You can play an MKV file on Apple Vision Pro by opening it in a player that supports both the MKV container and the video and audio tracks inside it. In Pro-Fi, choose Open video, select the file, and start playback. Pro-Fi supports MKV video with H.264, HEVC, and AV1 Main-profile video tracks.

Here’s how to open a file and choose the right presentation for what you’re watching.

Open an MKV file in Pro-Fi

  1. Install the Pro-Fi Vision beta through TestFlight. It runs on Apple Vision Pro with visionOS 26 or later.
  2. Make the MKV file available in a location you can reach through the file picker. For a file stored in the cloud, let its download finish before opening it.
  3. Launch Pro-Fi and choose Open video.
  4. Select your .mkv file. Use the play button to begin, and the timeline or 15-second skip buttons to move through the video.

Starting with a local file is a useful way to check playback before trying a remote stream. You can find the current Vision Pro format support on the product page.

What the MKV extension tells you

MKV is the filename extension for a Matroska video container. The container holds tracks, such as video, audio, and subtitles. The codec determines how each track is compressed. Matroska’s introduction explains that distinction.

That means two MKV files can contain very different media. One might use H.264 video and AAC audio, while another uses HEVC video and a multichannel audio track. A player needs to understand the container and decode those tracks.

For video, Pro-Fi supports H.264 and HEVC, plus AV1 Main profile in 8-bit and 10-bit. Its audio support includes AAC, AC-3, E-AC-3, DTS, FLAC, Opus, Vorbis, MP3, and PCM. When checking a particular file, look at its track information as well as its extension.

Choose the video format

The file extension also doesn’t tell you whether a video is flat, stereoscopic, or panoramic. Pro-Fi starts with Auto, which uses the file’s format information and, for eligible local files, an image check.

You can choose a format in Viewing options → Video format:

  • Flat for a traditional movie or other ordinary video.
  • SBS 180° for supported left-eye-first, side-by-side 180° footage.
  • 360° · monoscopic for a supported equirectangular panorama.

For an ordinary film, Flat is the appropriate choice. For a 180° or 360° file, use the format described by the person who made it. The shape of the frame alone can be misleading: a wide image might be a panorama, a pair of stereo views, or simply a wide movie.

The playback format and the viewing space do different jobs. The format tells the player how to interpret the image; the viewing space determines how you experience it around you.

Pro-Fi can also open direct HTTPS links to MKV files. Choose Open link from the menu and enter the media URL. The server must support byte-range requests, which let the player read different parts of the file as you seek.

A direct media link points to the video file itself. If you’re checking a new source, try the local file first, then compare it with the remote version.

Do you need to convert the file to MP4?

For an MKV with supported tracks, you can open the file directly in Pro-Fi. Keep the original file while checking playback so you can inspect the video format, sound, and timing together.

If you’re choosing a player for your headset, start with the kinds of files you already watch. Explore Pro-Fi for Vision Pro to see the viewing experience and current format support. For watching the same collection at your desk, see our Mac MKV playback guide.