What Is an M2TS File?
If you’ve ever ripped a Blu-ray movie, you may have seen files with the M2TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream) file extension. These are Blu-ray BDAV (Blu-ray Disc Audio-Video) Video files.
How to Play an M2TS File
M2TS files can be opened with VLC, SMPlayer, 5KPlayer, Splash, Windows Media Player, and other popular media player applications. PlayMemories Home should be able to open one as well. All of those M2TS players are available for Windows, but VLC also works for playing M2TS videos on Linux and macOS. As a standard, Blu-ray players should be able to play M2TS files natively. Select gaming consoles may support M2TS files as well, without having to convert the file first.
How to Convert an M2TS File
The best way to convert an M2TS file to MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, and other formats, is with a free file converter tool. This list of Free Video Converter Programs and Online Services includes several programs that support this format. For example, to burn an M2TS file to a DVD, combine two programs: Use iWisoft Free Video Converter to save to a format like MOV, then open that file in Freemake Video Converter to burn it to a DVD. Convert Files is an online M2TS converter that converts files to MPEG, M4V, ASF, WMV, etc. Since Convert Files is a website, you must upload the video online before you can convert it, then you can download it to your computer. This process may take a while, so bigger M2TS videos are best converted using an offline converter tool.
Still Can’t Open It?
Some file extensions look like they read M2TS when they’re really a little different. Even if they’re spelled similarly, though, the formats might not be related, and that’s probably why you can’t open the file with one of the M2TS players above. For example, the M2 file extension doesn’t have anything to do with M2TS video files. M2 files are either World of Warcraft Model Object files used with the World of Warcraft game, or PC-98 Game Music files. Neither are related to M2TS files and therefore don’t open with the programs mentioned above. M2T files are very close in spelling to M2TS files and are video files, in the HDV Video file format. However, M2T files are commonly used as the HD video recording format for cameras, not Blu-rays. If your M2TS file doesn’t open with the programs from above, double-check the file extension to ensure that it says .M2TS. If it doesn’t, research the file extension you see to learn more about the format and which programs are able to open it.
