How to Play MKV and AVI Files with Unsupported Audio Format on Your TV?

sony-hdtvRecently, my brother-in-law bought a new Sony Bravia HD-Television that plays videos directly from USB drives. Everything was going find until we loaded a 720p MKV file and found that the TV couldn’t recognize the audio codec. The video was playing alright but the audio was missing, and a message appeared on screen saying the audio format was not supported. It turned out that certain models of the Sony Bravia TV couldn’t play DTS encoded audio but it could handle Dolby Digital AC-3 and AAC audio. A quick search on Google revealed that HD-TV manufactured by other companies like Samsung and LG have similar issues with audio codecs.

The obvious solution when a video file refuses to play on a device is to convert the file into a format that is supported by the device. However, in this case, re-encoding the video file into another format is not necessary. This is because the TV is incompatible with only the audio stream, and re-encoding the video stream will not only be a waste of time but will also result in video quality that is worse than the original since all video conversions are lossy. What we need to do is convert the audio stream while keeping the video stream intact. This we can do with a software called Avidemux.

The name “Avidemux” is a misnomer. Although originally developed to handle only AVI files, Avidemux can today demux and mux all kinds of video containers including MKV and MP4.

Open Avidemux and then load the video file whose audio codec the TV doesn’t support from the File menu.

avidemux

On the left hand side, under Video Output choose the Copy option. This should already be selected by default. Under Audio Output, choose AC-3 (lav). You can also choose AAC, but AC-3 is recommended for maximum compatibility.

Under Output format, choose either MKV muxer or AVI muxer or MP4 muxer depending on whether the original file was MKV or AVI or MP4. But you can choose any video container, it doesn’t matter as long as the TV supports it.

Now click the save button and that’s it. Encoding takes about 2 minutes per GB of file on an Intel Sandy Bridge machine which is several times less than it would take if the video was encoded. Best of all, you don’t lose the video quality.

Related: How to normalize audio volume of a video file

This Article Has 81 Comments
  1. Anonymous Reply

    thank you so much. My DVD player does not support MKV and I think i can now play any mkv file using this software. I use converter but it takes 1-2 hours to convert file.

    • Anonymous Reply

      If your dvd player does not support mkv then u will have to change the container from mkv to mp4 which most commonly used and compatible. You can do that without having to re-encode the video but the codec will remain same. You can do this with x media recode. Load the video. Under output format select mp4. Under video tab select copy instead of convert. do the same for audio tab and encode the movie. it will only take couple of minutes.

  2. Kaushik Patowary Reply

    No. If your DVD player doesn't support MKV, then you cannot use this method to make MKV files playable. This method is only for converting unsupported audio codecs in an MKV file to a supporting one.

    You will have to convert the MKV file to a format that is supported by your DVD player.

  3. Anonymous Reply

    oh sad to know this. 🙁 . But thank you very much Kaushik for the information. I will wait for your post for any other method to play unsupported file on dvd player, other then converting.
    I am nowise and learning a lot from your site. thanks again.

  4. Jota Carvalhau Reply

    I would reccomend "PopCorn MKV AudioConverter"
    http://www.videohelp.com/tools/PopCorn-MKV-AudioConverter
    I`ve been using since I`ve bought an LG 3D TV. It also doesn`t decode dts.
    It`s fast and reliable.
    I reccomend

  5. Anonymous Reply

    Dear Kaushik, Thank you for your email and above, i do have the problem of " Unsupported Audio" on my LG LCD TV.. I downloaded the above software, open the MKV file and followed your instructions of choosing Copy for Video, AC3(Avi) for Sound and MKV muxer then clicked Save, the file converted came out as a FILE and not a video.. When i save it on USB and put in TV, the TV cannot see it in movies selection, where did i go wrong?

  6. Anonymous Reply

    hi Kaushik, i tried it again and this time on saving the file i saved it with .avi extension. The file output came out as AVI file and did not even play on the computer..

