MKV Strip Tracks

Selectively keep or discard audio, subtitle, and video tracks in a Matroska container using mkvmerge. Produces a new MKV with only the requested tracks; original is preserved. No re-encoding.

When to use

• User wants to drop unwanted audio or subtitle tracks from a multi-language file
• Reduce file size by removing all subtitles, or all but one audio track
• Clean up a master file before distribution (keep video + one audio + one subtitle)

Inputs to gather

• File — path to source MKV (required)
• Keep audio tracks — comma-separated list of track indices (e.g., 1,2) or language codes; OR -A to drop all audio (optional)
• Keep subtitle tracks — comma-separated list (e.g., 3,4) or -S to drop all subs (optional)
• Keep video tracks — track index (usually 0) or -D to drop all video (rare) (optional, default: keep track 0)
• Output path — where to write the new MKV (optional, default: <original-name>.stripped.mkv in same dir)

Procedure