Practical tip: Run on a sample file first to confirm settings. Copy metadata/chapters when remuxing:
Practical tip: Test playback before converting large files; use -c:v copy to avoid re-encoding. Recommended target: MP4 container, H.264 video, AAC audio, soft subtitles. Example (re-encode video to H.264 CRF 22):
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c copy output.mp4 If container change fails (some subtitle/codec incompatibilities), extract and remux streams selectively.