MKVToolNix has officially released version 96.0, enhancing the tools used for creating, altering, and inspecting Matroska (MKV) files. This latest version introduces a new command-line parameter, --no-bom, which is designed to prevent the writing of byte order marks to text files encoded in UTF formats. This improvement addresses a frustrating issue where an unexpected UTF-8 BOM appeared when extracting subtitles with mkvextract.
Following closely on the heels of version 95.0, MKVToolNix 96.0 also upgrades the graphical user interface’s multiplexer capabilities. It now includes the <MTX_CHAPTERS_FILE_NAME> variable in the "run program after job completion" feature, which provides the absolute path to the chapters file.
The update also resolves several bugs. Notably, it enhances the OBU reader functionality in mkvmerge, particularly for files where the first frame extends beyond the 1MB memory buffer limit used for probing content. Furthermore, the VobSub reader has been improved to correctly interpret .idx files that incorporate a byte-order mark.
Additionally, MKVToolNix 96.0 enhances support for the AV1/IVF container. This includes fixing issues related to inserting a temporal delimiter OBU at the beginning of each frame when absent, adjusting calculations that derive frame rates from Matroska’s default duration, and rectifying the method for calculating IVF frame numbers, which now properly rounds rather than truncates timestamps.
For further details on the changes and fixes included in MKVToolNix 96.0, users can review the release notes. The software is available for download as a source tarball or as a universal AppImage that is compatible with nearly all GNU/Linux distributions without requiring additional installations. Alternatively, MKVToolNix can also be installed as a Flatpak application from Flathub or directly from various Linux distribution repositories.