  7. Unknown Reply

    After Converting I see that the Sub titles are Lost. How to convert Audio with Sub titles Remaining Intact

    • Anonymous Reply

      Find subtitles for your movie (www.subscene.com), put it in the same folder as the movie, copy the exact name of the video file and paste it as name for the subtitles. "example – copy Pacific.Rim.2010.1080p.x264.Yify so that the only difference between subtitles and video file is the Mkv and Srt in the end.

      Good luck.

  8. inf3rno Reply

    Now with AC3 audio my LG TV writes that the file is invalid, and it does not open it…

  9. Kaushik Patowary Reply

    To all those who are having problems with LG TVs, I'm sorry that I'm not able to help you because I don't have an LG TV to test it myself. When using the Avidemux, please try different audio/video formats and see if it fixes the problem.

  10. Anonymous Reply

    very helpful thanks

  11. Unknown Reply

    Thank you very much

  12. Anonymous Reply

    Hey Kaushik Patowary, I sincerely thank you for your this post. Actually I was a victim.

    I have LG 47" LED TV purchased this year 2014. During purchasing TV I had checked thoroughly by playing a verity of files formats like MKV, AVI, DAT, MPEG, MP4, MP3 etc. and found all video files were compatible and playing both Video & Audio.

    But today I got a Blu Ray Movie (Zindagi na milegi dobara 10GB). When I insert the USB disk to my TV and stated playing this movie (MKV) I found a message Unsupported Audio. Video was awesome but no audio.

    Then I Google this problem I found your post. It works. Now I am enjoying this fantastic movie. Thanks you so much yar.

  13. Anonymous Reply

    I find the other converter named Faasoft Video Converter also can do this task. And it is easier to use.

    Happy with it.

  14. Anonymous Reply

    Fast ! Its super fast i love it. Nov its copying to usb i hope it works !

  15. Anonymous Reply

    Doesn't matter what I do, the file keeps come out as a Windows Shell Common Dll file. One time last week I got the file to actually come out as a video.Tried mp4, mkv, avi….doesn't matter

  16. jubayer ibna kalam Reply

    its awesome !! thanks a ton

  17. Anonymous Reply

    Hi Kaushik, I have a micromax LED tv , most of the MKV format videos does not play Audio, so i tried the above method provided by you, but when i try to convert the Audio it is asking me to save it as a new file …. after saving it as a new file i am not able to select the new file as audio in TV or else i cant play that audio file separately in the comp …. please let me know how to fix the issue .

    • Kaushik Patowary Reply

      I'm not able to follow you clearly. Are you saying the software saves the audio as a separate audio file? Or are you saying the new file (video with audio) is unplayable by both the TV and PC?

    • Anonymous Reply

      hii kaushik,I am also facing the same problem,I can here the sound on my laptop but unable to here any sound on my Micromax LED tv so I followed the same procedure as you have mentioned above but when I try to convert the Audio it is asking me to save it as a new file.After saving it as a new file still I am unable to here the audio on my tv.Could you please help on this issue

  18. Anonymous Reply

    hey kaushik i jst converted my file..nd the software itself choose to destination to save the file and i was not accepting my custom location..secondly.. after saving i could not find my files …even though the were showing saved when i clicked save button to save ..it showed that those files were already there ..?? thirdly can u please tell me how to check in which format the file currently is ??

  19. Anonymous Reply

    hello, pls can sumone tell me which audio nd video format does JVC tv support?

  20. CM Punk Reply

    Hey Kaushik I followed all your instructions but i still cant hear the audio on my Micromax led 50inch tv.
    did the whole process file size got less.. but other than that nothing..still cant hear.
    What should i do?

    • Tuhin Reply

      Bro a good rule of thumb is to experiment with different types of formats.. Try converting the video to mp4

    • Unknown Reply

      Hello. U need to put aac(lav) for audio. Ac-3 does not play on micromax TV. Then save it. With different file name so that u won't get confused.

