Free online USM to TS converter

What the USM format is

USM is CRI Middleware's Sofdec container, used mainly for pre-rendered game movies, opening sequences, trailers, and in-game video. Games and publishing tools using CRI's codec pipeline create USM files; they are commonly found inside extracted game archives rather than in ordinary camera or desktop-video workflows.

A USM file can contain interleaved video and audio, often H.264 or another game-oriented video stream paired with ADX or HCA audio. Some files are encrypted, use proprietary metadata, or depend on a game-specific key, so general media players and FFmpeg frequently cannot open them directly.

What the TS format is

TS, or MPEG transport stream, is a packetized container designed for continuous delivery and error-tolerant playback. It is widely supported by broadcast systems, hardware players, IPTV software, media servers, and tools that expect MPEG-TS input.

For this conversion, H.264 video with AAC audio is the most compatible combination. TS does not automatically improve quality: it changes the container and may require audio transcoding, while the resulting file can be larger because transport-stream packets add overhead.

How to actually convert USM to TS

Option 1: Use the built-in online converter

You can convert the file on the 101convert.com website for free without installing software. Upload the USM file, select TS as the output format, start the conversion, and download the resulting file if the service supports that particular USM variant.

Do not upload copyrighted game footage or files containing confidential material unless you have permission and the service's handling policy is acceptable. Encrypted or unusual USM files may fail online conversion and require local extraction with the correct game-specific tool.

Option 2: Extract the streams, then mux them with FFmpeg

1. Make a backup of the original movie.usm file.
2. Run a USM-aware extractor, such as the USM tools included with VGMToolbox or a compatible game-specific USM deinterleaver. Select stream extraction rather than simple renaming. The tool may produce a raw video file, an audio file, or an intermediate container such as .m2v, .h264, .adx, or .hca.
3. If the audio is ADX or HCA, decode it with a compatible CRI audio tool to audio.wav or another FFmpeg-readable format. Encrypted USM or HCA content may require a key from the original game and cannot be converted generically.
4. Inspect the extracted video and audio. If the video is already H.264 and the audio is AAC, mux without re-encoding:

ffmpeg -i video.h264 -i audio.aac -map 0:v:0 -map 1:a:0 -c:v copy -c:a copy -f mpegts output.ts

If the decoded audio is PCM WAV, encode it to AAC while copying the video:

ffmpeg -i video.h264 -i audio.wav -map 0:v:0 -map 1:a:0 -c:v copy -c:a aac -b:a 192k -f mpegts output.ts

If the extractor creates a playable intermediate file such as movie.mkv, FFmpeg can remux or transcode it directly:

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

Use the correct frame rate when the extractor outputs raw video and the timing is missing. For example, add -r 29.97 before the raw video input when the source metadata identifies that rate. An incorrect frame rate causes audio drift or visibly accelerated or slowed playback.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

Copying an existing H.264 stream with -c:v copy avoids video-generation loss. Re-encoding is required only when the extracted codec is incompatible with the target player or when the source is not a format FFmpeg can place in MPEG-TS.

USM extraction can leave separate audio and video files with no reliable timestamps. Verify the output from beginning to end, especially if the cutscene has multiple audio tracks, subtitles, variable frame rate, or deliberate timing gaps.

A file extension change from .usm to .ts does not perform conversion. If FFmpeg reports Invalid data found when processing input, use a USM deinterleaver first; FFmpeg generally cannot parse the proprietary USM container by itself.