MTS to MP4 Converter
Sony Handycam and Panasonic camcorders save AVCHD video as .MTS files buried in a folder structure that phones, browsers and many apps cannot read. Convert the clips to MP4 to watch, share and edit them like any other video.
Video Converter
or drop MP4, MOV, MKV … files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
Lower is better quality and a bigger file. 18 looks identical to the source, 23 is the default, 28 and above shows visible softening.
Frames per second. Keep the source rate unless a platform asks for a specific one; 15–20 fps is plenty for GIFs.
Only used for PowerPoint files and single still images: how long each slide or picture stays on screen.
Auto uses AAC for MP4/MOV and Opus for WebM. Copy keeps the original sound untouched when the new format supports it.
192 kbps is transparent for music; 128 kbps is enough for speech.
Width of the animation in pixels; height follows the aspect ratio. 480 px suits chats, 720 px or more gives a high-quality GIF but a much larger file.
GIF holds at most 256 colors. Fewer colors make a smaller file but cause banding on gradients and skin tones.
Mixes palette colors in a fine pattern to hide banding. Sierra gives the smoothest result; none gives the smallest file.
Whether the animation repeats endlessly or plays one time and stops.
Optional. Seconds (e.g. 75) or minutes:seconds (1:15). Leave empty to start at the beginning.
Optional. Same format as the start time. Leave empty to keep everything up to the end.
The converted file will be at or just under this size.
How to use this tool
- 1
Copy the clips off the card
Open PRIVATE → AVCHD → BDMV → STREAM on the SD card and drag the .MTS files you want onto the upload area. Up to 20 clips, 95 MB each.
- 2
Check the audio setting
Video goes to H.264 and the Dolby Digital sound to AAC at 256 kbps, a little higher than usual to leave room for surround mixes. Change Audio bitrate if you need a smaller file.
- 3
Convert and download
Press Convert to MP4 and save each clip, or all of them as a ZIP.
How do I convert MTS to MP4?
Copy the .MTS clips from the camcorder's STREAM folder, upload them and press Convert to MP4. You get one H.264 MP4 with AAC sound per clip, at the camera's original 1920 × 1080 resolution.
AVCHD: the format behind Sony and Panasonic MTS files
AVCHD was announced by Sony and Panasonic in 2006 as a way to record HD video to DVDs, memory cards and hard drives using the same file layout as a Blu-ray disc. It puts H.264 video and Dolby Digital or PCM audio into an MPEG-2 transport stream, saved with the .MTS extension, and indexes the clips with separate playlist and clip-info files.
Most camcorders sold between 2006 and the mid-2010s, from the Sony Handycam range to Panasonic's HC and HDC models, plus many Canon models, record this way. Classic AVCHD footage is 1080i, interlaced at 50 or 60 fields per second; AVCHD Progressive, added in 2011, brought full 1080/50p and 60p.
MTS
AVCHD video (MTS)
MTS is the file extension used by AVCHD camcorders from Sony, Panasonic and Canon, a format introduced in 2006. It holds H.264 video and Dolby Digital or PCM audio in an MPEG transport stream. Camcorders split long recordings into several MTS files inside a folder structure. Many phones, websites and simple editors do not support MTS.
- Compression
- Lossy
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 2006 · Sony and Panasonic
MP4
MPEG-4 video
MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14) is a multimedia container standardised by ISO/MPEG and based on Apple's QuickTime format. It usually holds H.264 or HEVC video with AAC audio, and can also carry subtitles, chapters and metadata. It is the most compatible video format in the world, playing on phones, browsers, TVs, game consoles and social platforms. The video inside is almost always lossy, so repeated re-encoding gradually reduces quality.
- Compression
- Lossy
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 2001 · Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)
MTS is how AVCHD camcorders store each recording, inside a disc-style folder tree with AC-3 audio that browsers and phones skip; converting gives one self-contained MP4 per clip that plays and uploads anywhere.
How much MTS footage fits under 95 MB
24 Mbit/stop bitrate for 1080i AVCHD
Converting long camcorder recordings to MP4
Pick short clips
Each press of the record button makes a new .MTS file, so birthday candles or a goal are often separate clips that fit easily.
Split long takes first
A ten-minute take will be several hundred megabytes. Cut it into parts in your editing app, then convert each part here.
Expect a smaller MP4
At the default quality, H.264 in an MP4 typically needs far less than the camera's bitrate, so the result is much lighter than the MTS.
The picture keeps its 1920 × 1080 frame unless you change Resolution. Interlaced 1080i clips keep their fields; TVs and phones handle that on playback, and fast pans may show faint lines on a computer monitor. If the clip is going to a messaging app, pick 720p under Resolution to save most of the space.
Camcorders split very long recordings into consecutive .MTS files. This page converts each file on its own; it does not join them. For the same kind of stream from a TV recorder or a downloaded playlist, see TS to MP4, and for sending a finished clip by email, the compress video tool can target an exact size.
MTS and AVCHD questions
Where are the MTS files on my camcorder's SD card?
AVCHD cameras write a fixed folder tree: PRIVATE, then AVCHD, then BDMV, then STREAM, with clips numbered 00000.MTS, 00001.MTS and so on. On a Mac the AVCHD folder appears as a single package; right-click it and choose Show Package Contents to reach the files.
Why can't QuickTime Player open an .MTS file?
QuickTime Player does not read the MPEG transport stream that AVCHD uses, even though the video inside is H.264. iMovie and Final Cut Pro can import AVCHD, but only from the complete card structure, not from loose .MTS files copied to a desktop. An MP4 opens anywhere.
What happens to 5.1 surround sound from the camcorder?
Many camcorders record Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio, sometimes in 5.1. Browsers such as Chrome and Firefox do not play AC-3, which is why some MTS clips are silent online. The converter re-encodes the sound as AAC, which every browser and phone plays.
Is .M2TS the same as .MTS?
The stream inside is the same AVCHD transport stream; .MTS is the name the camera writes and .M2TS is the name Blu-ray discs and some import software use. Both are accepted here. Blu-ray rips have their own considerations, covered on the M2TS to MP4 page.
Should I delete the MTS originals once I have MP4s?
Keep the original AVCHD folder as your master if you have the space. It holds the untouched camera recording, and a converted MP4 is a re-encode. The MP4 copy is for watching, sharing and quick edits.
