MPEG Transport Stream (TS / M2TS)
| Format | MPEG Transport Stream (TS / M2TS) |
|---|---|
| Short name | MPEG-TS |
| Category | media |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, QNX |
| Crush support | Not yet supported |
| Status | Reviewed |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-05 |
Forensic relevance
Packet-based MPEG-2 systems container of fixed 188-byte packets, each starting with the sync byte 0x47; the M2TS variant (Blu-ray, AVCHD camcorders, .mts) prefixes each packet with a 4-byte timestamp (192-byte packets). Used for broadcast recordings, streaming segments, camcorder recordings and video surveillance exports. Because packets are self-contained, damaged or carved streams can often still be decoded. Timing information (PCR/PTS) is relative to the stream; wall-clock time is only present if the stream or the recording system adds it.
Signatures
| Offset | Hex | ASCII (non-printable as .) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| offset unknown | 47 | G | TS: sync byte 0x47 at offsets 0, 188, 376, … (188-byte packets); too short to identify on its own |
| offset unknown | 47 | G | M2TS: sync byte 0x47 at offsets 4, 196, 388, … (192-byte packets); too short to identify on its own |
Known extensions
.ts, .m2ts, .mts
References
- ITU-T H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 — MPEG-2 Systems https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.222.0
- MPEG transport stream magic definitions (file/libmagic) https://github.com/file/file/blob/master/magic/Magdir/animation
Cite this entry
Crush Format Reference, “MPEG Transport Stream (TS / M2TS)”. https://kalink0.github.io/crush-forensics/formats/mpeg-ts/ — source: crush/data/build_formats_db.py at commit 640a2a9928f4e36a976b89901512a8dce824d093, built 2026-10-21 06:46:19 UTC.
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