Convert TS to MP4 Often a copy, not a re-encode
A .ts file is an MPEG transport stream, the format broadcast television, DVB and IPTV recorders write, along with plenty of capture cards and security camera exports. It was designed to be received live rather than kept on a disk, which is why players will not scrub through it properly, editors will not import it and upload forms will not take it. The video inside is usually H.264 already, so when the audio fits into MP4 as well the conversion is a straight copy into a new container, finished in seconds with the picture untouched. Recordings carrying broadcast sound such as MP2 or AC-3 take the slower route and are re-encoded instead. Either way the work happens in this browser tab, so the recording is never sent to us.
- Often just a rewrap
- Nothing uploaded
- 20 files per batch
Convert TS to MP4
MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV, AVI, WMV, WebM, TS, MTS and more
Up to 20 clips at once
Privacy-first. No uploads. If this helps, share it.
- The recording never leaves this tab
The reading, muxing and any encoding happen inside this page through WebAssembly, on your own machine. That matters more than usual for transport streams, because the .ts files people convert tend to be off-air recordings, IPTV captures and footage pulled off a camera system rather than clips headed for a public feed.
- A copy first, an encode only if it has to
The converter attempts a straight stream copy before anything else. When the video and audio inside can travel into MP4 as they are, which is the common case for H.264 with AAC, nothing is decoded and nothing is re-encoded, so it finishes in seconds with the picture identical to the source.
- 20 files per batch, 1 GB each
Point it at a folder of recordings and leave it running. Files are handled in sequence rather than side by side, since the browser build uses a single thread, and each result can be saved on its own or collected in a zip at the end.
How to convert TS to MP4
A TS file usually holds H.264 video already, so converting it to MP4 often means moving the streams into a different container rather than encoding them again. Add the file, then download the MP4. When the streams copy across, the job is done in seconds and the picture is identical to what you started with. When they cannot be copied, the file is re-encoded to H.264 and AAC instead, which runs at roughly the speed of the footage.
- Add your .ts file
- It converts in your browser
- Download the MP4
TS vs MP4: what actually changes
Transport stream and MP4 are both containers, boxes around the same video and audio. TS was built to be sent through the air or down a wire, where a receiver can tune in halfway through and still start decoding a moment later. MP4 was built to be a file sitting on a disk. That single difference explains almost every row in this table.
| What changes | TS, transport stream | MP4 |
|---|---|---|
| Container | A continuous run of 188 byte packets with no index and no fixed beginning | A file with a single index describing where every frame sits |
| Video codec | H.264 on most HD broadcast, IPTV and capture card recordings, MPEG-2 on older standard definition ones | Copied over untouched when the whole file can be copied, otherwise re-encoded to H.264 |
| Audio codec | Often MP2 or AC-3 from broadcast, AAC from IPTV and most capture hardware | AAC, which AAC sources reach by being copied and broadcast sound reaches by being re-encoded |
| Seeking | No index, so a player estimates and the scrub bar jumps, stalls or lands in the wrong place | Indexed, so the picture appears where you dropped the playhead |
| File size | Carries packet headers, programme tables and padding a receiver needs | Often slightly smaller after a copy, because that overhead is not carried over |
The audio row is the one that decides how your conversion goes. H.264 video with AAC audio copies straight into MP4 and the job takes seconds. Broadcast sound such as MP2 or AC-3 does not make that trip, and because the copy is attempted on the whole file at once, a refusal sends the video along with it into a full H.264 and AAC re-encode.
What you gain by moving out of the transport stream
A transport stream carries no index. Nothing in the file records which byte a given second lives at, because a broadcast has no beginning to count from in the first place. Players cope by estimating, which is why dragging the scrub bar on a .ts recording lands somewhere near where you aimed, or stalls, or throws playback back to the start. Editors mostly refuse the file for the same reason, since a timeline needs frame accurate positions to cut on. Upload forms reject the extension without looking inside at all. Converting to MP4 gives the recording a real index, and all three problems go at the same time.
The tradeoff is real but usually small. A copy keeps the quality exactly and takes seconds, because no frame is decoded. A re-encode, which is what happens when the codecs inside cannot be carried into MP4, runs at roughly real time and does cost a generation of quality.