  21. Anonymous Reply

    Subtitles are lostt,, I need those subtitles…
    please if you coulld help…

  22. Unknown Reply

    Hi Kaushik .. Thanks , now the sound is normal on my led tv. But the subtitle cannot shown.. Please help

  23. Anonymous Reply

    Hi, I have done everything you said to. But now its coming up video not supported. It was just audio but now its both. Any Idea on what else I have to change?

  24. Anonymous Reply

    i've tried ur suggestions for mkv audio, but there is no change.

  25. Anonymous Reply

    According to my experience, the Samsung TV may refuse to play some of these MKV files with an unhelpful audio codec error message displaying right on your screen. In fact, MKV is just a container format, holding video, audio, image or subtitle files in it. The video and audio files in different MKV files can be encoded with different codecs. For example, an MKV file with DTS audio can't be rendered on Samsung TV. To fix the problem, you need to convert MKV to a fully compatible format with Samsung TV. So does the AVI videos.

    To solve this issue, we may use iDealshare VideoGo to convert MKV and AVI to Samsung TV more supported video format.

  26. Anonymous Reply

    it worked fine for me, I had audio problem with mp4 files and it solved now. Thanks

  27. Anonymous Reply

    Nothing happens when I press configure. Please help

  28. Anonymous Reply

    Works great for my LG TV. Many thanks!!!!

  29. $ RäĝħäV $ Reply

    Thanks Kaushik. Even though it didn't worked straight away, your steps and software you mentioned (Avidemux) helped to solve audio problem on Micromax TV with my little observation. Checked other videos which are played with audio on Micromax TV. AC3 (lav) with MKV MUX didn't worked for me. Then I selected AAC (lav) with MKV MUX and it worked. It was dual audio (Telugu+Hindi). Telugu played but not Hindi but thats enough for my family to watch.

  30. Unknown Reply

    This program is great!!! I was able to convert a DTS sound format movie to an AAC format which let me watched the movie i downloaded to my LG TV!! Thanks alot 🙂

  31. swaggy Reply

    m downloading now .. i"ll tell you later reviews.. hope it will work

  32. Anonymous Reply

    THANK YOU SO MUCH IT WORKS FANTASTIC!!!

  33. Unknown Reply

    My panasonic viera doesn't supports ac3 and dts format audios what i do plz reply

  34. Anonymous Reply

    How to configure 5.1 creative speakers on 7.1 inbuilt sound card (Asus M5A97)

  35. Anonymous Reply

    this article was really helpful, thanks a lot

  36. Anonymous Reply

    Thanks a lot, you people solved my problem, great..

  37. Anonymous Reply

    Hi Kaushik, does this software also work for JVC's?

    • stel Reply

      I am sure it will work. It works on my Telefunken which is the sister/brother of the JVC.

  38. Anonymous Reply

    I followed you instructions and all worked just fine. Thanks man.

    Dimitris from Greece

  39. Anonymous Reply

    I've followed the instructions but can't find the SAVE button that is mentioned in the last step. Can someone tell me what I need to click after setting the Output Format please? It's probably staring me in the face – BUT!!!
    Thanks
    Barry

    • Kaushik Patowary Reply

      The floppy disk icon in the toolbar is the save button.

  40. Unknown Reply

    which audio formate supported in LG LCD tv right now.

  41. 6roucho Jones Reply

    Thank you! Solved my playback issue and my family are now watching their movie 🙂

  42. Anonymous Reply

    Great, this works. Convert into MP4 and you will have no issue

  43. Unknown Reply

    I downloaded this software and made changes accordingly as mentioned but still there is no audio while playing that video at my Videocon LED, please help

  44. Anonymous Reply

    Thank god for people like you taking the time to explain, in simple detail, how to deal with problems like this.. To all those above who have commented, Kaushik can't outline every single different file output for every type of TV model you, come on, do your research and find what audio your TV can handle

  45. Unknown Reply

    Avidemux works great. Many thanks.

