7 Methods to Convert MXF to MP4, Large Files Included

Shooting videos with professional portable cameras such as Panasonic HVX200, Canon XF300/XF305, Sony XDCAM, etc. can result in a high definition and large size MXF file. 

MXF is one of those rarely used formats. It is primarily used in the broadcast industry, not ideal for editing, playing and sharing. So, Many people are searching for ways to convert MXF to MP4.

Converting your MXF to MP4 makes the video more accessible, editable, and shareable. But how to do so without paying? how to convert MXF to MP4 without quality loss? And how to convert large MXF to MP4?

In this article, we'd like to explain what MXF format is, how it is different from MP4, and 7 of the best MXF converters you can rely on to convert MXF to MP4 on Windows, Mac, and mobie devices.

 

How to Convert MXF to MP4 with iFunia Video Converter

OS: Windows 7/8/10/11, MacOS 10.11 or higher

Website: https://www.ifunia.com/video-converter.html

Best for convert large MXF to MP4 without quality loss

After testing dozens of MXF video converters in the market, we realize that iFunia Video Converter is the best MXF converter for both PC and Mac. It will help you convert multiple MXF file at a time and support large MXF files which online video converter failed to load. 

It supports 600+ formats, popular or rare, HD videos like 1080p HD, 4K UHD, 8K video are also supported. With full hardware acceleration technology, it can process even large MXF files at very fast speed. 

Apart from conversion, it has a build in video editor for you to trim, crop, and rotate your videos, add effects, subtitles and watermark.

Convert MXF files to MP4 files in 3 Steps:

To begin with, free download iFunia Video Converter on computer. Windows version is fully compatible with Windows 7 or later, while Mac edition works well with OS X El Capitan or later. Afterwards, install and launch it.

Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7 Free Download macOS 10.11 or later

Step 1. Load MXF files: Launch iFunia Video Converter on your computer. Click "Add Video" button to import the MXF files to the Convert interface. Dragging and dropping works too. 

(Note: batch conversion is supported, If you need to convert multiple MXF files, you can add several MXF videos to the program to convert at a time, and you can adjust the order of these added files by dragging)

Step 2. Select MP4 as the output format. Next, click the video icon and determine which file format you would like for the converted video. 

Depending on different usage, you can use the presets based on your device. They are pre-configured for various situations using the most suitable parameters. The search function allows you to find the target format or mobile device quickly.

• For general usage, Just set MP4 H264 as the target format.
• Besides MP4, you can also choose Apple ProRes codec for editing MXF files in Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, iMovie, etc.

Step 3. Once you’re ready to start the conversion, simply click Convert to begin converting files from MXF to MP4. You can easily find converted files quickly by hitting the Succeed icon.

Pro Tips
① Build in player and photo capture
With the built-in player, this MXF Converter helps you preview the source MXF video and you can take pictures of your favorite scene.

② Edit the MXF file by clicking the pencil icon

• Crop to remove the unwanted edges
• Trim video into clips
• Merge some video clips into one
• Add text/image watermark and subtitle
• Adjust video effects to get perfect visual effect
• For MXF videos which recorded as interlaced videos, you can enable deinterlacing to eliminate horizontal lines.
• Adjust the audio volume.
• You can preview the raw MXF and output MP4 videos simultaneously here.

③ Adjust video settings
For targeted video and audio quality, you can manually change the format settings. Just click the settings icon next to MP4 format. There are multiple profiles for you to set like Video Encoder, Frame Rate, Video Quality, Resolution, and Audio Encoder, Sample Rate, Channels, etc.

 

How to Convert MXF to MP4 for Free

If you're looking for an MXF to MP4 converter as freeware, these are some of the best solutions out there and guide on how to use each one.

• VLC
• HandBrake

1. Convert MXF to MP4 with VLC (Free)

OS: all Windows versions, macOS 10.7.5 and higher, Ubuntu 16.04. and 18.04

Website: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

A good choice to free convert MXF to MP4 for those who already installed VLC. 

