fixMKV v2 *updated* - MKV Header Compression fix

[Devilman1]

Using MKVToolnix would not lose any TAG added to the different stream? like for example language or comment etc.?

[RedDwarf1]

It could be useful but it doesn't seem to recognise header compression correctly. It only recognises header stripping and not lzo (lzo1x) or zlib. Surely they are also compressed headers, although they do seem to make the file larger than having header compression disabled.

I don't know whether those types cause any problems with standalone media players. Has anyone tested by re-muxing an MKV?

[Mosu]

zlib compression has been in use since 2002. Practically since VobSubs have been supported in Matroska. If a player doesn't support zlib compression... oh well.

Also a note about the terms you're using. In Matroska a compression algorithm can apply to a) the track headers only (meaning the CodecPrivate element), b) to each and every block (each frame) or c) to both of them. zlib is usually used for VobSub subtitles and other subtitles that are actually not really compressed. In such cases zlib compression is used on c) both the track headers and each frame. Implying that zlib and lzo are "header compression" algorithms is therefore misleading.

Compressing highly compressed content, e.g. h264 video tracks, with zlib will of course increase file size, or at best not decrease it. That's normal, hence zlib compression is usually only used for subtitles.

[Xad]

Originally Posted by b66pak

a .bat like this will remove header compression for audio and video (tested with a file generated with mkvmerge v4.2.0 default settings for compression):

for %%a in ("*.mkv") do mkWDclean --optimize %%a

_

Sorry to bump this thread. I'm using Windows XP and i tried using this code with mkWDclean but it doesn't work; it seems the spaces in a filename are causing issues? If i enter the pause command i can see that it says for example:
Unknown parameter Spider
Unknown parameter Man

However, if i enter one block name, for example spiderman, then it works fine. What do i need to add to that quote for it to work? I've tried placing quotation marks around different places but no luck.


7ekno, i also tried using fixMKV2 and i keep getting an error telling me remux has failed. I have MKVtoolnix unzipped on C drive (C:\mkvtoolnix\), have the 2 media info files, entered the location manually and removed REM, but still keep getting that error: "Header Compression Found, processing" and then: "REMUX FAILED somehow". I tried drag and drop but still the same error.

[sneaker_ger]

You need to put quotes around the "%%a" variable. The current mkvmerge versions have reverted to header removal compression off by default, btw, so you could just use the newest mkvmerge:

for %%a in (*.mkv) do mkvmerge -o "%%~na_processed.mkv" "%%a"

If you have one of those problematic players:

for %%a in (*.mkv) do mkvmerge --clusters-in-meta-seek --engage no_cue_duration --engage no_cue_relative_position -o "%%~na_processed.mkv" "%%a"

(https://trac.bunkus.org/wiki/FAQ%3AI...ityWithPlayers)

[SeeMoreDigital]

It may be worth noting...

The new versions of MKVmerge don't add header compression 'by default' any more...

[Xad]

Thanks sneaker_ger, that works perfectly. Wanted it for some random old video files that i never fixed, but good to hear it's not default any more. Thanks again.

[doomer9er]

Bumping an old thread.

anyone care to make a fixmkvV3 that works today for the latest mkvtoolnix gui? Newbie here. Thanks.

[Liisachan]

Originally Posted by doomer9er

Bumping an old thread.

anyone care to make a fixmkvV3 that works today for the latest mkvtoolnix gui? Newbie here. Thanks.

mkclean 0.8.10 (August 2017) does support the current matroska (v4) with several options (perhaps including what you want to do):
mkclean --doctype 6 input.mkv output.mkv

Note, --doctype 6 means v4, which is not well documented and confusing. You could convert a matroska v4 file to an old file like matroska v2, if that is what you want to do, with --doctype 2.

A win64 binary of mkclean is officially available from the download page. If you need Win32 binary, maybe you can try 0.8.9 instead (it's in ZIP).

If you want to make a Win32 build by yourself, then:

1. Download mkclean-0.8.10.tar.bz2.
2. Compile mkclean-0.8.10\corec\tools\coremake\coremake.c and get coremake.exe. You may have to compile it as C++ (not as C). You may have to tweak lines 1068, 1137 for const correctness, and in line 4941, you may have to change the last "0" to "(build_step)0".
3. Make your project files using this coremake.exe (see readme).
4. Compile mkclean.exe using the project files.

[doomer9er]

Originally Posted by Liisachan

mkclean 0.8.10 (August 2017) does support the current matroska (v4) with several options (perhaps including what you want to do):
mkclean --doctype 6 input.mkv output.mkv

Note, --doctype 6 means v4, which is not well documented and confusing. You could convert a matroska v4 file to an old file like matroska v2, if that is what you want to do, with --doctype 2.

A win64 binary of mkclean is officially available from the download page. If you need Win32 binary, maybe you can try 0.8.9 instead (it's in ZIP).

If you want to make a Win32 build by yourself, then:

1. Download mkclean-0.8.10.tar.bz2.
2. Compile mkclean-0.8.10\corec\tools\coremake\coremake.c and get coremake.exe. You may have to compile it as C++ (not as C). You may have to tweak lines 1068, 1137 for const correctness, and in line 4941, you may have to change the last "0" to "(build_step)0".
3. Make your project files using this coremake.exe (see readme).
4. Compile mkclean.exe using the project files.

Thanks for replying, Lisa.

Not sure I understood some of that, but I'm too much of a newbie to compile anything, plus the mkclean seems to have a warning flag about it being possible malware.

[Liisachan]

Originally Posted by doomer9er

Thanks for replying, Lisa.

Not sure I understood some of that, but I'm too much of a newbie to compile anything, plus the mkclean seems to have a warning flag about it being possible malware.

I'm not sure either if I understand you - what exactly you want to do, so my comments might be irrelevant.

If you want to just remove the track compression, I think mkvtoolnixGUI itself can do that (Compression: no compression in the pull-down list). Or in mkvmerge --compression 3:none (if the track id is 3).

Mkclean binary for Win64 is already there, so you don't need to compile anything yourself. Just download EXE from sf and you can use it. It's on SF, so it's unlikely that it's malware.