The Matroska Video container is the recommended default in OBS because it is crash-resistant. If OBS or your computer crashes during recording, the data saved up to that point is preserved, unlike MP4 files which can become completely unreadable. How to Use the File
Locate the section and the Filename Formatting field.
The file is a video recording typically generated by OBS Studio (Open Broadcaster Software). This specific naming convention is the default format used by OBS to identify when a recording started: YYYY-MM-DD HH-MM-SS . Understanding Your File 2022-12-29 19-30-18.mkv
Most modern media players like VLC Media Player or MPC-HC can play MKV files natively.
You can add custom text, such as Stream_%CCYY-%MM-%DD_%hh-%mm-%ss , so your files are labeled "Stream_[Date]" automatically. The Matroska Video container is the recommended default
If you want your future recordings to have more descriptive names instead of just a timestamp, you can customize this in OBS: Go to > Advanced .
Select your .mkv file and click to create a mirrored .mp4 version instantly. Changing Future Filenames The file is a video recording typically generated
If you need to edit this file in software that doesn't support MKV or want to upload it to certain social media platforms, you should remux it rather than re-encoding to avoid quality loss. Open OBS Studio. Go to File > Remux Recordings .