VLC is an open-source media player which is available for free on all major platforms. Aside from media playback, You can also use it as a video transcoder to convert between popular video and audio formats, like MXF to MP4.

VLC doesn't support batch processing. So you have to convert one MXF videos to MP4 at a time and it also lacks video editing options. But it does allow users to customize settings like bitrate, frame rate, and other encoding properties. 

Check out the following steps to convert MXF to MP4 with VLC:

• Open VLC, then go menu > Media > Convert/Save... 
  
• Click the "+ Add" button to add MXF file. In the bottom right corner, select Convert/Save from the dropdown menu.
  
• In Profile, choose Video - H.264 + MP3 (MP4)
  
• Click "Browse" to set the destination where you want to save the converted video. 
• Click Start to convert MXF file to MP4.

 

2. Free Convert MXF to MP4 with HandBrake 

OS: Windows 10 and higher, macOS 10.13. or higher, Linux

Website: https://handbrake.fr/

Free Convert MXF to MP4 in high quality but slow speed. 

Handbrake is a famous free video conversion and DVD ripping software. It is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. 

This app have presets for popular devices, and during conversion, you can customize and adjust the video size, resolution, bitrate, etc.

While other conversion software tends to degrade the image quality due to compression, HandBrake comes with high-performance codecs to minimize image quality degradation.

In our test, HandBrake can convert MXF to MP4 in high quality, but it also takes a very long time, If you choose to convert with fast speed, it will produce various errors such as distorted audio and no subtitles. 

To convert MXF to MP4 with HandBrake, follow these steps:

• Open HandBrake and Click "Open Source" to add MXF file.
  
• Under the “Summary” tab, Choose “MP4 File” as output format from the format drop down list.
  
• Click "Browse" to choose the location where your converted file will be saved. 
• Click the Start Encode at the top to begin converting MXF file to MP4.
   

Convert MXF to MP4 Free with Adobe Media Encoder

OS: Windows & Mac

Website: https://www.adobe.com/in/products/media-encoder.html

This comes in handy for users used to Adobe software. 

Adobe Media Encoder is well-known video converter developed by Adobe. It comes with the Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium, Web Premium, and Production Premium.

Adobe Media Encoder supports most of the popular media formats including MXF. It has presets for popular devices like iPad, Android Phone, iPhone, etc. and you can adjust video and audio codec of each preset. 

In our test, it can convert MXF to MP4 in fast speed and without quality loss. But it seems lack support for some MXF files and will give errors when importing certain files. 

• In Adobe Media Encoder click "+" at the top left corner, to import the MXF file.
  
• Right click on the input file and choose Export Settings option. Just select MPEG-4 or H264 for MP4 video.
  
• Then press the green play button to convert MXF to MP4.
  

 

How to Convert MXF to MP4 Online for Mac, Windows, and iOS

Many online video converter website also allow you to upload MXF file and convert it to MP4. These cloud-based programs usually involve a subscription but often support you to convert 1-3 videos for free so that you can test the service. Here are 2 of the best online services for converting MXF to MP4:

CloudConvert: CloudConvert supports converting 200+ audio, video, image, and document format. You can add videos from Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive, or import a URL. Compared to other MXF-to-MP4 converters it supports a much large amount of uploading size - 1GB for free accounts; 25 conversions per day. It is also one of the few online video converter that supports changing file parameters like codec, aspect ratio, resolution, etc.

Convertio: Convertio supports 300+ types of files for converting, users can directly add files from Dropbox and Google Drive. It provide settings for changing codec, quality, frame size, and also support cut part of video. For free accounts, convertio allows for a maximum of 100MB file size and allows only 2 concurrent conversions. To convert more files and large size video, you have to pay a monthly fee for the Light($9.99), Basic($14.99), or Unlimited version($25.99).

Converting with online tool is simple. Here, let's take CloudConvert as an example.

• Visit https://cloudconvert.com/ and click "Select File" to import your MXF file.
  
• Choose MP4 as the output format.
  
