Best M2TS Player - How to Play M2TS Blu-ray/AVCHD Videos

Table of Contents

• Part 1. What is M2TS File?
• Part 2. Why is M2TS not Playing?
• Part 3. Best M2TS Player for Mac/Windows
• Part 4. Play M2TS on iPhone iPad

Part 1. What is M2TS File?

The .m2ts is a filename extension used for the BDAV MPEG-2 Transport Stream container file format. It is used for multiplexing audio, video and other streams. It is based on the MPEG-2 transport stream container. This container format is commonly used for high definition video on Blu-ray Disc and AVCHD.

A Blu-ray disc usually can store up to 50GB movie. The reason of Blu-ray becomes the best high-definition video storage media can be briefly concluded as up to 1080p, multi-view video coding, 3D technology and high compression ratio. In BDAV folder, the M2TS files are named in the form "*.m2ts", where "*" is a 5-digit number corresponding to the audiovisual clip. This number is also used in the filename of an associated clip information file "*.clip".

As AVCHD, it is a brand new high definition digital video camcorder output file format, which uses 720p, 1080i and 1080p video image, and compresses it into highly efficient codec technology .mts file on the camcorder flash card. After exporting from camcorder, the .mts extension name becomes .m2ts, and you can edit or play m2ts on your M2TS player.

Note: Almost all commercially produced Blu-ray Disc titles use copy protection method to encrypt and rip content of Bluray disc (including M2TS files). Software that supports M2TS files usually works only with decrypted or unencrypted files. Blu-ray Disc software players can usually play back encrypted content from original disc.

Part 2. Why You May Have Trouble With Palying M2TS Files?

Due to Blu-ray protection technologies, for example BD+, it's impossible to copy m2ts file from Blu-ray disc to hard drive or to play any m2ts files directly. Therefore, a M2TS player supporting encrypted Blu-ray is in demand for playback Blu-ray M2TS videos.

As for AVCHD, the viewers usually do not have well-packed AVCHD m2ts playback software's support in that it costs too much CPU time to decode AVCHD video and its interlacing video playback also eats tons of calculating source. Regardless of very few AVCHD camcorder which allows to play raw M2TS file on computer for built-in playback software, it is a better choice to get a reliable free M2TS player for almost HD camcorder users.

Currently, Picture Motion Browser, which is an application M2TS player provided with Sony AVCHD camcorders, is made for playback M2TS file type. And this software is used to be combined on Sony hardware. So if you get an Sony AVCHD camcorders and its Picture Motion Browser, there is no more need to read this. M2TS files can also be played on Sony PlayStation Sony Bravia TV, Panasonic Viera TV, Western Digital WDTV, and Xtreamer media player supporting playback of AVCHD M2TS. Apple's Final Cut Pro can read .MTS files (as stored in Sony HDR camcorders) by using the AVCHD plugin in the Log and Transfer window.

Although there are some media players support playback M2TS natively, like SMPlayer, KMPlayer, VLC, they are still depending on what compression formats are used on M2TS file. Besides, The file type .m2ts is not always automatically associated with the player, so it may be necessary to install appropriate M2TS codec, component or plugin.

In other word, no matter how many M2TS player activated on your computer, you still cannot guarantee to play all M2TS videos. The only outstanding M2TS Player is called 5KPlayer so far. Engineered with more than 400 video codec, this M2TS player supports both Blu-ray M2TS and AVCHD M2TS videos.

Part 3. Truly Free and Top-notch M2TS Player - 5KPlayer to Free Play M2TS Files on PC/Mac

5KPlayer - Free play M2TS files, as well as MTS, AVCHD, MKV, MOD etc. HD videos, DVD disc videos, game videos, YouTube videos on your Windows PC and Mac smoothly and clearly! No need to install any codec packs, plug-ins or components. It can play M2TS video files directly.

As for M2TS video with 1080i signal, the picture you see from computer is not as clear as 1080p. But thanks to 5KPlayer's Advanced De-interlacing Engine (transfer and interpret 1080i M2TS video from interlacing to progressive scanning), you are ensured with significantly more clear and sharper images and enhanced visual quality.

Moreover, it's not only a M2TS players, but versatile HD video player enabling to play HD videos like MKV, H264 and popular video formats like MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, MPEG, etc.

Other Useful Functions of the Free M2TS Player - 5KPlayer

Apart from playing M2TS video files from Blu-ray and HD camcorder AVCHD videos, 5KPlayer is also available to play other popular/obscure SD/HD video file formats, such as, MKV, TS, MOD, TOD, MP4, AVI, WMV, M4V, H.264, MOV, etc. But if you think 5KPlayer is just a free video player for PC or Mac, you're wrong. Check below to see what else functions provided by 5KPlayer.

• Support 1080p, 2K, 4K, 5K and 8K video resolution perfectly.
• Play audio music files in lossy/lossless audio file format, like MP3, M4A, AAC, AC3, WAV, etc.
• Play both home-made and commercial copy-protected DVDs.
• Free download videos/movies/songs from 1000+ video websites, including YouTube.
• Free stream media for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, AirPlay-enabled speakers, Mac, PC, etc.
• Listen to radio from BBC, Capital, etc.

Part 4. How to Play M2TS Files on iPhone iPad? - Make All Media Players a M2TS Player

Anyway, if you just do want to save trouble with playing M2TS video file on iPhone, iPad or any other devices, then convert M2TS to popular and computer-friendly format is good choice, like convert M2TS to MP4. At present, there are two M2TS Converter software performs most stable and trustable, Handbrake and Winxvideo AI.

Winxvideo AI lets you rest assured that all kinds of HD videos can be flawlessly compressed and converted to fit your video players in an easy way, including MKV, AVCHD (M2TS, MTS), MOD, TS, TOD, etc. Its powerful compatibility empowers you to convert MKV to AVI, MTS/M2TS to AVI/MPEG, and AVCHD to MP4. Just to name a few.

[1] What is .m2ts: M2TS is a filename extension used for the Blu-ray Disc Audio-Video (BDAV) MPEG-2 Transport Stream (M2TS) container file format...
[2] What is AVCHD: AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition)[1] is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video...