How to Play MKV Files in Chrome?

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Why Is MKV Not Playing in Chrome?

Wrap-up

We use Google Chrome almost every day to search for content we care about. But what many people don’t know is that you can also use Chrome as a media player to play videos. Just drop a video on the Chrome shortcut or a Chrome page and it will start playing automatically. Best of all, this Chrome media player allows you to cast videos on your TV so you can enjoy your favorite movies from the comfort of your couch. Additional features such as Picture-in-Picture and Loop are also available, making it an ideal media player for work.

However, if you play an MKV file in Chrome, you will find that the MKV video will not play, but will be downloaded to the local folder. Why does this happen? How to play MKV correctly in Chrome? Don't worry. Below, I will tell you the perfect solution to play MKV files in Chrome. Please read on.

Why Is MKV Not Playing in Chrome?

The reason why you cannot play MKV in Chrome is because Chrome does not support the playback of MKV format. According to the Chromium projects, Chrome browser only supports MP4, OGV and WebM video files with VP8, VP9, AV1, Theora, H.264, H.265 and MPEG-4 as video codecs and FLAC, MP3, Opus, PCM, Vorbis and AAC as audio codecs.

MKV is not on the support list. When you try to open an MKV file in Chrome, Chrome automatically downloads the file instead of playing it. The way to successfully play MKV in Chrome is to convert the MKV to a Chrome supported file type. But don't worry if you don't know how to perform this video conversion. In the next part, you will learn a simple and effective way to convert and play MKV in Chrome. Just read and follow.

How to Play MKV Files in Chrome?

Since MKV cannot be played directly in the Chrome browser, you need to convert the MKV to Chrome video format first. For this, you need a reliable video converter.

On PC, WonderFox Free HD Video Converter Factory is the leading safe and free video conversion tool that can convert between all major video and audio formats. With just a few clicks, it can convert MKV to web formats like WebM, MP4 and OGV for smooth playback in Chrome. Moreover, the converter can also convert video files to play on more devices and platforms, such as iPhone, iPad, Samsung TV, PS4, Xbox One, etc.

The conversion process is straightforward and fast. Without further ado, let me show you how to convert MKV to Chrome video format. Download and install Download and install this software to get ready:

Step 1. Add your MKV file

Launch the software on your PC and open Converter. Next, click Add Files to add your MKV file to the program. A direct drag-and-drop is also supported.

Step 2. Choose a Chrome-compatible format

Click the Output Format icon on the right to expand the output format list. Then go to the Web format section and choose a Chrome-supported format, such as MP4, WebM, and OGV.

Step 3. Start conversion

Finally, press the ▼ button to set an output folder and click Run to start the conversion. Once the video is converted, you should be able to play it in Chrome without issues.

Also read: Play MOV in Chrome

Tips. If you want to convert a folder of unsupported video files for Chrome, you can try the upgraded version of this program - WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro to batch convert videos at once.

Wrap-up

Google Chrome has limited playback capability and it cannot play MKV files without converting first. With the video converter tool introduced here, you can easily convert MKV to play in Chrome. That said, you can try MKV player software to play MKV files more efficiently.

That’s all I want to share about how to play MKV in Chrome without errors. I hope this article was helpful. Thanks for reading. Have a great day!