What the MP4 fixes, and what it does not
What comes out is H.264 video with AAC audio, the pairing that phones, browsers, editors, smart TVs and upload forms all take without argument. What it cannot fix is anything already wrong with the recording. A transport stream captured off a weak signal carries that damage inside it, and moving the streams into a new container moves the damage along with them.
Fixed: scrubbing and seeking, imports into an editor, upload forms that reject the .ts extension, and players that give you a black screen or audio only.
Not fixed: blocking, frozen frames or dropped sections that were recorded off a bad signal. Those are in the source video itself and no conversion repairs them.
Not fixed: extra programmes, alternate audio languages and broadcast subtitle tracks. One video stream and one audio stream come through, and the rest is left behind.
Convert a TS file in three steps
All three happen on your own machine.
Add your recording
Drop the .ts file onto the page, or browse for it. Up to 20 files per batch at 1 GB each. If what you drop turns out to be something else, an MKV or an MOV that was sitting in the same folder, it is converted anyway and the label simply changes to match what arrived.
Leave the target on MP4
The To dropdown holds MP4 and MP3, so if what you actually wanted out of the recording was the sound, you can switch it there without leaving the page. For MP4 the converter tries a stream copy first and only re-encodes when that copy is refused.
Download the MP4
You get H.264 video with AAC audio in an indexed MP4, so it seeks properly and plays about anywhere. No watermark, no account, no queue.
Why convert when VLC will happily play a TS file
Getting a transport stream to play is the easy half, and it makes converting look optional. It stops looking optional the moment the recording has to go anywhere other than your own player.
A player is not an editor
Many editing workflows handle a transport stream less reliably, either refusing it or accepting it and then behaving oddly on the timeline, because cutting needs frame accurate seeking and the container cannot offer it. Converting first is what makes the recording editable at all, rather than merely watchable.
Nothing accepts the extension
Upload forms, media libraries, chat apps and social platforms check the file type before they look inside, and .ts appears on almost none of those lists. It is also the extension TypeScript source files use, which does nothing to help its case with a strict validator.
Copying is the cheapest fix available
When the codecs already fit, moving the streams into MP4 costs seconds and changes nothing about the picture. Running the same recording through a converter that re-encodes everything regardless would take as long as the footage runs and would cost quality for no gain whatsoever.
It was never meant to be stored
A transport stream carries packet headers, programme tables and timing information that a receiver needs while it is tuned in and a file on your disk never will. Dropping all of that on the way into MP4 leaves you with something a little smaller and a great deal more ordinary to keep.
Recordings like these are rarely meant for an audience
The .ts files people convert are off-air recordings kept for personal use, IPTV captures, footage pulled off a camera system after something happened and cards emptied out of a capture rig. Handing any of that to a stranger's server to solve what is really a file extension problem gives away far more than the problem is worth.
The conversion is done by FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly, running in this page on your own processor. Nothing is sent anywhere first, nothing waits its turn on hardware we own, no copy of the file sits on a server waiting for a cleanup job, and there is no account for a history to hang off. Close the tab and the job is gone with it.
What that means in practice
- The recording is opened by your browser, not by us
- Neither the file nor its name reaches a server
- No account, no watermark, no signup to download
- A copy is near instant, a re-encode runs on your own CPU
TS to MP4 troubleshooting
Related conversions
Need a different format? These open the same private browser converter, preconfigured for another conversion.
- MP4 to MP3
Keep the sound, drop the picture. The MP3 is made in this tab, from a file you already have.
Open this converter - MOV to MP3
Pull the sound out of an iPhone or QuickTime recording and save it as an MP3, in this tab.
Open this converter - WebM to MP3
Pull the sound out of a WebM as an MP3 that plays outside a browser. Free, in your browser.
Open this converter
More free tools
Convert Video
Convert almost any video to MP4 or MP3 in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Open toolCompress Video
Shrink a video to fit Discord, WhatsApp or email size limits. Private, in your browser.
Open toolRemove Audio from Video
Strip every audio track from a video. Free, in your browser, no upload.
Open toolFrequently asked questions
An MPEG transport stream. It is the container broadcast television, DVB and IPTV use to send video, and recorders, set top boxes, capture cards and some camera systems write it straight to disk in that same form. The video inside is usually H.264, the same codec MP4 carries.
Last reviewed on 15 August 2026 for browser based transport stream conversion.