How to open .MTS files (AVCHD camcorder videos) on Android, Windows and Linux

You plug in an old Sony, Panasonic or Canon camcorder, or its SD card, and find no obvious videos. Dig through the folders and you reach a list of files named 00000.MTS, 00001.MTS and so on. Double-click one and your computer may not know what to do; copy it to a phone and the gallery may show the picture without sound.

These are AVCHD recordings, a format built for HD camcorders. Folders’ video player, built on mpv, opens MTS and M2TS files for free on Android, Windows and Linux, including their Dolby Digital sound.

What is a .MTS file?

An MTS file is an MPEG transport stream: the same kind of stream used for digital TV broadcasting, with a few extra bytes on each packet for timing. Sony and Panasonic introduced the AVCHD format for camcorders in 2006, and it records:

• Video: H.264, usually at 1080i or 1080p, sometimes 720p.
• Sound: Dolby Digital (AC-3), or uncompressed linear PCM on some models.

On the card, the videos sit several folders deep: PRIVATE → AVCHD → BDMV → STREAM. Next to STREAM are folders such as CLIPINF and PLAYLIST, which hold the camcorder’s notes about each clip. That layout is borrowed from Blu-ray, which is where the second extension comes in.

Extension	What it is
.mts	AVCHD video from a camcorder or camera, as stored on the card
.m2ts	The same stream format on Blu-ray discs, and the name some software gives camcorder clips when importing them

How to open a .MTS file with Folders

On Android

1. Install Folders from the download page and allow file access.
2. Copy the clips to the phone, or the whole AVCHD folder if you want to keep everything together.
3. In Folders, open PRIVATE → AVCHD → BDMV → STREAM (or wherever you copied the files) and tap an MTS file.
4. A clip shared from another app opens with Open with → Folders.

On Windows and Linux

1. Install Folders and insert the card or connect the camcorder as a drive.
2. Browse to the STREAM folder in Folders and double-click a clip.
3. In Windows’ File Explorer you can right-click an MTS or M2TS file and choose Open with → Folders.

What you can do with it in Folders

• Hear the sound. Dolby Digital and linear PCM audio play, even on phones whose own players skip Dolby Digital.
• Pick an audio track on a Blu-ray copy with several languages or a commentary.
• Browse your recordings. The Video player library in the Toolbox lists your video folders with a count of unwatched clips, and remembers where you stopped in each.
• Pinch to zoom and move the picture on a phone (Ctrl + mouse wheel on a computer).
• Slow motion or fast forward with the speed control, and a sleep timer for long recordings.
• Add subtitles from a file beside the video or with Search online…, with adjustable delay, size and colour.
• Picture in picture on Android, or a small always-on-top window on a computer.
• HW, HW+ (Android only) or SW decoding, if a 1080p clip stutters on an older phone.

Folders plays each file as it is. It doesn’t join, convert or edit clips, and it doesn’t play Blu-ray menus. Blu-ray audio tracks in Dolby TrueHD don’t play in it on Android and Windows; choose a Dolby Digital or DTS track instead.

Other ways to open .MTS files

• VLC: free on every system; it plays MTS files and has a deinterlacing option.
• Windows’ Media Player: plays MTS and M2TS on Windows 10 and 11.
• Shotcut: a free, open-source video editor for Windows and Linux that imports MTS for editing.
• The camcorder maker’s own software, if you still have it, which reads the clip information too.

Problems opening a .MTS file?

• One recording is split into several files. Camcorders split long recordings into parts, often around 2 GB each, because of memory card file size limits. Play them in order (00000, 00001, 00002…). To join them into one file, use an editor or a tool such as ffmpeg.
• No sound in your phone’s gallery. AVCHD sound is often Dolby Digital, which some built-in players don’t decode. Folders and VLC both play it.
• Fine horizontal lines on moving edges. Many camcorders record interlaced video (1080i). A player that shows the frames as they are reveals the comb-like lines on fast motion. That’s how the video was recorded; VLC and video editors can deinterlace it.
• An M2TS from a film disc won’t play. Commercial Blu-ray discs are encrypted, and files copied straight off them can’t be played by any ordinary player. Home-made Blu-ray and AVCHD discs aren’t protected.

Questions people ask

Can I open MTS files on Android? Yes. Folders plays MTS and M2TS files on Android with their sound, once they’re copied to the phone.

MTS vs M2TS: what’s the difference? The format is the same. MTS is the name on the camcorder; M2TS is used on Blu-ray discs and by some import software.

How do I convert MTS to MP4? HandBrake (free) converts MTS to MP4, and can deinterlace at the same time. Folders doesn’t convert video.

Should I keep the whole AVCHD folder? It’s a good idea. The MTS files hold the video, but the other folders hold the camcorder’s clip information, which its own software uses for dates and playlists.

Also see how to open MPG and VOB files, or browse all 382 file types Folders opens.