Free online DAV to VOB converter

What the DAV format is

DAV is a proprietary surveillance-video container commonly generated by Dahua DVRs, NVRs, and IP-camera systems. It can contain H.264 or H.265 video, audio, timestamps, and recorder-specific metadata; some files also use encryption or a codec variant that general-purpose players cannot decode.

You typically encounter DAV files after exporting camera recordings from a CCTV recorder or its management software. Dahua Smart Player and compatible recorder utilities are the safest desktop tools for opening them and exporting them to a standard format such as MP4 or AVI.

What the VOB format is

VOB is the MPEG program-stream container used inside a DVD-Video disc's VIDEO_TS folder. It normally carries MPEG-2 video, DVD-compatible audio such as AC-3 or MPEG audio, subtitles, navigation data, and menu-related content.

VOB is useful when the footage must be authored to a physical DVD or handled by software designed for DVD-Video. It is not a general-purpose editing format, and a standalone VOB file is not necessarily a complete, playable DVD.

How to actually convert DAV to VOB

Using the built-in online converter

1. Open the DAV-to-VOB converter on 101convert.com; it can be used without installing desktop software.
2. Upload the DAV recording, select VOB as the output format, and start the conversion.
3. Download the resulting file and verify that the picture, audio, and recording duration are correct.

A proprietary or encrypted DAV file may be rejected or produce incomplete output. In that case, open the original recording in Dahua Smart Player or the recorder's export utility, export it to MP4, and convert that standard file instead.

Using Smart Player and FFmpeg

1. Open the DAV file in Dahua Smart Player, select the required time range, and use Export or Convert to create surveillance.mp4 or surveillance.avi. Preserve the original resolution and frame rate when the software provides those choices.
2. For a VOB-like MPEG program stream, run:

ffmpeg -i surveillance.mp4 -target ntsc-dvd -f dvd surveillance.vob

Use -target pal-dvd instead of -target ntsc-dvd for PAL equipment. This creates DVD-oriented MPEG-2 output, but it does not create menus, navigation files, or a complete disc structure.

Creating a playable DVD structure

Convert the exported file to DVD-compatible MPEG-2 and author it with a DVD authoring tool. Using FFmpeg and dvdauthor from a terminal:

ffmpeg -i surveillance.mp4 -target ntsc-dvd -aspect 4:3 dvd.mpg

dvdauthor -o dvd -t dvd.mpg

dvdauthor -o dvd -T

The resulting VOB files are placed under dvd/VIDEO_TS. Choose -aspect 16:9 for widescreen footage when the source and playback equipment support it. A DVD authoring application can perform the same encoding and structure creation through its import and Burn DVD menus.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

Converting DAV to VOB normally requires re-encoding because VOB expects DVD-Video-compatible MPEG-2, while the source may use H.264, H.265, a proprietary codec, or recorder encryption. Re-encoding cannot restore detail already lost in the surveillance recording and may increase file size.

DVD-Video is limited to standard-definition frame sizes and bit rates. High-definition DAV footage is therefore downscaled, and long recordings may need several VOB segments because DVD-Video commonly divides titles into approximately 1 GB files.

Keep the original DAV file as evidence or archival material. Exporting through a player can remove recorder metadata, timestamps, authentication information, or audio tracks, and some DVRs require the original recording index or proprietary player to verify those details.