Free online MPG to OGG converter

Convert an MPG recording when a music player, editing application, game, or audio archive needs its soundtrack without the original video. The result is an OGG audio file; the MPG video track is discarded.

What the MPG format is

MPG usually refers to an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 program stream containing compressed video and, often, MPEG audio. It is common in older camcorder recordings, Video CDs, DVD-related files, broadcast captures, and exported video. The exact audio and video codecs depend on how the file was created, so not every MPG has an audio track that can be extracted.

What the OGG format is

OGG is an open multimedia container, not an audio codec by itself. It most commonly contains Vorbis audio, a lossy codec that produces relatively small files; Ogg containers can also hold codecs such as Opus. OGG Vorbis is supported by VLC, foobar2000, Audacious, many Linux applications, game engines, and audio editors, but it is not accepted by every phone, car stereo, browser, or editing program.

How to convert an MPG file to OGG

You can convert the file for free on 101convert.com without installing software. Upload the MPG file, choose OGG as the output format, start the conversion, and download the result when processing finishes. Uploading may be unsuitable for confidential recordings or very large files, and the converter must support the particular MPEG stream.

For a local conversion, FFmpeg directly decodes the MPG audio and encodes OGG Vorbis:

1. Install FFmpeg through your operating system's package manager or an official FFmpeg distribution.
2. Open a terminal in the folder containing input.mpg.
3. Run ffmpeg -i input.mpg -vn -c:a libvorbis -q:a 5 output.ogg.

-vn removes video from the output, -c:a libvorbis selects Vorbis encoding, and -q:a 5 sets variable-quality encoding around the middle-to-upper part of Vorbis's quality range. Use -q:a 3 for a smaller file or -q:a 7 for higher quality and a larger file. Put quotation marks around paths containing spaces, as in ffmpeg -i "Old recording.mpg" -vn -c:a libvorbis -q:a 5 "Old recording.ogg".

If the MPG contains multiple audio tracks, inspect them first with ffprobe input.mpg. Select a specific track with an option such as -map 0:a:1; for example, add -map 0:a:1 before the output filename to select the second audio stream.

VLC Media Player provides a graphical alternative:

1. Open VLC and choose Media → Convert / Save.
2. Add the MPG file and select Convert / Save.
3. Choose an audio Vorbis or OGG profile, if available.
4. Set a destination filename ending in .ogg and select Start.

VLC profile names and availability vary by version. Confirm that the profile encodes Vorbis audio rather than merely changing the filename extension.

Quality and compatibility limitations

This is normally a lossy-to-lossy conversion: compressed MPEG audio is decoded and re-encoded as Vorbis, which can reduce quality even at a similar nominal bitrate. Use the original uncompressed or losslessly compressed source when available. Increasing the Vorbis quality setting cannot restore detail already removed from the MPG audio.

Files containing video only, unsupported audio codecs, damaged streams, or unusual MPEG structures may fail or produce an OGG file without audio. Metadata and embedded artwork may not transfer reliably, so inspect the output and edit its tags if necessary. If the destination specifically requires MP3, AAC, or WAV, create that format instead of OGG.