How to Convert TIVO to MP4 for Free?

A file with .tivo extension usually refers to the media recording by TiVo, a DVR (digital video recorder) device used to record shows and movies on TV for replay. In essence, TiVo recordings are MPEG2 (MPG) or H264 (TS) videos. But they are wrapped in the encrypted TIVO container and can only be opened within the TV box. If you want to play TiVo files on computers, phones, or tablets, you must first remove the encryption and then convert TIVO files to MP4 or other common formats to reach universal compatibility with devices.

The next part gives a well-tested method to decrypt the TiVo files and convert TIVO to MP4 as well as other formats in detail.

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There’s no official software that can help you decrypt TIVO recordings and convert .tivo to .mp4 currently. Luckily, the third-party KMTTG offers a way out.

KMTTG is a Java-based program written to facilitate TivoToFo (TGG) transfers. You can regard it as a free TIVO file converter. It can help you download, decrypt, and convert TIVO files to MP4 in one step. Follow the instructions below and learn how to convert TIVO files to MP4 free with this TIVO converter.

Step 1. Download and Install KMTTG

Unlike other regular software, KMTTG needs Java pre-installed on your system before its installation. Download and install Java from https://www.java.com/en/. Next, download and extract the KMTTG.zip file from https://sourceforge.net/projects/kmttg/. Then, move the extracted KMTTG folder to your C drive and rename it as KMTTG. Now the full KMTTG setup is complete.

Tips: In the KMTTG folder, you can create different output directories for your later output files in case that they get overwritten, or you can do it when you configure KMTTG in the next step.

Step 2. Configure KMTTG

Open the KMTTG folder and run the kmttg.jar file. It will open a dialog that requests you to download the required tools. Select OK. Then enter your 10-digit Media Access Key (MAK). You can find your MAK under Tivo Central > Messages & Settings > Account & System Information > Media Access Key. Next, go to File > Configuration and change the settings to your preference. If you don’t understand what these buttons and options mean, you can refer to https://sourceforge.net/p/kmttg/wiki/Home/ for more specific details. Now the configuration is done.

Tips: If you want to make KMTTG download and convert TiVo files automatically, you can go to Auto Transfers and configure the settings from there.

Step 3. Download, Decrypt and Encode TiVo Files

Go back to the main interface and tick off TS downloads, decrypt, QS Fix, and encode. (You can also select other options if you think are needed.) Next, select the ff_qsv_h264 encoding profile (Several other options also offer MP4 output. You can check them all out). Next, click your DVR and hit Refresh. Your shows will display at below. Select the shows you want to convert. Finally, hit START JOBS and let the TIVO file converter take care of the rest.

Tips: KMTTG can also open the TiVo files already on your PC and process them.

Using KMTTG to convert TIVO files to MP4 is the method approved by many TiVo users. Yet, some also report that using KMTTG for MP4 transcoding takes too long. For such a case, you can first decrypt the TiVo files to MPG or TS in KMTTG and then use another video converter, such as Free HD Video Converter Factory, to convert the decrypted videos to MP4 or other popular video formats you want.

That’s all for how to convert TIVO to MP4 for free. Hope you’ll find this article helpful. Thanks for reading.