Extract text from MAV files
To convert your MAV file to another format, you need VLC media player or other Video software.
To convert other file formats to the "DVR Video Recording" file type, you need software like VLC media player or a similar tool.
A .MAV file is predominantly a proprietary video recording created by digital video recorder (DVR) systems, specifically those manufactured by DigiCAP or utilizing Mediatek audio/video chipsets for surveillance. Unlike standard video files, these recordings are raw data streams optimized for efficient writing to hard drives rather than playback compatibility. Users frequently encounter severe friction when attempting to open these files; standard media players like Windows Media Player or QuickTime will often fail to recognize the format or play it without audio. This "lock-in" forces users to rely on obscure, often hard-to-find proprietary player software provided by the security camera vendor.
To make this footage usable for sharing, legal evidence, or archiving, the most pragmatic solution is converting the .MAV source into a standardized container. For general viewing and web compatibility, converting to MP4 (H.264) is the gold standard. For editing in software like Adobe Premiere Pro, converting to an intermediate format like MOV or high-bitrate AVI ensures frame accuracy. In rare instances, a .MAV file may be a legacy Microsoft Access View file, which is a completely different data format used for database reporting, though this usage is now uncommon.
Convert.Guru analyzes your MAV file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted MP3, WAV, AV, M4A, MP4, MOV, LDB, JET and ACCDB files.
If you want to convert MAV file to DB, SQLITE, SQLITE3, MDB, ACCDB, DBF, ODB, FDB, GDB, MYD, FRM or SQL, you can use VLC media player or similar software from the "Surveillance Video Recording" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert NDF, SQLITE3, BAK, RDB, SQL, DB4, MDF, MDB, LDF, DB, DB3 or SQLITE files to MAV, try VLC media player or another comparable tool in the "Surveillance Video Recording" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our MAV converter.