Free online HEVC to TS converter

Some broadcast, IPTV, surveillance, and hardware players require an MPEG transport stream instead of an MP4 or MKV container. Converting the file to TS can package existing HEVC video for those systems without re-encoding when the audio and subtitle streams are compatible.

What the HEVC format is

HEVC, also called H.265, is a video compression codec designed to deliver similar visual quality to H.264 at a lower bitrate. Phones, action cameras, screen recorders, security cameras, and video tools commonly store HEVC in .mp4, .mkv, or .mov files.

HEVC identifies the video codec, not the container. A file with an .mp4 extension can therefore contain HEVC video, AAC audio, subtitles, and metadata; changing its extension to .ts does not convert or repackage those streams.

What the TS format is

TS, or MPEG Transport Stream, is a packetized container used for digital television, broadcast contribution, IPTV, Blu-ray video, and some hardware recorders. It is designed to carry audio and video over unreliable or continuously flowing connections, with synchronization and recovery information distributed through fixed-size transport packets.

Transport streams can carry HEVC video, so many conversions only require remuxing: copying the video and audio streams into a TS container without changing their compressed data. TS is useful when a decoder, broadcast workflow, streaming server, or editing application specifically expects an MPEG transport stream.

How to actually convert HEVC to TS

FFmpeg is the most controllable desktop option. Install it from the official FFmpeg distribution for your operating system, open a terminal in the folder containing the source file, and inspect the streams first:

ffprobe input.mp4

For a lossless container conversion, copy every stream and force the MPEG-TS output format:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -map 0 -c copy -f mpegts output.ts

Replace input.mp4 with the actual HEVC filename. Use the same command for an MKV or MOV source. The -map 0 option includes all detected streams; omit it or select streams explicitly if the source contains unsupported attachments, cover art, or multiple subtitle tracks.

If the target device rejects the source audio codec, copy the HEVC video but encode audio as AAC:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0? -c:v copy -c:a aac -b:a 192k -f mpegts output.ts

If the device cannot decode HEVC, the video must also be transcoded, usually to H.264:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0? -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 20 -c:a aac -b:a 192k -f mpegts output.ts

For a no-install conversion, the free converter on 101convert.com can process the file in a browser. Uploading is unsuitable for confidential footage or very large recordings because the file must leave the local computer and the conversion depends on upload and processing limits.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

Using -c copy does not re-encode HEVC, so it preserves the original video quality and is substantially faster than transcoding. It cannot fix a damaged stream, unsupported frame rate, incompatible audio codec, or decoder that does not support HEVC.

TS usually has slightly more container overhead than MP4 and may offer less convenient random seeking. Some players require specific combinations such as HEVC with AAC or AC-3 audio, constant frame rate, valid presentation timestamps, and no embedded attachments. Subtitles may be ignored or lost by the target device even when FFmpeg copies them into the TS file.

When the source contains variable frame rate footage or timestamp errors, add generated timestamps only when needed:

ffmpeg -fflags +genpts -i input.mp4 -map 0 -c copy -f mpegts output.ts

Test the resulting file on the intended player or broadcast system, because TS compatibility depends on both the container and the codecs, stream order, bitrate, timestamps, and metadata accepted by that device.