How to open .MKA files (Matroska audio) on Android, Windows and Linux

A film download came with an extra file next to the video, something like Film.Commentary.mka. Or you used a website to record your voice and it handed you a file called recording.weba. Your usual player doesn’t recognise either extension.

Both are audio-only versions of well-known video containers, and they play fine once you have the right app. Folders, a free file manager for Android, Windows and Linux, plays .mka and .weba files in its audio player, offline and with no account.

What is an .mka file?

Matroska is an open container format, best known for .mkv videos. An .mka file is Matroska with only sound inside. Like MKV, it can hold almost any codec: FLAC, Opus, Vorbis, AAC, MP3, or the surround formats used for films such as AC-3 and DTS. It can also carry tags, chapters and more than one audio track.

You’ll usually come across .mka in one of these ways:

• A separate soundtrack for a video: a dub in another language or a director’s commentary, shared beside the MKV rather than inside it.
• A track taken out of a film with a tool like MKVToolNix, to keep or listen to on its own.
• Music archives, where a whole album sits in one file with chapters for the songs.

WebM is a format Google introduced for the web, based on Matroska but limited to royalty-free codecs. A .weba file is WebM audio, which means it holds Opus or Vorbis. It’s common from two sources: websites that record audio in your browser (online voice recorders and dictation tools), and tools that save the audio of online videos, since many sites stream sound as Opus in WebM.

Extension	What it is
.mka	Matroska audio: any codec, sometimes several tracks and chapters
.weba	WebM audio: Opus or Vorbis, usually from a browser or an online video

How to open an .mka file with Folders

On Android

1. Download and install Folders from the download section, then allow file access when asked.
2. Go to the folder with the file (browser recordings usually land in Download). Typing .mka or .weba in the search box finds them in the folder you’re in and the folders inside it.
3. Tap the file. Folders opens it in its audio player.
4. If it came by email or chat, choose Open with → Folders in that app.

On Windows and Linux

1. Install Folders. Windows has a setup program and an MSIX; Linux has deb, rpm, AppImage, Flatpak, Snap and tar.gz packages.
2. Browse to the file in Folders and double-click it.
3. On Windows, right-click the file in File Explorer and choose Open with → Folders. The installer registers Folders for both .mka and .weba.

What you can do with it in Folders

• Play and pause, jump back or forward 10 seconds, and drag the seek bar. That’s enough to check what a commentary track is, or to listen back to a browser recording.
• Add all your audio to one queue with Toolbox → Music player in the side menu.
• From the file browser, rename files (a browser recording called recording (3).weba is easy to lose), move them next to the video they belong to, share them, or compress to ZIP.

The audio player plays the file’s main track. It has no track menu and doesn’t list chapters. If you want to watch a film with an extra .mka soundtrack, merge the two with the free MKVToolNix into one MKV: Folders’ video player then lets you choose between audio tracks while you watch. See playing MKV videos with subtitles.

Other ways to open .mka files

• VLC plays both formats on Android, Windows and Linux.
• mpv, a free, open-source player for Windows and Linux, handles any Matroska file.
• MKVToolNix (free) doesn’t play audio, but shows exactly which tracks an .mka holds and can merge it into a video.
• A web browser: Chrome and Firefox play a .weba file dragged into a tab.

Problems opening an .mka file?

A browser recording has no length, or seeking jumps around. Recordings made in a web page are written piece by piece, and the finished file often lacks its total duration. It still plays from the start. To fix seeking, remux it without re-encoding using MKVToolNix or ffmpeg (ffmpeg -i recording.weba -c copy fixed.weba).

Another app doesn’t recognise .weba. The extension is less known than .webm. Folders plays .weba as it is; for an app that refuses, renaming a copy to .webm often helps, since the contents are WebM either way.

The .mka is huge. A soundtrack taken from a Blu-ray can be lossless surround sound running to several gigabytes. That’s normal for the format. Make sure the copy finished before you try to play it.

The commentary doesn’t line up with the film. A separate track is made for one particular release of a film. If it was made for a different cut or frame rate, it drifts out of step, and the fix is a matching track.

Questions people ask

Can I play MKA files on Android? Yes. Folders plays both .mka and .weba files on Android 7.0 and newer, straight from its file browser or through Open with → Folders.

What’s the difference between MKA and MKV? They’re the same Matroska format. MKV holds video (usually with sound and subtitles); MKA holds only audio.

How do I convert WEBA or MKA to MP3? Folders doesn’t convert audio. Use VLC’s Convert / Save option, Audacity with its FFmpeg add-on, or ffmpeg (ffmpeg -i recording.weba recording.mp3).

What app opens WEBA files? Folders on Android, Windows and Linux, VLC, and any modern web browser.

Related guides: how to open WebM videos and how to open OGG and Opus files. Or see all 382 file types Folders opens.