Top 5 Best MKV to iMovie Converters for Mac/PC (Free Included)

iMovie, bundled with your Mac, is a free and popular video editing program- a part of the iLife suite of the digital lifestyle. It lets you import video sources from downloaded DV-encoded files, RAW camera, Panasonic P2, Sony XDCAM HD, and more. iMovie supports a quite limited number of media formats, and MKV (Matroska Video) is one of the unsupported formats. If you want to import MKV to iMovie, you have to convert MKV to a video format supported by iMovie. This post will walk you through the best MKV to iMovie converter for Mac and PC.

iMovie Compatible Formats

• Video formats for iMovie: MP4, MOV, M4V, 3GP, DV, etc.
• Audio formats for iMovie: MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV, etc.
• iMovie supported export formats: MP4, MOV, AAC, MP3, AIFF, WAV
• iMovie unsupported formats: MKV, WMV, VOB, WMA, FLV, NSV, APE, WebM, etc.

Why iMovie fails to import some MP4 files?

Generally, iMovie supports MP4 files encoded with MPEG4/AAC or H.264/AAC data. If the imported MP4 files use other codecs, iMovie may not accept them. Another reason is that your MP4 video contains codecs for audio and subtitle streams which are not supported by iMovie.

Just like some mobile phones can’t play MP4 video files encoded with Xvid because they only support DIVX and H264 codecs.

Can iMovie edit AVI files?

Most of the time it's not, but there are two cases where it's allowed.

1) The AVI video you are going to import contains MJPEG data.

2) The imported AVI file is using the same codec as iMovie.

Can iMovie edit MKV files?

Obviously not! iMovie doesn't empower you to drag MKV videos into the software. So, as aforementioned, you should convert MKV to iMovie supported formats like MP4 and MOV.

Best MKV to iMovie Converters for Mac and Windows

For Mac

Cisdem Video Converter for Mac is a robust and professional MKV to iMovie converter that features batch converting video and audio files with super fast speed. Apart from converting MKV files to iMovie on Mac, it also processes conversion between other common formats like MP4 to MP3, H264 to MP4, MKV to AVI, and so on.

Even better, you don't need to go through the hassle of iMovie for basic MKV editing, as it's armed with a built-in video editor to trim/crop/rotate MKV videos, or add watermarks/effects/subtitles easily. Additional video-related functions such as video downloading, DVD ripping, video merging, media playing are available as well.

Download and install the application on your Mac from the button below.

Free Download

Launch it and you will see its “Convert” interface.

Straightly drag-n-drop your files onto the interface, or go to the menu bar, and click “File” > “Add File(s)” to browser MKV videos from your Mac.

In the lower-left corner, click the rectangular box next to "Convert all tasks to" to open a panel, from which formats are neatly categorized. Navigate to “Apple Software” > iMovie”, and select the best video format for iMovie like MP4. Alternatively, switch to “General Video”, and choose “MP4 Video”.

This will assist you to select iMovie format as all MKV output with one click. To choose a different format for each video, click the Format button nearby the video thumbnail.

There is a button near the format you choose. Click it, and the “Advanced Settings” window pops up. You can now configure the quality, resolution, bitrate, frame rate, etc. for your output videos.

Click button on the interface to start MKV videos to iMovie conversion. When finished, click button to find your converted videos.

 

Here's a video guide:

Free Download

 

For Windows

Freemake Video Converter delivers two versions - free and paid. But I don't recommend the free version, as the Freemake logo is added in the middle of the screen and remains throughout the entire video playback. The paid version is similar to Cisdem Video Converter. It's a rich-featured MKV to iMovie converter for Windows that enables you to convert media files to a vast assortment of formats, like MP4, MOV, MP3, 3GP, etc. Plus, it makes it possible to edit videos, burn DVDs, and make photo slideshows within one program.