  46. Anonymous Reply

    Thank you 🙂

  47. Anonymous Reply

    works a treat – cheers

  48. Anonymous Reply

    is There any similar software for .VOB format conversion..Im facing similar issue when i play .vob file using a Thumb drive on 32 inch VU LED television.

    • Kaushik Patowary Reply

      VOB files are not meant to be played directly from a USB drive, because they contain additional information that the TV will not understand. It's better to convert the entire DVD (not the standalone VOB file) into a compatible format. In other words, rip the DVD.

  49. Unknown Reply

    Hi, I did as instructed, and since the audio code change to AC3, the file size is reduced from 21Gb to 19Gb and the overall frame rate reduced from 20+bits to 16+ bits.
    Does that mean the audio format have different size too? I'm noob when it come to tech 🙁

  50. Unknown Reply

    I have Micromax LED HD 32 inch who does not support MKV video file, no audio. I tried to add audio through avidemux. On saving file, it shows *Muxer can not open*. Please solve my problem

  51. Anonymous Reply

    Thanks

  52. Anonymous Reply

    Hi,
    i recently by panasonic 32c460DX model LED i m not able to play any dual audio movie, can u suggest me any other brand which can supprt all dual audia movie and formates, which wud be cheaper in 32 or 40 inch, because panasonic is waste for me now..

  53. DHANS Reply

    It really helped a lot to view mkv movies in Vu tv. Thanks a lot man.

  54. Anonymous Reply

    Kaushik is it confirm that micromax led tv support sac and ac3

    • Kaushik Patowary Reply

      Don't know about Micromax. The best way to find out is take a bunch of files of different format on a USB drive to the store and try to play them on the TV. Buy the TV that supports the most formats. I did the same and discovered Samsung supports the most format. LG, Sony, Panasonic are all behind.

    • Unknown Reply

      Micromax supports aac(lav) not ac3,

  55. Unknown Reply

    Pls help… After I saved it.. It came out as a file format.. How can i convert it to video..im using Sony Bravia thank you so much.

  56. Unknown Reply

    After I followed all the instructions I saved it… File format how can I convert it to video many thanks.

  57. Anonymous Reply

    how to save it where i can find it??

  58. Unknown Reply

    i converted the video thank you but the subtitle is missing. i cant change the name of the .srt file because the sub is compiled in the video itself. how can i fix thsi?

  59. Unknown Reply

    I have converted the mkv file as per your instructions but still getting message of "unsupported audio" plz guide

  60. Anonymous Reply

    Thanks a lot. This is soooo helpful.

  61. betterpluse Reply

    You may follow this step by step guide to convert MKV DTS to MKV AC3 Converter for Mac and Windowsat
    https://www.avdshare.com/mkv-dts-to-mkv-ac3-converter

  62. Anonymous Reply

    Awesome. It worked. Thanks

  63. Anonymous Reply

    After decoding, DTS multichanel surround still be there? Or its going to be 2.1

  64. Anonymous Reply

    Many thanx Kaushik! The software worked a treat. Had an MKV file on USB that played video and sound on the PC perfectly but no audio when inserted into my TV.
    Followed your instructions above and it's done the trick, its completely resolved the no sound issue.
    Thank you

  65. Anonymous Reply

    Worked like a charm. Thank you.

  66. Anonymous Reply

    Many thanks for your initial post Kaushik. This has saved a lot of time.
    Cheers!

  67. Unknown Reply

    Awesome!!! Thank you!

  68. Anonymous Reply

    Which is best for LED TV ??
    MKV video with Audio AAC FDK or FAAC or LAV ?? AC3 not working for me.

  69. Unknown Reply

    I can't find the save button to click on

  70. Anonymous Reply

    This works great, any chance we could batch process this? I have hundreds of TV/Films with this audio problem 😉

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