Free online VOB to 264 converter

What the VOB format is

VOB, or Video Object, is a DVD-Video container based on MPEG program streams. It can hold MPEG-2 video, one or more audio tracks, subtitles, navigation-related data, and sometimes multiple titles or angles.

DVD authoring applications such as DVDStyler, Nero, and commercial DVD creation software produce VOB files inside a VIDEO_TS folder. You encounter them when copying an authored DVD, opening a DVD backup, or extracting video from files such as VTS_01_1.VOB. A title is often split across sequential files, for example VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, and VTS_01_3.VOB.

What the 264 format is

A file with the .264 extension usually contains an H.264/AVC elementary video stream. H.264 provides substantially better compression than DVD MPEG-2, so it can preserve comparable visual quality at a smaller bitrate.

Raw H.264 is useful when a broadcast, surveillance, hardware-encoding, or video-analysis application specifically accepts an elementary stream. Unlike MP4, it normally has no container-level duration, audio track, subtitles, chapter markers, or reliable seeking index. Use MP4 or MKV instead when the destination supports containers and you need synchronized audio or normal media-player compatibility.

How to convert VOB to 264

Using FFmpeg

FFmpeg is the most controllable desktop option. Install a current FFmpeg build, open a terminal in the folder containing the VOB, and run:

ffmpeg -i "input.vob" -map 0:v:0 -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 20 -pix_fmt yuv420p -an -f h264 "output.264"

This selects the first video stream, encodes it with the H.264 encoder, removes audio with -an, and writes a raw H.264 stream. Lower CRF values increase quality and file size; values around 18–23 are common starting points. Use -preset slow for better compression at the cost of encoding time, or -preset fast for quicker output.

If the DVD title spans several VOB segments, process the complete title rather than only the first segment. With sequential files that belong to one title, concatenate them in order and pipe the result to FFmpeg:

cat "VTS_01_1.VOB" "VTS_01_2.VOB" "VTS_01_3.VOB" | ffmpeg -i - -map 0:v:0 -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -pix_fmt yuv420p -an -f h264 "output.264"

On Windows, use the equivalent command in PowerShell:

cmd /c copy /b "VTS_01_1.VOB"+"VTS_01_2.VOB"+"VTS_01_3.VOB" "title.vob"
ffmpeg -i "title.vob" -map 0:v:0 -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -pix_fmt yuv420p -an -f h264 "output.264"

Do not concatenate unrelated titles, menu VOBs, or files from different DVD sets. If the source is interlaced, add -vf yadif before the output options; otherwise deinterlacing can unnecessarily soften progressive video.

Using the online converter

You can convert the file on 101convert.com for free without installing software: upload the VOB, select 264 as the output format, start the conversion, and download the resulting file. For a multi-file DVD title, combine or select the correct title first; uploading only the first VOB segment may produce incomplete video.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

VOB files commonly contain 720×480 NTSC or 720×576 PAL MPEG-2 video. H.264 encoding cannot restore detail lost during DVD compression; it only changes the codec and usually reduces the bitrate. Keeping the original DVD dimensions avoids unnecessary scaling.

A raw .264 file usually excludes the original DVD audio, subtitles, menus, chapters, and copy-protection structure. CSS-encrypted commercial DVDs may require lawful decryption or an already accessible VOB before FFmpeg or a converter can read them.

Some players cannot determine the frame rate or duration of an elementary stream. If the target software accepts a container, use:

ffmpeg -i "input.vob" -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0? -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -c:a aac -b:a 192k "output.mp4"

This produces a more compatible file with optional audio, but it is MP4 rather than raw .264.