What is MPEG-TS / M2TS?
MPEG Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) is a packetized container/system format designed to carry synchronized audio, video and data through broadcast and other environments where resilience and continuous delivery matter.
Packet structure
| Variant | Typical packet size | Where seen |
|---|---|---|
| MPEG-TS | 188 bytes | Broadcast, IPTV, generic .ts files |
| M2TS / Blu-ray style | 192 bytes | Blu-ray and some camera workflows; additional prefix data around the 188-byte TS packet |
| FEC variant | 204 bytes | Transport environments adding forward-error-correction bytes |
FFmpeg recognises these packet sizes when demuxing transport streams.
Programs, PIDs and tables
Transport streams identify component streams using packet identifiers (PIDs). Program Association and Program Map tables tell a receiver which video, audio and data PIDs belong together. This lets one transport stream carry multiple programmes/services.
What codecs can be inside?
Depending on the application, MPEG-TS can carry MPEG-2 Video, H.264/AVC, HEVC and multiple audio systems such as MP2, AAC, AC-3/E-AC-3 and others. The extension alone does not identify the codec.
TS, MTS and M2TS
.ts, .mts and .m2ts are closely related transport-stream file conventions. Camera and Blu-ray workflows often use the 192-byte form while broadcast/network streams commonly use 188-byte TS packets.
Transport-stream capabilities
MPEG-TS is built around continuous delivery rather than rich file attachments. One transport stream can carry multiple programs/services, with many packet identifiers (PIDs) for video, audio, subtitles, tables and signalling. That makes it well suited to broadcast, IPTV, Blu-ray-derived transport and resilient streaming, while consumer-style chapters/cover-art/attachments are not its main design goal.