Novus Convert
Convert files
Video format

TS converter

A .ts file is an MPEG transport stream, the packetized format built to carry television through unreliable channels like antennas, satellites, and cable. DVR recordings, IPTV captures, and HLS streaming segments all use .ts, making it one of the most common raw broadcast formats people encounter.

Private for supported formats — processed in your browser

Convert supported files

Runs on your device

Drop TS files here

Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.

Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.

Where TS comes from

The transport stream was specified in ISO/IEC 13818-1, the MPEG-2 systems standard completed in the mid-1990s, with error resilience that program streams lacked. Apple gave the aging format a second life in 2009 when HTTP Live Streaming began chopping video into short .ts segments for delivery to iPhones.

How TS works

  • Fixed 188-byte packets with sync bytes and continuity counters allow receivers to detect and skip corrupted data
  • A single stream can multiplex many programs at once, which is how one broadcast carries a whole channel lineup
  • Video is commonly MPEG-2 or H.264, with MP2, AC-3, or AAC audio
  • PAT and PMT tables inside the stream describe which packets belong to which program
  • Segments concatenate byte-for-byte, so downloaded HLS pieces can be joined with a simple append

When to use TS

  • Saving recordings from DVRs and set-top boxes
  • Capturing IPTV or satellite feeds for later viewing
  • Reassembling downloaded HLS segments into a single file
  • Converting broadcast archives to MP4 for everyday playback

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Corruption costs a fraction of a second, not the whole file
  • Trivially concatenable without remuxing
  • Understood by every broadcast and conversion tool in existence

Limitations

  • Packet overhead runs several percent above an equivalent MP4
  • No global index, so duration detection and seeking can be slow
  • Browsers cannot play raw .ts despite consuming it inside HLS players

Compatibility

VLC, ffmpeg, and every broadcast tool read .ts natively, and smart TVs often play recordings made by their own tuners. Browsers only consume transport streams indirectly through JavaScript HLS players, so standalone .ts files need conversion for the web.

Broadcast service tables (SDT/EIT) can carry channel names and program-guide data, but there is no field for user tagging.

Convert TS to another format

Convert other formats to TS