How to Rip a DVD on Mac & Windows 11/10/8 [5 Best Ways]

To play movies/episodes on DVDs anywhere and get rid of an optical drive, you need to know how to rip a DVD to digital formats, ISO files, or DVD folders. However, that’s just a breeze once you go over the 5 magical ways to rip a DVD here, including the official way and using other third-party tools. After that, you can enjoy flexible playback of DVDs on any device. Now, pick a preferred way and perform the magic trick.

Comparison Between 5 Ways to Rip DVDs on Windows/Mac

Method 1. How to Rip a DVD on Mac with Built-in Tool [Official]

If you are a Mac user, the first way to rip DVDs is user-friendly without installing any other software. There’s a built-in Disk Utility in macOS to help rip a movie off a DVD. Just follow the steps below and see how to rip DVDs on your Mac.

Step 1. Go to Applications > Utilities to open Disk Utility.

Step 2. Insert a DVD disc into a Mac utilizing an external Apple SuperUSB drive. Subsequently, tap New Image in the center along the top of the Disk Utility window to locate the disc.

Step 3. Next, select an Image Format as DVD/CD Master and set Encryption to None.

Step 4. Proceed ripping DVD discs on Mac.

Due to DVD encryption technologies, such as CSS and ARccOS, can’t be accessed and easily removed by Disk Utility. You aren’t allowed to rip Audio CDs, Blu-rays, or DVD movies. Note that this only works for unprotected DVDs to ISO files. And if you want convert DVD content with encryption to other common formats like MP4, you should use a third-party ripper software.

Method 2. Rip a DVD via VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper [Best]🔥

VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper is a fully-fledged ripping software for DVD and Blu-ray discs. With its state-of-the-art protection removal technology, it can bypass the barrier of copyright protections like APS, CSS, ARccOS, CPRM, AACS, BD+, and Cinavia. Plus, its intuitive interface makes it ever easier to rip DVDs to 300+ digital formats, ISO files, or DVD folders with lossless quality. Better yet, it allows you to save selected titles, chapters, audio tracks, and subtitles before ripping. It is recommended to try out its free version before billing for the registered license.

How to Rip DVD with VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper?

You can watch the video at the top of the page or follow the steps below:

Step 1. Install and run the program. Now insert your DVD disc into the computer, and select Load DVD > Load DVD Disc in the top-left corner of the main interface.

Step 2. By default, the entire DVD disc of all titles will be ripped. If you wish to save only certain titles of one DVD disc, please click on the Full Title List when the program completes loading the DVD.

Step 3. After selecting titles, you can choose an output format for exporting the DVD media. There will be definition options provided for selection as well.

Step 4. As the pre-settings are all done, tap the Rip All button and proceed to rip the DVD. It takes only a while to complete the ripping for you.

Method 3. How to Rip a DVD with VLC [Free]

Many people are quite familiar with VLC, a free media player with the powerful ability to stream both regular media and DVD content. Actually, the program brings a hidden ripping feature, helping you to convert DVDs to digital formats without any extra charge required. It can convert DVD, CD, VCD, and SVCDs to digital file formats, and you can customize the video effects by distortion, rotation, mirroring, and other operations. Note that VLC doesn’t support ripping protected DVDs by default. If to do so, you need to install libdvdcss, which is designed for removing DVD encryptions.

Here’s how to rip a movie off a DVD via VLC:

Step 1. Install VLC on your computer. Then insert the DVD you want to rip and open the program.

Step 2. Select Media > Convert/Save > Disc to load the inserted DVD disc to prepare for ripping.

Step 3. In the Open Media window, click Disc > DVD > Convert/Save. Don’t forget to check No disc menus.

Step 4. Then you can set your output parameters. Click Profile to choose the preferred format and choose the storage destination from Browse. After that, tap the Start button to rip the DVD.

Method 4. How to Rip a DVD with HandBrake [Open-Source]

Handbrake is well compatible with both Blu-ray and DVD ripping, with easy-to-use program functions and decent output quality. You can find it quite simple to rip a DVD with satisfying results. More importantly, its customized settings can help you personalize the DVD outputs just the way you like. Here’s how to rip a DVD to MP4 via this software:

Step 1. Insert the DVD disc and run Handbrake on your computer.

Step 2. Open Handbrake and click on the Open Source button to load the DVD first.

Step 3. Subsequently, personalize the ripping settings, including selecting the encoder and also subtitles or audio tracks to rip from the DVD disc.

Step 4. Tap Start Encode to proceed with ripping the disc.

Method 5. How to Rip a DVD with MakeMKV [Limited format]

Step 1. Complete the installation and launch MakeMKV on your desktop.

Step 2. Insert the DVD disc, as MakeMKV detects it, you can select the chapters to rip.

Step 3. Confirm an output location to save the exported media as well.

Step 4. Tap the Make MKV button now, and the program will initiate the DV ripping process for you.

FAQs about How to Rip a DVD to a Computer

Q: How to rip a DVD with multiple episodes?

A: If you have DVDs of TV shows with many episodes, you may consider using VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper or HandBrake to rip the DVDs, so that episodes will be output in separate video files. VLC, MakeMKV, and other tools don’t allow you to select episodes and save them alone.

Q: How to rip audio from DVDs?

A: To rip audio from DVDs to MP3 or other audio formats, VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper, VLC media player, and HandBrake can make it possible. Take VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper as an example, after loading your DVD, click Output Format > Audio and choose the preferred audio format like MP3, AAC, etc.

Q: How to rip copy-protected DVDs?

A: Many DVD rippers only support ripping homemade or protection-free DVDs, and you shall resort to a professional ripper like VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper, which can easily get rid of all types of copy protections, including APS, CSS, ARccOS, CPRM, AACS, BD+, and Cinavia. You can follow the steps below:
Step 1. Insert your DVD disc into the computer, and select Load DVD > Load DVD Disc from VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper.
Step 2. Choose an output format for exporting the DVD media. There will be definition options provided for selection as well.
Step 3. Tap the Rip All button to convert the protected DVD.

Conclusion

Now, you must have learned how to rip a DVD. Simply put, free DVD rippers are good choices if you intend to rip DVD without protection. However, if you want more advanced features like protection removal, Blu-ray support, custom DVD content, ultra-fast ripping speed, and various output options, opt for VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper, the top-rated helper beloved by DVD collectors and movie lovers. With it, DVD rip in Mac or Windows will be easy!