QT to MPEG Converter

What happens when you convert QT to MPEG

• The video is re-encoded to MPEG-2 video with MP2 audio.
• Re-encoding in a browser is slow: expect several times the video's length for HD footage on a laptop, and longer on a phone. Short and low-resolution clips finish much sooner.

How to convert QT to MPEG online

1. Press "Choose QT files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. You can add files of any size your device can hold in memory.
2. Adjust the settings if you need to: resolution and quality control the size of the result. The defaults suit most people.
3. Press "Convert to MPEG". The first audio or video conversion downloads the converter engine, about 32 MB, which your browser then keeps for next time.
4. Save each MPEG with its download button. Close the tab and every trace of the files is gone from memory.

Why convert QT to MPEG?

QT files usually come from QuickTime movies from older Macs, CD-ROMs and early web video. People convert them to MPEG because MPEG-2 is what DVD authoring tools and many broadcast systems accept.

In short, QT is good at what it was made for, and MPEG is the more practical choice when the file has to play, upload or edit somewhere else. QT plays in Safari when the video inside is H.264; other browsers usually download it, while MPEG does not play in most browsers; plays in VLC and desktop players.

How to convert QT to MPEG on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android

On Windows

Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your QT files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each MPEG is saved to your Downloads folder. If you prefer a desktop program, VLC can also convert QT to MPEG: choose Media, then Convert / Save.

On a Mac

Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the QT files from Finder onto the drop zone and the MPEG files land in Downloads.

On iPhone and iPad

Open the page in Safari and tap Choose QT files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted MPEG appears in Files, in the Downloads folder; to put it in your photo library, open it there, tap Share and choose Save Video.

On Android

Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose QT files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The MPEG is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it. Keep the screen on while a long video converts, because Android may pause a tab in the background.

Best settings for QT to MPEG

MPEG is written as MPEG-2 video with MP2 audio. The Resolution setting is the one to reach for: 1080p keeps full HD detail, 720p is plenty for phones and laptops and roughly halves the size, and 480p suits email and old devices.

The quality levels map to the H.264 CRF scale where the target uses H.264, and to fixed high-quality settings for older codecs such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, WMV and Theora. Re-encoding always costs a little detail, so convert from the best copy of the QT you have.

QT vs MPEG: the differences

About QT and MPEG files

What is a QT file?

QT is the original extension of QuickTime movies, from the days when Mac files had no extensions and Windows needed one. A QT file is the same container as a MOV, so renaming it to .mov is often all a program needs.

What is an MPEG file?

MPEG-2 is the video format of DVDs and broadcast TV. It needs roughly twice the bitrate of H.264 for the same picture, so converting to MP4 usually shrinks the file a lot.

QT to MPEG not working? Common problems

• The conversion is slow. Audio and container changes take seconds, but re-encoding video runs on your own processor. Lower the resolution to 720p, close other tabs, and keep the device plugged in.
• The tab stops or reloads on a very large file. Browsers limit how much memory one tab can use, around 2 GB and less on phones. Split long recordings or convert them on a computer.
• The MPEG will not play on an old device. Try the other formats offered for QT, or choose 720p, which older players handle more reliably.

Convert QT to MPEG with ffmpeg

This converter runs ffmpeg inside your browser. If you would rather use the ffmpeg command line on your own computer, this command produces an equivalent MPEG with the same kind of settings:

ffmpeg -i input.qt -c:v mpeg2video -q:v 3 -c:a mp2 -b:a 192k -f mpeg output.mpeg

Replace input.qt with the name of your file. For a whole folder of QT files, run the command in a loop, or drop them all on the converter above, which processes them one after another.