What Are MKA files?
MKA (Matroska Audio) is the Matroska multimedia container format used for Audio. It is saved with the .mka extension. The MKA format supports several different kinds of audio compression algorithms such as MP3, AAC and Vobis. MKA files are usually used to store songs and may also store complete albums. MKA allows audio tracks to be divided into chapters and also supports embedding lyrics in SRT format.
Brief History
The project originated in 2002 in Russia with Lasse Kärkkäinen as the lead developer. He worked with Steve Lhomme (founder of Matroska), and a team of programmers. Matroska Multimedia Container was developed as an open standards project, which means that it is open source and free to use. With the passage of time, the format was improved and in 2010, it became the basis of WebM multimedia format.
For information regarding the design and structure of Matroska multimedia container, please see the Matroska Design and Matroska Structure section of MKV.
How to Play MKA Files
MKA format audio files can be opened using a variety of audio players including the following:
- VLC media player
- MPlayer
- Microsoft Windows Media Player
Advantages of using MKA format instead of the original audio formats like MP3
Here are some of the advantages of using MKA format over the original audio formats:
- Support for embedding lyrics in SRT format.
- A complete album can be stored in a single file.
- By using compression headers the resultant MKA file might be smaller in size as compared to the original raw file.
- It is easier to delete portions of audio without reencoding as only the blocks are deleted.