Can Plex Play MKV? How to Play MKV on Plex [Solved]

Summary: "Plex is up and running on my Roku TV, streaming content from my main PC. MKV movies play fine, but my MKV TV series doesn't even show up on the Plex app. What am I doing wrong?" Can Plex play MKV? Check out the post and learn how to play MKV on Plex without error!

Playing media files like movies and TV shows across different devices has become increasingly easier thanks to versatile media server applications like Plex. While Plex is quite capable of playing the most common video file formats out there, many new users still find it hard to play MKV on Plex. Well, can Plex play MKV files? Does Plex support MKV files? In this tutorial, we will dig into the MKV Plex playback error, and show you the easiest way to fix the Plex MKV playback failure and play MKV on Plex with ease.

Can Plex Play MKV

Does Plex support MKV? Can Plex play MKV? By and large, the answer is Yes. Plex offers native support for MKV files with the following video and audio encoding formats according to Plex.tv:

• Video encoding: H.264, hevc (H.265), mpeg4, msmpeg4v2, msmpeg4v3, vc1, vp9, wmv3
• Audio encoding: aac, ac3, alac, e-ac3,flac, mp3.

This means if your MKV file is encoded using the aforementioned video and audio codecs, Plex should be able to read and play your MKV files.

Why Your Plex not Playing MKV

When Plex fails to play your MKV files, you should consider the following causes:

• The MKV file contains other codecs that Plex can't read.
• The MKV file comes with a bitrate that is higher than Plex requests or stores the soft subtitle streams.
• The Direct Play and Direct Stream option is disabled in your Plex.
• The MKV file following the naming convention for multi-file movies ends up as a single record in your library.
• ...

Note:

• Incorrectly naming files and folders is a frequent reason why Plex is unable to read and play your mkv files. Plex relies on a specific naming scheme and folder hierarchy to accurately detect and process media files, including MKV files. Failure to adhere to these guidelines can result in Plex MKV playback issues.
• Subtitles are another major reason for the MKV transcoding and playback error in Plex. MKV containers are popular for their capacity to store video, audio, and subtitle streams. However, Plex requires subtitles to be embedded in the video for MKV playback. Even if your MKV file is Plex-compatible, transcoding may still be required, particularly on less capable hardware like ARM-based NAS devices, which may struggle when transcoding high-resolution videos. This can lead to the MKV transcoding process becoming unresponsive and ultimately causing Plex MKV playback failures.

Then how to play mkv files on plex without error? The most effective solution to avoid the Plex MKV playback error is to transcode MKV with a Plex MKV converter before adding them to Plex for seamless playback.

Convert Plex Unrecognized MKV to MP4 for Easy Playback

Programmed as a full-fledged MKV processing software for both Windows and Mac, VideoProc Converter AI offers an all-in-one solution for converting MKV to Plex highly-compatible MP4 and other formats with a 1:1 conversion ratio, and allows users to conveniently burn SRT subtitles onto MP4 files. Sided with the Full GPU acceleration, the program can expedite the MKV to Plex conversion 47x real-time faster without sacrificing the original .mkv quality output. Also included are the robust feature set to customize MKV video specifications like codec, resolution, bitrate, frame rate, etc., and the built-in AI tools to upscale, enhance, trim, and more to better meet the requirements of Plex.

Step 1. Free download VideoProc Converter AI, launch it, and load your MKV file.

Step 2. Choose the MP4 (h.264+aac) as the output format.

Click Video at the bottom and find MP4(h.264+aac) as the output format. If there is no such option, go to the Target Format at the bottom left where you can find a bunch of profiles to work with.

Step 3. (Optional) Click on the Subtitle in the Quick Toolbar to enter the Subtitle interface. Click on 'Add Subtitle' to import your *.ass, *.ssa, *.srt subtitle file you wish to embed and adjust the position.

Step 4. Hit Run to convert MKV to MP4 and stream the converted MKV files to Plex for easy playback.

How to Stream the Converted MKV to Plex

Once you have transcoded the MKV to Plex-compatible MP4 format, you can now stream the converted MKV to Plex and play the MKV file smoothly. Again, make sure you have followed the file folder naming conventions as stated by Plex, otherwise, Plex will fail to read and play your MKV file. Follow the steps below for plex direct stream mkv:

Step 1. Log in to your Plex Media Server account on the Plex website. Download the Plex client on your computer, and launch it to play MKV files.

Step 2. Create a dedicated folder or drive partition specifically for your converted MKV videos. Move the MKV files into this folder and add them to your Plex library. The Plex server will automatically detect the MKV files in the designated folder.

Step 3. Once the MKV files are added to your Plex library, you can sign in to your Plex account on any other device. This will allow you to stream and play the MKV files on Plex.