Microsoft started offering MKV file format support natively on the Xbox One console earlier this year and now the firm brings this type of support to Windows. Windows 8.1 now supports natively the Matroska Multimedia Container (MKV) file format with the built in video app.
This open standard container format has been associated for a long time now to pirated movie copies, so it has a bad fame. It’s still appreciated by the BitTorrent users, for its quality. Microsoft’s support offered natively offers some legitimacy to this format. Most content providers will keep offering streaming video instead of DRM-free downloads, since that’s the way such services work.
Microsoft has also committed to MKV support implementation on Windows 10, together with support for Free Lossless Audio Codec, FLAC, a format of equal fame. Keep in mind that the Windows 8.1 implementation on Windows 8.1 is a bit limited by the OS codec and subtitle support, but improvements will be offered in Win 10.
