How can I open an MKV file please?

[neil wilkes]

This is a tad on the irritating side, as it still works over on my Windows 7 installation, along with my very expensive SurCode Dolby Digital Plus encoder - both are missing in the Windows 10 system.

How can I access all my stored MKV files, please?

[Ann Bens]

Dont say which Pr version.

MKV is not supported, has not been for quite a few versions now.

[neil wilkes]

Yes, thisn I know only too well. I have been using the local Network, and basically sending MKV across to the W7 DAW/NLE, turning it into a UT AVI (no ProRes option) and passing this back over the network again, and I just snapped earlier today with a 320Gb transfer there & back, just because I cannot read a file type that was previously not an issue. It;s simply frustrating - between the W10 & the W7 versions I can get most things done, but it should not be such an absolute faff.

[R Neil Haugen]

Hey Neil!

Always nice to talk with another Neil!

Yea, the Matroska codec is a good one, but ... they see this as an archivist-niche codec, not a 'production' codec, and so do not see a reason to worry about supporting it. We can kvetch about that all we want, but ... I think it ain't gonna change.

So at this point, conversion with something free & easy like ShutterEncoder is probably the step needed. You can batch convert to get a bunch ready for working, and of course after the project is done, dump the t-code files. As you can recreate them at need, no need to store them.

Not a happy situation, but ... practically ... that's about all we can do.

You can look for both UserVoice (still being supported for now) and the Ideas section on this forum for Matroska/MKV posts, upvote them. Maybe someday ...

Neil

[smrpix]

MKV isn't a codec.  It's a container -- a very capable one that can hold multiple video and audio streams, subtitles and metadata.  Use mediainfo to see what is actually in there.  Often, it's just run-of-the-mill H.264 which can easily be rewrapped as an .mp4 using shutter encoder or similar.

UT is kind of old and not as efficient as ProRes.

[R Neil Haugen]

Several "codecs" are more properly referred to as containers. Which I've tended to do, but also ... been chastised for because "it confuses people".

MOV is also ... a container, as are many others ...

But whatever ... for that container ... they would have to write the code to recognize the container and properly parse the contents of same. Exactly the essential contents of the many posts about this over the last couple years.

And they've said clearly they have no plans to do so. Ergo, upvoting this either in UserVoice or the new Ideas section here are our only choices to attempt to get the decision changed.

Neil

[neil wilkes]

Several "codecs" are more properly referred to as containers. Which I've tended to do, but also ... been chastised for because "it confuses people".

MOV is also ... a container, as are many others ...

But whatever ... for that container ... they would have to write the code to recognize the container and properly parse the contents of same. Exactly the essential contents of the many posts about this over the last couple years.

And they've said clearly they have no plans to do so. Ergo, upvoting this either in UserVoice or the new Ideas section here are our only choices to attempt to get the decision changed.

Neil

By @R Neil Haugen

But this is obviously not correct (Adobe's version, not yours!) because my old version does read MKV files - so Adobe do not need to write any code at all - they just need to put back a feature they removed for no good reason.

@smrpix.

I do not much care if ProRes is more efficient than UT - this is not what my problem is. My problem is being unable to import archival material I can import on Windows 7 but not on W10 because the feature has been removed by Adobe!

[Ann Bens]

Have you tried changing the mkv extension to avi?

[neil wilkes]

Have you tried changing the mkv extension to avi?

By @Ann Bens

No - I did not think of this idea.

Will check right away & post back

EDIT:

Nope. 'Unsupported format or damaged file'

Works flawlessly in PPro on my W7 setup as MKV though, so the file is not damaged.

[Ann Bens]

Was worth a try!

[neil wilkes]

Was worth a try!

By @Ann Bens

Always worth the attempt, absolutely yes.

Back to PPro 2018 on Windows 7 with me it is, then.

This works - except for the audio, which is a mystery as I have the SurCode tool installed which is presumably an encoder only without any decode abilities. But I can get around that issue much easier

[Baffy19]

Vote here and support my topic.

Flashback format .MKV - Adobe Support Community - 13405236