1. Get Freemake Video Converter installed on your Window, and launch it.
2. Drag MKV videos into the program or click the “Video” to import MKV from your PC.
3. Hit the “to MP4” button or other iMovie formats at the bottom.
4. The output parameter dialog box shows up. Select the preset to be HD 1080P, HD 720P, etc., or keep the same as the source.
5. Make MKV to iMovie format conversion on PC by clicking the “Convert” button.

Freeware for Both Mac and PC

VLC is an excellent and free media player for Mac and Windows. Actually, other than playing videos, it can be applied to transcoding video files from one video format to the other. It can convert MKV to iMovie format, TS, OGG, WebM, and more. If no desire formats in the output list, you can create a new customize profile, as well as tweak the bit rate, frame rate, resolution, etc. But it's merely convenient for advanced users. For beginners, it's a bit difficult to understand. Here are the steps for the Mac example:

1. Have VLC installed on your computer and kick it off.
2. In the status bar on the top left of the screen, click “File” > “Convert/Stream” to open the window for video transcoding.
3. Click the “Open media” button to import MKV from local drive, or drag file into the specified area.
4. You can directly choose “Video – H.264 to MP3 (MP4) as an output profile.
5. Click “Save as File” > “Browse”, in the pop-up box, name your output file and select a storage place.
6. Click “Save” to convert your MKV to M4V (it won’t be MP4), but can also be imported to iMovie).

Can Handbrake Convert MKV to iMovie?

Yes, it can!

Handbrake is also a free and open source multi-platform program that can transcode videos and ripped DVDs. It has the ability to convert videos to MP4 and MKV formats (supports two outputs in total). In other words, you can use this software to convert MKV to iMove format-MP4.

Best Online MKV to iMovie Converters

CloudConvert.com

As the name implies, CloudConvert doesn't convert files on devices but in the cloud. It claims to convert a wide variety of types of formats including video, audio, presentations, images, spreadsheet, archives, etc. Thanks to CloudConvert, you can convert MKV to iMovie video format- MP4 and MOV online, together with other formats like FLV, AVI, FLAC, AAC, etc. However, it can convert up to 25 conversions per day for free, and the size of the video file you upload can't exceed 1 GB.

1. Visit https://cloudconvert.com/mkv-to-mp4 or https://cloudconvert.com/mkv-to-mov.
2. Hit on the “Select File” button to add MKV files from your computer, Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive as you require.
3. The MP4 or MOV format has been selected by default. If needed, you can set up some output parameters like Preset, Tune, Level, Frame Per Second (fps), aspect ratio, and so on.
4. Click “Convert” to turn MKV into iMovie supported format.
5. Download the converted MKV videos.

Freeconvert.com

It's another decent MKV to iMovie converter that has the capacity to convert MKV to MP4, MOV, 3GP, iPad, PSP, Kindle, or other 8 formats (iMovie supported or unsupported formats). But it limits in 200MB for a single uploaded file and 1GB for all batch conversion files. Meanwhile, it only batches convert up to 20 MKV videos simultaneously.

1. Visit https://www.freeconvert.com/video-converter.
2. Drag MKV files to the interface or import them by clicking the “Choose Files”.
3. Select an iMovie format such as MP4 and MOV.
4. Click the “gearwheel” icon to open an “Advanced Options” window. Then, you can adjust the video/audio codec, screen size, frame rate, etc.
5. Start to convert MKV video to iMovie online via the web-based tool.
6. Once done, download your converted videos.

Conclusion

If you are having trouble trying to convert MKV to iMovie on Mac and Windows, a good converter can save you the headache. Although online tools are quick and no need to install software, they have limits on the size and numbers of the imported files and merely support few video outputs. More importantly, they are not safe enough to convert confidential MKV videos. As for the freeware- VLC, it doesn't support conversions in bulk and easy to use for novices. Hence It is undoubtedly that the dedicated MKV to iMovie converters like Cisdem Video Converter and Freemake Video Converter (subscription version) to be the best of them all due to the rich functions and wonderful performance.