what is an mkv file? how do i convert it to avi?

i’ve been googling it. i’m just getting more confused. does anyone know of a simple program that i can download to convert mkv files over to something i can get to play? preferably one for OS X, but i can make one for XP work if needed.

VLC plays MKV, for either operating system ( i think )

i got it to play audio, but no video. ideally, i’d like it to be a file type i can stream to my xbox or PS3 via connect360 or orb.

Their latest player will play mkv.

Then install the AC3 filter:
http://codecs.com/download/AC3_Filter.htm

mplayer has been the best player i’ve seen so far for MKV’s. You cannot convert it to AVI (well you could through a lot of work but that would severely degrade the quality)…

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html

VLC has not been keeping up for MKV support, not really sure why because it usually is the best player for everything.

edit: i really hope they either standardize and get players working correctly with mkv’s, or they get rid of the mkv container because right now the buggyness of them is annoying as hell…

edit: heres a direct d/l to an easy mplayer install/build: http://kovensky.project357.com/smplayer-0.6.4-kovensky.exe

i use Zoom player… part of CCCPack

get perian and quicktime can play it, doesn’t work well for some files though.

after taking about 2 seconds to enter into google I found the site for the .mkv extension (Matroska). Here shows a list of all players that can play .mkv files: http://www.matroska.org/downloads/windows.html.

VLC does play mkv I’ve used it before.