Converting Advanced Video Files to MP4

Text and video by Ellie Parcells, Student Multimedia Design Center 

If you’ve ever used a video editing program like iMovie or Premiere Pro, then you’ve probably worked with video files formatted as MPEG-4, also known as MP4 (or M4V for Macs). MP4 is a high-quality, versatile multimedia format supported by most video editing programs; however, not all video cameras save the footage you shoot to the MP4 format by default.  

For example, the advanced video cameras available at the Student Multimedia Design Center use the MPEG Transfer Stream (MTS) format or the Material Exchange (MFX) format also known as MFX. While these formats deliver high-quality video footage, they often take up much more storage space compared to MP4 and are not as universally supported by video editing and playback software.  

Thankfully, the process of converting these files to MP4 files is an easy task that can be completed with several common programs. In this video guide, we will be converting MTS video files to MP4 using the free programs VLC Media Player and HandBrake, as well as the paid service Adobe Media Encoder. 

This has been a guide on how to convert MTS files to MP4 using VLC Media Player, Handbrake and Adobe Media Encoder. Each of these programs and more are available at the SMDC, so stop by the next time you need file conversion support! 

This video is part of the weekly series “Multimedia Tips and Tricks,” which shares content in response to frequently asked questions from the Student Multimedia Design Center. We’d love to hear from you. Please share your feedback with us by filling out our survey.