I recently exported some footage from my Canon camera and found that it was all in MXF format, which is not playable with native video players. MXF (Material eXchange Format) is a professional video format that preserves full quality and is often used in post-production. However, it's not compatible with many software and devices, and file size is usually large. To overcome these limitations for consumers like me, converting MXF to MP4, a popular and versatile format, is a convenient solution.
In this guide, you will learn several tested ways to convert MXF to MP4 on PC and Mac, fast with high quality, ensuring easier playback or editing of your videos on any device or platform.
While we can opt for an online converter site to change MXF to MP4 conveniently, but for large MXF files, it's best to use a professional video converter software that has no upload limit.
Cisdem Video Converter is a powerful video converter program that offers comprehensive features for converting MXF to MP4. It lets you convert MXF videos to MP4 (H.264, H.265, AV1), MOV, ProRes, DNx or any other desired format smoothly. If necessary, it also allows you to trim the MXF file, configure video and audio settings before conversion.
1. Download and install Cisdem Video Converter on your computer.
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
2. Open the program, and stay in the first window for converting.
3. To import the MXF video, you have two options:
4. Click the Format icon to open the format selection pop-up menu, and choose MP4 in the "Video" tab.
To configure the MP4 video and audio, click the Settings button to bring up a pop-up window, where you can adjust the video & audio codecs, resolution, frame rate, quality, etc. Then click "Save".
Tips: H.264 (AVC) is recommended for better compatibility. To keep max quality, you can select "Best" from the Quality menu.
5. (Optional) You can right-click on the video and select Edit, and do any of the following: trim, crop, rotate, add watermark, hardcode subtitles, apply visual effects, create chapters and adjust volume.
6. Click the Start button at the lower left corner to begin converting added MXF files to MP4.
7. When the converting is complete, you can click the Check icon to quickly locate the converted files in folder and verify it.
Note: The Mac version of Cisdem does not support MXF conversion yet (which should be fixed in the near future), Mac users can use cross-platform tools such as Shutter Encoder and HandBrake mentioned below.
Shutter Encoder is a simple video converter software based on FFmpeg, available for both Mac and Windows OS. It can convert MXF files to MP4 one by one and supports a wide range of output codecs. Designed by video editors, this converter allows you to cut the video, and display MXF video's internal timecode and filename on the video if necessary. The software is free to use, you can donate to help support the developer.
The user interface may look cumbersome for beginners, follow steps below to transcode MXF to MP4 with this free encoder:
Pro tips:
HandBrake is another free MXF to MP4 converter available for both Mac and Windows OS. It supports MP4 output with various codecs, and allows users to change video resolution and import subtitles. However, this open-source program can only convert one video at a time, and it doesn't offer video editing tools to modify the source footage.
How to convert MXF to MP4 using HandBrake on Windows and Mac:
Tip: If you are converting MXF to MP4 for editing purposes, consider choosing a preset for Production. After importing the MXF file, click the Preset pop-up menu, and select a Production preset, such as "Production Standard". This will encode MXF to higher bitrate MP4 as an intermediate format, but will also create a very large file.
FFmpeg is a cross-platform command-line tool able to mux, transcode, encode pretty much any video and audio format. It's highly flexible, but you need to type the command in terminal yourself, and it's not easy to master if you're new to command line interface.
Steps to re-encode MXF to MP4 with FFmpeg:
1. Install FFmpeg. Download the latest version suitable for your operating system, and extract the download files to a folder that's easy to locate.
2. Open Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal (Mac).
3. Use “cd” command to navigate to the folder where you extracted FFmpeg, for example, "cd Downloads”.
4. To convert MXF to MP4, type the basic structure as follows: ffmpeg -i input.mxf output.mp4.
5. Press Enter to run the command.
6. After the conversion is complete, you can find the converted MP4 file in the same location of FFmpeg.
Using free online MXF to MP4 converters is the least recommended method here due to upload limits and security concerns. If you have rather small MXF files and don't want to install any software, try the following sites.
Upload limit: up to 1 GB
Upload limit: up to 500 MB for free, or up to 4GB with a premium subscription.
For those who are interested in exploring more about MXF to MP4 conversion, here are some frequently asked questions and answers.
The Material Exchange Format (MXF) is an industry-standard container format defined by SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers). Designed to be a universal format for exchange and post-production, it can contain various types of audiovisual content and rich metadata.
This comparison table illustrates the differences between the two formats and why you may want to convert.
MXF | MP4 | |
---|---|---|
Type of format | Container | Container |
File extension | .mxf | .mp4 |
Common video codecs | ProRes, DNxHD, H.264, MPEG-2, uncompressed RAW video and more | H.264, H.265 and AV1 (lower complexity) |
How to open |
Third-party programs like VLC and Cisdem video player |
Native programs like WMP and QuickTime |
How to edit |
Newer professional video editor like Adobe PR 6.0 and above, FCP, VSDC |
Almost any editors including Windows Photos and iMovie. |
Popularity |
Mainly used in professional video production projects |
Most popular file format for video sharing due to efficient compression and compatibility with all devices and platforms |
You can try if VLC can play the MXF file properly. VLC media player is a multifunctional playback program, able to play and convert some MXF videos with supported codecs. The converting speed can be slower than other tools.
If you need, here are the steps:
The MXF format can contain a wide variety of video and audio compression schemes (codecs) with different standards. Converting it to MP4 is relatively straightforward using the default settings of the above converters. To handle large MXF footage files, a professional video conversion software like Cisdem proves to be the best solution, supporting efficient batch conversion and faster MP4 GPU encoding, with useful custom options and a simple interface. After conversion, you can also keep a backup of the original MXF files in case you need them for professional purposes.
Emily is a girl who loves to review various multimedia software. She enjoys exploring cutting edge technology and writing how-to guides. Hopefully her articles will help you solve your audio, video, DVD and Blu-ray issues.