How to Export MKV from DaVinci Resolve

DaVinci Resolve exports MKV from the Deliver page: choose MKV in the Format dropdown, choose a codec, render. The awkward part is that Blackmagic's own documentation describes mkv output in two different places, and those two places do not say the same thing.

Everything below comes from the DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual and from the official Supported Formats and Codecs document whose cover reads July 2025. Where the two disagree, both are quoted rather than resolved.

Before you start

The manual is careful about what the Format dropdown even contains. Its description, verbatim:

"Format: A dropdown menu that gives access to the container formats that are currently available on your system. The available options depend on whether you have Final Cut Pro and QuickTime installed, and on the operating system you're using. This list is constantly growing, as new file formats are added over time, so be sure to check each new version for the latest supported formats."

Three conditions there, and none of them are decorative: currently available on your system, dependent on whether Final Cut Pro and QuickTime are installed, and dependent on your OS. So "Resolve supports MKV" is not quite the claim the manual makes — it describes what your particular install exposes.

One more gate before you spend a render on it. The codec document's notes page states: "Encoding video resolutions >= 4K is only supported with DaVinci Resolve Studio." The same page adds that "GPU accelerated encoding and decoding of formats is subject to hardware support. Please refer to the hardware manufacturer's documentation."

Step 1 — Open Deliver and set the preset to Custom

The render preset dropdown sits at the top of the Render Settings. The manual warns what it does to you: "Each preset automatically sets up what you need and locks you out of settings that are not necessary for rendering that type of media." The escape hatch is in the same paragraph — "If you want to create your very own settings, then choose custom" — and with custom selected, "nothing is automatically set, and all conventional media rendering options are available."

This matters for MKV specifically, because the obvious presets do not go there. The H.264 Master preset "defaults to rendering in single clip mode, with the Format set to QuickTime, and the Codec set to H.264." H.265 Master does the same. Neither lands you on mkv.

Step 2 — Choose MKV as the Format

In the Format list, the manual's entry for MKV reads, verbatim:

"MKV: The Matroska video container lets you encode your video for playback in a wide variety of computer video players, and home video servers."

That is the whole official description of the container's purpose, and it points at exactly the use case people pick mkv for: desktop players and home media servers rather than a client's editing timeline.

Step 3 — Pick a codec the tables allow inside mkv

The Format dropdown decides the wrapper; the Codec dropdown decides what goes in it, and the codec document splits its tables by operating system. Verbatim values from the Encode columns for the mkv rows:

Read the Windows cells as written: the free version encodes, at profiles the operating system supplies, and Studio adds more profiles plus GPU acceleration. Read the Linux cells as written too — both conditions apply there, Studio and Nvidia graphics.

Two extras worth knowing. Apple ProRes is listed against "mov, mkv" with an Encode value of "422, 422 HQ, 422 LT, 422 Proxy, 4444, 4444 XQ", so mkv is a legal ProRes wrapper in that table. And on macOS, H.265 has Alpha Exports marked "Yes" for mov and mkv, but "–" for mp4 — which makes mkv one of the two containers that table allows for alpha-carrying HEVC on that platform.

Step 4 — Set audio and subtitles before you queue it

The embedded audio row for macOS and Windows reads "Linear PCM 16/24/32-bit, AAC (based on container), mp3 (based on container), flac (based on container)". The Rocky Linux row is the same list minus AAC.

Subtitles are the setting people forget. The manual's embedded-caption option says: "Outputs the currently selected subtitle track as an embedded metadata layer within supported media formats. There is currently support for CEA-608 closed captions within MXF OP1A and QuickTime files." MKV is not in that pair, so your options for an mkv deliverable are the other two the manual lists — "As a separate file" (Export As offers "IMSC1, DFXP, SRT, and WebVTT"), or "Burn into video", which "Renders all video with the currently selected subtitle track burned into the video." Note currently selected — one track, not all of them.

If you only need the container changed

If the edit is already exported and you simply want the same video inside a Matroska wrapper, opening a 4444-page manual is a lot of ceremony. This runs in the browser tab, on your machine:

Try it right here

Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.

Loading tool…

Nothing is uploaded — the file is read from disk locally, which also means no upload cap applies to it. The same shelf has the mp4 to mkv tool on its own page if you want to bookmark it directly.

Common mistakes

1. Quoting the wrong mkv row. The codec document lists mkv twice. In the codec tables above, H.264, H.265 and AV1 all have Encode values for mkv. But in the "Video – Miscellaneous" section, the row labelled MKV shows Decode as "H.264, H.265 and VP9" and Encode as "–". Both rows are in the same official PDF; Blackmagic does not explain the difference, so check the current document before quoting either as the rule.
2. Expecting a fast rewrap via Bypass re-encode. In the Codec Passthrough column, H.264, H.265, MV-HEVC, AV1 and VP9 are all "–" on every platform and every container. ProRes shows "mov" there, not "Yes" — the mxf variants of the same row are "–".
3. Assuming the MP4/QuickTime controls come along. The manual scopes Multi-pass encode, Key Frames and Frame Reordering with "(Available for QuickTime H.264 and H.265)", and introduces that whole panel as appearing "If you choose MP4 as the format, or QuickTime with H.264, H.265, or VP9 as the codec". MKV is not named there.
4. Planning a one-click social upload from an mkv render. The YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok and Dropbox presets are documented with "Format: MP4" and "Video Codec: H.264".
5. Trusting a table forever. The notes page opens with "Specifications format and codec support subject to change without notice."

FAQ

Can DaVinci Resolve export MKV at all? Yes — MKV is one of the entries in the Deliver page's Format dropdown, described by the manual as a container that "lets you encode your video for playback in a wide variety of computer video players, and home video servers." Whether it appears for you depends on your system, OS, and whether Final Cut Pro and QuickTime are installed.

Does the free version of DaVinci Resolve export MKV? Blackmagic's documentation does not gate the container itself by edition. It does gate things around it: encoding at "resolutions >= 4K" is Studio-only, and on Linux the H.264/H.265 encode cells say "Studio and Nvidia graphics (GPU accelerated)". On Windows the free version encodes H.264 at "8-bit OS-supported profiles", with "More profiles and GPU acceleration in Studio".

Which codec should I put in the MKV? On macOS, H.264 and H.265 both show "Yes, GPU accelerated" for mkv, and H.265 in mkv is one of the two containers with Alpha Exports marked "Yes". On Windows, AV1 also encodes; on macOS its Encode cell is "–". Match the choice to whatever plays back on the machine the file is going to.

Why is my MKV export not instant if I did not change anything? The Codec Passthrough column — the one behind "Bypass re-encode when possible" — is "–" for H.264, H.265, AV1 and VP9 across all platforms. That column is what marks a format as eligible for reusing the original video essence, and the manual notes that any grading, Resolve FX, resizing or Fusion work "will all necessitate re-encoding the entire clip" regardless.

Can I put subtitles inside the MKV file? The manual's embedded-caption support is stated as "CEA-608 closed captions within MXF OP1A and QuickTime files", which does not include mkv. Export the subtitles as a separate file, or burn the selected track into the video.

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All quotes from the DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual and the official Supported Formats and Codecs document (cover date July 2025), checked 16 September 2026. Blackmagic states that format and codec support is "subject to change without notice" — verify against the current documents before relying on any cell above. More on the same shelf: how-to guides, OBS: MKV or MP4?, or all Clapr tools.