mkv-chapter-helper - Add/update chapters in an MKV file with the ability to mix timecodes and chapter names from multiple sources

Installation

pip:

pip install mkv-chapter-helper

pipx:

pipx install mkv-chapter-helper

uv:

uv tool install mkv-chapter-helper

Description

mkv-chapter-helper allows you to choose different sources for correct timecodes and correct names for chapters to embed in an MKV file.

Supported inputs:

• The input MKV file or another MKV file
• TXT in OGM format or exported from MediaInfo
• XML in Matroska format: https://www.matroska.org/technical/chapters.html
• XML generated by ChapterGrabber
• MediaInfo chapters pasted into the console

If you have a need for other chapter sources, they may be converted by chapterEditor.

Use Cases

You have ripped your own movie to MKV, so the timecodes are correct, but you did not want to manually write out all chapter names

• There exists a pre-named chapters list on https://chapterdb.plex.tv/ but the timecodes do not line up
• Download the TXT from ChapterDB and specify --names-from-ogm

Alternatively:

• You have an MKV with no chapters, but can find them provided in a MediaInfo dump on a torrent tracker.
• You can use --timecodes-from-mediainfo-paste and --names-from-mediainfo-paste and paste the values in the console interactively.

External Dependencies

• mkvmerge
• mkvpropedit

Path can be retrieved via one of the following:

1. Supplied by --mkvextract-path and/or --mkvpropedit-path
2. Found in PATH
3. Defined in the environment variables MKVEXTRACT_PATH and/or MKVPROPEDIT_PATH

Options

usage: mkv-chapter-helper [-h] (-tS | -tM FILE | -tX FILE | -tC FILE | -tO FILE | -tI FILE | -tP) (-nS | -nM FILE | -nX FILE | -nC FILE | -nO FILE | -nI FILE | -nP) [--mkvpropedit-path PATH] [--mkvextract-path PATH] input

Add/modify chapters in an MKV file

positional arguments:
  input                 MKV file to be modified

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

Timecode source (one is required):
  -tS, --timecodes-from-source
                        Use timecodes from the input MKV file
  -tM, --timecodes-from-mkv FILE
                        Use timecodes from a different MKV file
  -tX, --timecodes-from-matroska-xml FILE
                        Use timecodes from a Matroska XML file
  -tC, --timecodes-from-cg-xml FILE
                        Use timecodes from a ChapterGrabber XML file
  -tO, --timecodes-from-ogm FILE
                        Use timecodes from an OGM chapter TXT file
  -tI, --timecodes-from-mediainfo-file FILE
                        Use timecodes from a MediaInfo TXT report file
  -tP, --timecodes-from-mediainfo-paste
                        Use timecodes from pasted MediaInfo menu content

Chapter name source (one is required):
  -nS, --names-from-source
                        Use chapter names from the input MKV file
  -nM, --names-from-mkv FILE
                        Use chapter names from a different MKV file
  -nX, --names-from-matroska-xml FILE
                        Use chapter names from a Matroska XML file
  -nC, --names-from-cg-xml FILE
                        Use chapter names from a ChapterGrabber XML file
  -nO, --names-from-ogm FILE
                        Use chapter names from an OGM chapter TXT file
  -nI, --names-from-mediainfo-file FILE
                        Use chapter names from a MediaInfo TXT report file
  -nP, --names-from-mediainfo-paste
                        Use chapter names from pasted MediaInfo menu content

Tool paths (optional):
  --mkvpropedit-path PATH
                        Path to the mkvpropedit executable
  --mkvextract-path PATH
                        Path to the mkvextract executable