoding drivers that will enable you to play a variety of multimedia extensions including .mkv files.