Matroska carries almost any codec, so the win depends entirely on what is inside it.
—
80
Resize
50
Encoder detail
6
fastzopfli
256
28
0 lossless51 tiny
The largest saving available.
50
Speed, audio and advanced
8
0 smallest13 fastest
128
96
Advanced
8
Nearly all of the saving comes from the images inside.
150
75
Advanced
50
aggressivegentle
Advanced
14
coarsefine
0 merges only exactly equal vertices. A small value also closes hairline cracks left by CAD exporters.
Geometry only — texture coordinates,
materials and vertex colours are not carried through. Decimating a
UV-mapped mesh correctly is a much harder problem, and mangling your
UVs quietly would be worse than leaving them alone.
12
6
Advanced
ZIP and 7z. 7z encrypts the file list too.
What actually shrinks MKV files
The tool reads the streams and shows you the codec, resolution and duration before you choose anything.
Only the first video and audio stream are re-encoded; subtitle and secondary tracks are not carried through.