• Click "Convert" and download the MP4 version a few minutes later.

Pros:

• Free to use
• No software download or installation needed
• Support for popular video formats

Cons:

• Must be connected to the Internet to use it
• All have restriction on file size, which is far from enough for converting large MXF video
• Have limit on number of files to be converted at a time or per day
• Don’t support video editing
• Slow conversion speed

 

Losslessly Convert MXF to MP4 with FFMPEG

OS: Linux, Windows, Mac
Website: https://ffmpeg.org/

When we talk about MP4, MOV, MXF, etc., we are referring these formats as containers that package video, audio, subtitles, and metadata into a single file. 

Most MXF files are encoded as AVC or H.264, which is essentially MP4. It means we could repack the file to just different container format, without actually converting or re-encoding it. This should be very fast and wouldn't cause any quality loss.

As an open-source libraries for video conversion. FFmpeg empowers you to remux MXF files into MP4, MKV, and MOV. However, unlike video converters that comes with interface, FFmpeg is a command tool, you need to input a correct command line to get desired result.

In our test, FFmpeg's conversion speed depends on the settings and optimizations used. When converting a 3 minute 4K MXF video to H.264, FFmpeg took around 5 minutes.

• Install FFmpeg to your computer.
• Open command prompt or terminal.
• Run the command.

Convert individual MXF files to MP4
Suppose your source media is test.mxf, there you need to enter 
ffmpeg -i test.mxf -vcodec libx264 output.mp4

Convert a folder of MXF files to MP4
ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i mylist.txt -c:v libx264 -vf yadif output.mp4 

The given commands are just our recommendation which produce high-quality output. You can try some other commands too, just visit FFmpeg Encoding Guide to get more information.

 

Extended Knowledge of MXF to MP4 Conversion

What is MXF

MXF is an abbreviation for Material Exchange Format, a professional audio and video media file format defined by SMPTE (American Society of Film and Television Engineers) organization. It is a video format generally produced by professional camcorders, such as Sony XDCAM, Panasonic DVCPRO, Canon Cinema EOS, XC10, XF-705,  etc.

Just like MKV, MP4, MXF is a container format that can store video, audio, and metadata. This video file format supports full-time code and metadata, which allows professional use of the video contents. The typical usage of the MXF file is for delivering advertisements to TV stations and tapeless archiving of broadcast TV programs.

What Program Opens MXF Files?

As MXF is intended for professional use, it's not as friendly as MP4 or MOV, most regular players like Windows media player and QuickTime don’t support playing MXF files. If you want to playback the MXF file, you can use the VLC media player or iFunia Media Player to open it. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of the MXF File Format

Advantages:
High Flexibility: Supports multiple codec formats, suitable for complex production workflows.
Metadata Support: Carry rich metadata information, facilitating media management and retrieval.

Disadvantages:
Complex Structure: The MXF file structure is relatively complex, requiring specialized software and hardware support.
Large File Size: The file size is relatively large, making it less suitable for network transmission and storage.

What Program Can Edit MXF File?

• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Final Cut Pro
• Avid Media Composer
• Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve

Is MXF better than MP4?

Relatively speaking, MP4 is video format that is supported by almost all video players. While, MXF is a more professional video format which commonly used in the field of TV or broadcasting.

 

Which is the Best Method to Convert MXF to MP4?

Which method you should follow depends on the MXF file and your task. If your MXF is short and have no private content all the MXF to MP4 converters will work wonderfully. 

If you have large size MXF file or you need a high quality MP4. Try:
VLC or Handbrake - Free convert large size MXF to MP4 in high quality but slow speed.
Adobe Media Encoder - Have Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium and used to Adobe software.
FFMPEG - Change MXF to MP4 without re-encoding.
iFunia Video Converter - Convert large size MXF to MP4 in high quality and fast speed.

If you have any queries, feel free to reach out to us! Our expert team will help you convert any MXF to MP4 in fast speed with no quality loss.

Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7 Free Download macOS 10.11 or later