Release Info:

MKV stands for "Matroska Video". Matroska is a container file format, capable of holding unlimited number of video, audio and subtitile tracks, along with any metadata. Practically this means that it is possible to put entire movie with multiple sound and subtitle tracks, chapters information and movie thumbnail into single file. Being open and patent-free Matroska gained broad support recently and quickly becomes de-facto standard for storing

MakeMKV is your one-click solution to convert video that you own into free and patents-unencumbered format that can be played everywhere. MakeMKV is a format converter, otherwise called "transcoder". It converts the video clips from proprietary (and usually encrypted) disc into a set of MKV files, preserving most information but not changing it in any way. The MKV format can store multiple video/audio tracks with all meta-information and preserve chapters. There are many players that can play MKV files nearly on all platforms, and there are tools to convert MKV files to many formats, including DVD and Blu-ray discs.

Additionally MakeMKV can instantly stream decrypted video without intermediate conversion to wide range of players, so you may watch Blu-ray and DVD discs with your favorite player on your favorite OS or on your favorite device.

Reads DVD and Blu-ray discs
Reads Blu-ray discs protected with latest versions of AACS and BD+
Preserves all video and audio tracks, including HD audio
Preserves chapters information
Preserves all meta-information (track language, audio type)
Fast conversion - converts as fast as your drive can read data.
No additional software is required for conversion or decryption.
Available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux
Functionality to open DVD discs is free and will always stay free.
All features (including Blu-ray decryption and processing) are free during BETA.

Why MKV

Matroska file format (and Matroska video in particular) has a number of advantages.
MKV is open and free. No one holds patents or licenses and anyone can implement it freely. As a result nearly every software player and many hardware devices support it. The best software players out there ( VLC, MPlayer ) have full MKV support and are absolutely free.

MKV files do not have evil features attached.
You can play them on any capable hardware. No need for HDCP-certified video card or any "trusted" environment.

You can copy them to your laptop and watch anytime, even if your laptop lacks DVD or Blu-ray drive, or any drive whatsoever.

One file is one title. If you don't want to watch dozen trailers before the movie, you don't have to. And fast forward button always works, too.

There are no restrictions where to play the file. There are no region-based restrictions. You have control over the content you've paid for.
MKV files are easy to change. Want to remove unneeded audio track from the file? Thought about converting MPEG-2 video into H264 to make the file 5 times smaller? All of it can be easily done with free software.

MKV files are compact. For exactly the same content MKV files are about 10% smaller than DVD files and roughly 40% smaller than Blu-ray files.

While MKV is a good storage format not always it can be played directly. Playing MKV files on a computer is not an issue - there are many players and codec packs that enable MKV playback on any platform, be it Windows, Mac or Linux. However many hardware players do not play MKV directly - for that MKV files need to be transcoded into format that particular hardware player understands. Since all meta information is preserved in MKV and compressed media data (video, audio, subtitles) is not changed in any way it is always possible to transcode MKV files into original format. For example, MKV files produced from a Blu-ray disc may be transcoded back to a Bly-ray image or set of M2TS files without any losses by freeware transcoding tools.