What does it cost to convert MKV to WAV?

$0.003 per call, paid in USDC on Base via x402.

How large can the MKV file be?

Up to 100 MB (104,857,600 bytes), and at most 60 min (3,600 s) of media. Past a limit the call answers too_large (413).

What happens if the conversion fails?

The tool answers with a typed JSON error from the errors table. Payment is settled only after the tool has produced its result; a call that fails inside the tool is never settled.

catalogue / tools / Audio & video / MKV to WAV

Convert MKV to WAV

To convert MKV to WAV, send one POST to /v1/audio-convert with the MKV source and "to": "wav" in the body. Left out, "to" falls back to its default "mp3", so a WAV request has to send it. Each call costs $0.003 in USDC on Base via x402, with no account and no API key. The source file can be up to 100 MB and 60 min (3,600 s) long.

Endpoint: POST /v1/audio-convert
Price: $0.003 per call
Service: audio-convert
Docs: /docs/audio-convert

01Limits

Limit	Value
Largest source file	100 MB (104,857,600 bytes)
Longest input	60 min (3,600 s)
Timeout	94 s
Source formats	AIFF, AVI, FLAC, MKV, MP3, MP4, Ogg, WAV
Output formats	AAC, FLAC, MP3, Opus, WAV

02Example

A real MKV to WAV run of audio-convert.

Request

POST /v1/audio-convert
content-type: application/json
payment-signature: <base64 x402 payload>

{
  "url": "https://grist.tools/samples/av/pair-clip.mkv",
  "to": "wav"
}

Response

200 OK
payment-response: <base64 settlement receipt>

{
  "source_url": "https://grist.tools/samples/av/pair-clip.mkv",
  "bytes": 10531,
  "source_container": "matroska",
  "format": "wav",
  "bitrate_kbps": null,
  "sample_rate": null,
  "audio_bytes": 64044,
  "audio_base64": "UklGRiT6AABXQVZFZm10IBAAAAABAAEAQB8AAIA+AAACABAAZGF0YQD6AAAA0ADc..."
}

Source file: av/pair-clip.mkv, 10.3 KB (10,531 bytes). 4 s Matroska file made by ffmpeg: a 64x36 PNG video stream at 1 fps (a slate field with a small amber square moving right), a mono 8 kHz FLAC audio track of two 500 Hz triangle beeps, and an English SubRip subtitle stream with two cues. The recorded run returned 62.5 KB (64,044 bytes) of WAV, 6.1 times the source size, with the source read as the matroska container. Decoded, the WAV in audio_base64 opens with 52 49 46 46 24 FA 00 00 57 41 56 45 (ASCII RIFF and WAVE). Recorded with ffmpeg 8.1.2.

In the sample itself, the EBML header names DocType matroska, version 4, readable by a version 2 parser; Segment Info sets a timestamp scale of 1,000,000 ns and a duration of 4,000 ticks, 4 s, with Lavf as the muxing application; the Tracks element lists codec IDs V_MS/VFW/FOURCC (video, language und), A_FLAC (audio, language und) and S_TEXT/UTF8 (subtitle, language eng). In the returned WAV: the RIFF header counts 64,036 bytes after itself, and the fmt chunk, in its own field order, declares audio format 1 (integer PCM), 1 channel, 8,000 Hz, 16,000 bytes per second, a block align of 2 bytes and 16 bits per sample. The data chunk right after it holds 64,000 bytes of samples, 4 s at that rate.

03Format notes

MKV as a source

Matroska files begin with the EBML magic 1A 45 DF A3, and WebM uses the same signature, so the sniffer treats both as a single container and reports it as matroska in the container field of each response. Matroska is built from tracks that ffmpeg can address independently. When audio is the target, the first audio track is decoded and any picture is ignored. For a still frame, the requested timestamp is sought at the demuxer level before one picture is decoded, with sound excluded. A subtitle track is chosen by its index counted among subtitle tracks only, starting from zero, and an index that matches nothing is refused rather than answered with an empty file. SubRip or WebVTT text written by ffmpeg comes back together with a cue count taken from the timing arrows in that text.

WAV as a target

WAV output is written with the pinned pcm_s16le codec, so every result holds signed little-endian PCM regardless of the source encoding. The WAV muxer fills in its RIFF chunk sizes when the file closes, so Grist points ffmpeg at a seekable temporary file inside the per-call directory and reads it back, rather than streaming to a pipe. A bitrate_kbps value is rejected for this lossless destination instead of being ignored. The optional sample_rate must come from the service's closed set; left out, ffmpeg chooses, normally keeping the source rate. Only the first audio stream is mapped, with video, metadata and chapters removed, and bit-exact flags make the bytes reproducible for the pinned ffmpeg. PCM from a lossy source contains the decoded samples at full size, without restoring detail the earlier codec discarded.

04Errors

Code	HTTP
`invalid_input`	`400`
`blocked_target`	`403`
`unreachable_target`	`424`
`upstream_timeout`	`424`
`unsupported_content_type`	`415`
`too_large`	`413`
`unprocessable`	`422`
`internal`	`500`

When each is raised, and what it means for payment: /docs/audio-convert.

05Questions

What does it cost to convert MKV to WAV?: $0.003 per call, paid in USDC on Base via x402.
How large can the MKV file be?: Up to 100 MB (104,857,600 bytes), and at most 60 min (3,600 s) of media. Past a limit the call answers too_large (413).
What happens if the conversion fails?: The tool answers with a typed JSON error from the errors table. Payment is settled only after the tool has produced its result; a call that fails inside the tool is never settled.