How to Convert DVD to MKV: 5 Ways for Lossless Ripping [2025]

Among the various video formats, MKV stands out as a better choice for DVD conversion, which lets you retain the original video and audio quality of DVDs without damage. Converting DVD to MKV is an ideal choice for preserving and optimizing your physical media collections, helping solve the problems of DVD storage hassles and compatibility with popular devices. This article introduces 5 DVD rippers, enabling you to achieve a lossless, cross-platform playback experience and even customize your DVD content.

Why Convert DVD to MKV?

Ripping DVD to MKV Preserves All DVD Content

MKV (Matroska Video) is an open-source multimedia container format that can hold unlimited video, audio, picture, subtitles and metadata in a single file. If you choose to back up your DVD in this format, you can preserve all the detailed information on the DVD to prevent data loss.

MKV is Frequently Used and with High Compatibility

MKV is supported by almost all software players and many hardware devices because it does not charge royalties. The conversion of DVD to MKV balances file size, video quality, and ripping speed.

More Flexible for Editing and Space-saving

While keeping identical content, MKV files are about 10% smaller than DVDs. You can easily remove unnecessary audio tracks to reduce file size. If you rip a DVD to other formats like MP4, you will get a digitalized file of hundreds of MB, with significant quality loss.

Method 1. Convert DVD to MKV with VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper [All-Round] 🔥

If you want to rip any homemade or protected DVD to MKV in lossless quality, VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper will be the best converter for you. This software supports ripping all types of DVDs and Blu-ray discs on Mac and Windows. No matter how your DVD is encrypted, such as APS, CSS, ARccOS, CPRM, AACS, BD+, or Cinavia, it can decrypt them and rip the DVD to common formats at 4K lossless quality.

The full chapters, subtitles, audio tracks, and metadata will also be well-preserved with the help of VideoByte. What’s more, it comes with basic video trimming, cropping, special-effect adjustments and watermark addition, letting you enjoy the personalized video creation. Meanwhile, with advanced hardware acceleration, the ripping performance is up to 6X faster, and you won’t spend much time waiting.

There is a detail guide to ripping DVDs to MKV using VideoByte. For more detailed usage, you can watch the video tutorial at the top of the webpage.

Step 1. Insert a DVD into your computer, then click Load DVD.

Step 2. You can edit or add effects to the video by clicking the Star or Scissors icons. And choose MKV output formats and the storage location.

Step 3. Tap the Rip all button to start ripping.

Method 2. Convert DVD Files to MKV with HandBrake [Open-Source]

In addition to a professional tool to meet all your needs, you may also consider a free option. HandBrake is an open-source video transcoder and can process any Blu-ray/DVD to MKV, MP4, and WebM. Device presets (Fast, HQ, and Super HQ) and more precise features (adjusting video filters/size and marking chapters/titles) both help you better balance conversion speed and DVD video quality. It also supports advanced video & audio encoding, which can significantly reduce file size while maintaining original image details.

However, open-source software also indicates unstable performance. It may fail to maintain the original video/audio quality. Plus, it doesn’t support decrypting protected DVDs on its own. You may need to install the libdvdcss file before ripping. The following brief guide will show you the correct way to rip a DVD to MKV via Handbrake:

Step 1. Launch Handbrake and insert the DVD.

Step 2. Select the title or chapters you desire to convert to MKV.

Step 3. Navigate to Preset > Matroska > MKV. You can select your desired resolution here.

Step 4. Click the Start Encode icon on the top menu bar to convert DVD to MKV losslessly. Compared with VideoByte, it would take longer to complete, so wait patiently for the conversion to finish.

Limitations:

• Complicated process to rip protected DVDs.
• Slow ripping speed.
• Unstable operation leads to a low successful rate.

Method 3. Convert DVD to MKV with VLC Media Player [Built-in]

If you have VLC media player on your desktop, you can easily convert DVDs to MKV instead of downloading any other rippers. VLC is well known for its free playback capabilities, supporting playback of files, DVDs, Webcams, Devices, and Streams. But it also serves as a ripper with powerful DVD-decoding features. Unlike other professional converters, VLC cannot be customized to convert your DVD video. But you can still adjust specific settings for ripped video, such as adding subtitles.

How to rip a DVD to MKV with VLC:

Step 1. Insert a DVD into your computer or external drive.

Step 2. In the top left corner, click Media > Open Disc > Open Media.

Step 3. Click Disc and then adjust your conversion settings.

Step 4. Tab Convert/Save and select the MKV format from Profiles. After choosing a destination file folder, click Start to rip the DVD to MKV.

Limitations:

• The ripping speed is only 1×.
• The quality of converted video is unguaranteed.
• Can’t decrypt DVDs with complex protection (only CSS and region codes).
• No support for professional editing features.

Method 4. Convert DVD Videos to MKV with MakeMKV [Decryption]

MakeMKV, as its name implies, supports only converting DVD videos to MKV as the only output format. It can handle AACS/BD+ protected Blu-rays and CSS-encrypted DVDs. Then you can convert encrypted DVD videos with lossless quality, including full audio tracks, chapters and metadata. However, the conversion speed is limited only by your drive's read speed, and the ripped files will take up a lot of space on your computer.

MakeMKV has included a free DVD ripping feature in its BETA version, which requires a free key (needs to be updated every 30 days). But you usually don’t get the beta key update on time, so it’s not always guaranteed to be free. If you can't accept the instability, you can choose other MakeMKV alternatives for Windows/Mac.

Here comes the guide to rip DVD to MKV via MakeMKV:

Step 1. Insert the DVD disc and load the content into the software.

Step 2. Select the titles, audios, and subtitles you desire to convert.

Step 3. Target the output folder to save the ripped MKV on your computer.

Step 4. Hit the Make MKV icon to perform the ripping process.

Limitations:

• No customized quality options.
• The outputted MKV files would be very large.

Method 5. Rip DVD to MKV with Freemake Video Converter [Watermark]

Freemake Video Converter, designed for Windows users, features an intuitive interface and stable conversion speeds for converting DVDs to MKV. It supports various DVD types, including standard DVD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and Blu-ray discs. And you can rip with the built-in editor to perform personalized DVD ripping. If you don’t mind that a watermark will exist in the ripped MKV video, it’s a good pick for you. Now, also see how the ripper converts DVD to MKV within several easy clicks:

Step 1. After inserting the DVD disc into your computer, open Freemake Video Converter and hit "+DVD" on the menu bar to load the disc.

Step 2. When the DVD content is loaded, select "to MKV" from the bottom output options. Now you can customize the encoder, size, and output folder based on your requirements. To remove watermarks from the videos, an extra payment is required.

Step 3. Give it a go by hitting the "Convert" icon to process ripping a DVD to MKV.

Limitations:

• Add a watermark to the output video (Pay for removing the logo).
• Only compatible with the Windows System.

Comparison of 5 Methods to Convert DVD to MKV

FAQs about DVD to MKV

Conclusion

Converting DVD to MKV remains one of the most reliable ways to digitize physical media while solving the hassle of DVD storage and device compatibility issues. You can select the right tool from the 5 software we listed with your specific needs. If you want a hassle-free solution for dealing with encrypted DVDs and 4K playback, VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper is the best DVD-to-MKV converter for you.