MKA file (Matroska Audio)
Matroska audio. The audio-only sibling of MKV.
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Convert MKA to MP3, free and without uploading it.
What is an MKA file?
In short: An MKA file (.mka) is an audio file in the MKA format. MKA is an MKV with no video track: a container that will hold any audio codec, any number of tracks, with chapters and attachments. It can be converted to MP3, WAV or FLAC for free in a web browser with iHateFiles, without uploading it.
The audio-only form of Matroska, from the same 2002 project.
MKA is an MKV with no video track: a container that will hold any audio codec, any number of tracks, with chapters and attachments. It is used for audiobooks with chapter marks and for albums kept as a single file with cue points.
What MKA is good at
- Any codec, any number of tracks
- Real chapter support, which suits audiobooks
- Open and unencumbered
Where MKA falls short
- Very little player support
- No browser support
- The contents are unpredictable from the extension alone
When to use MKA
Convert MKA to M4A or MP3 to play it anywhere ordinary.
How to open an MKA file
VLC, MPV and Foobar2000.
| Windows | VLC or foobar2000. It is a Matroska container holding only audio. |
|---|---|
| macOS | VLC. |
| Linux | VLC or mpv. |
| Phone | VLC. |
| In a browser | No browser plays MKA, even when the audio inside is a codec the browser knows. |
The thing that usually goes wrong
An MKA can hold anything, so what you get from converting depends on the codec that was inside it.
Inside a MKA file
MKA is the Matroska container carrying audio and nothing else. It is the same file structure as MKV — the same EBML element tree, the same chapter and attachment support — with the video track simply absent. That is why a player which handles MKV will nearly always handle MKA, and why one that has never heard of Matroska cannot open either.
The reason people meet it is almost always a rip. Tools that extract the soundtrack from a Blu-ray or a concert DVD default to MKA because it can hold multi-channel DTS or TrueHD losslessly alongside chapters, which MP3 and M4A cannot. The file then refuses to open on a phone, and the search that brings people here begins.
What matters when converting is that MKA is a container, not a codec. The audio inside might be FLAC, might be AC-3, might be Opus. Converting to MP3 always works but always re-encodes; if the contents are already FLAC, extracting them without re-encoding preserves the original exactly.
| Container | Matroska (EBML) |
|---|---|
| Magic bytes | 1A 45 DF A3 |
| Codecs it can hold | Any — FLAC, AC-3, DTS, Opus, Vorbis, AAC, MP3, PCM |
| Channels | No fixed limit; 5.1 and 7.1 are routine |
| Chapters | Yes, with names and multiple languages |
| Attachments | Yes — cover art and cue sheets are commonly embedded |
Not sure the file really is an MKA? Identify it by its contents, whatever its extension says.
Questions
What is an MKA file?
MKA stands for Matroska Audio. Matroska audio. The audio-only sibling of MKV. Files use the .mka extension.
What does MKA stand for?
MKA stands for Matroska Audio.
Is MKA a video or an audio format?
Audio only. MKA is the Matroska container holding audio and nothing else; with video it would be an MKV.
How do I open an MKA file?
On Windows: VLC or foobar2000. It is a Matroska container holding only audio. On a Mac: VLC. On a phone: VLC. Or convert an MKA here to a format that opens everywhere, free and without uploading it.
Can I convert MKA for free?
Yes. Every conversion here is free and unlimited, because your own device does the work rather than a server we have to pay for.
Is MKA lossless?
It depends on what is inside. MKA is a container, and it can hold either a lossless codec or a lossy one; the extension alone does not say which.