Top 8 Free Blu-ray Players for MacBook Pro/Air/iMac (Full-reviewed List)

Lafanda
10/07/2024

Blu-ray Player

While Apple stopped distributing the Mac series computers with a built-in drive in 2012, you can still play Blu-ray on Mac, though it is a bit troublesome. You have to pay $100 – $160 for an external drive (such as Sony and LG) and get a region-free Blu-ray player app to decode Blu-rays for smooth playback on MacBook.

With so many free Blu-ray player programs out there claiming that they can handle region-locked Blu-ray discs, it’s hard to tell which is the best Mac Blu-ray player. Don’t worry! We’ve rounded up the top 8 free Mac Blu-ray player software, among which completely free players and paid ones that offer free trials are both included. Just keep reading and get the Blu-ray player for MacBook to enjoy your Blu-ray collections!

Part 1. All-functioned Free Blu-ray Player for Mac [with Free Trial]

Our top recommendation for you is VideoByte Blu-ray Player. This Mac Blu-ray player software stands out for its excellent performance in playing Blu-ray discs, ISO, and folders. Meanwhile, it provides a professional solution to decrypting disc DRM protection and unlocking region codes to ensure 100% success in playing all Blu-ray discs worldwide on MacBook Air/Pro. Apart from its high compatibility with SD videos, HD videos, and 4K video playback, it also offers various advanced audio decoding technologies like Dolby, DTS, AAC, etc., to deliver the best audio quality possible.

Better still, VideoByte offers easy menu control, including jumping to the target chapter in one click or selecting the subtitles and audio tracks you need. Besides, the whole Blu-ray playback process is easy and intuitive, so you won’t run into any trouble using this best Blu-ray player for Mac. Since VideoByte Blu-ray Player is great for playing Blu-ray on Mac, you will need to pay to unlock its full functions. To meet your needs, it will offer a 30-day free trial, and you can try it first to consider buying it or not.

Highlights of VideoByte Blu-ray Player:

Play commercial Blu-rays on laptops easily by bypassing common region codes and protections.
Play Blu-rays at lossless quality.
Support playback of Blu-ray discs/folders/ISO files and BDMV files.
User-friendly operation.
Dolby Digital, DTS, etc., to deliver superior listening enjoyment.
Compatible with Windows/Mac smoothly.
Support all multimedia formats.

VideoByte Blu-ray Player is a good choice for playing 4K resolution ripped Blu-ray movies on Macbook Pro/Air/iMac and delivers a cinema-like experience. Free to download and have a try!

Watch the video below to learn more about the VideoByte Blu-ray Player.

Also, we provide other top 7 best free Blu-ray players for Mac with detailed reviews. You can also scroll down to the end of this article and see the comparison between these top 8 Blu-ray players.

Other useful information you may need:

Best Free Blu-ray Player Software for Mac & Windows

How to Play Blu-ray Movies on Macbook Pro

Part 2. Other 7 Free Blu-ray Player for Mac 2024 (Detailed Review)

Top 1. VLC Media Player for Mac: Free but Tricky

Best for playing non-protected Blu-rays for free

Developed by VideoLAN, VLC Media Player is an open-source and versatile player well-known for playing DVD, CD, and VCD discs on Mac & Windows. Better still, its 2.0 and later versions can perform as a free program to play Blu-ray discs on Mac. Whether your Blu-ray disc is protected or not, VLC can bypass the major copy protection and play them easily, making it ideal for playing commercial 4K movies and your own Blu-ray discs.

However, VLC requires the keys database and AACS dynamic library installed to play Blu-ray on MacBook Pro/Air. Moreover, you should be aware that it can not deal with all disc protection as its latest keys database was only updated in 2018. For a detailed guide, head to our article: How to Play Blu-ray with VLC on Mac & Windows.

NOTE. If VLC fails to play, there are other tools capable of breaking almost all protections, like VideoByte Blu-ray Player.

Pros:

Open-source freeware.
No spyware and safe.
No pop-up advertisement.
Multiple customization settings.

Cons:

Not all Blu-ray movies are supported.
Cumbersome steps are required to play Blu-ray discs on laptops.
No Blu-ray menus.
Some playback problems, such as delayed subtitles and no sound, may occur when playing commercial Blu-rays.

Best 4K Blu-Ray Players for PC & Mac: Who’s the Winner

Top 2. Leawo Blu-ray Player: Free but with Low Resolution

Best for playing 4K Blu-rays that are region-locked

Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac is the best Blu-ray player for Mac that can play 4K Blu-ray discs, folders, and ISO images. Even if your Blu-rays are purchased in other regions, Leawo, one of the best region-free Blu-ray players, can decrypt Blu-ray and decode almost all region codes, making it able to play Blu-ray discs on MacBook Pro/Air for you. It also provides a Blu-ray menu to let you fully control the media playback, with which you can jump to your preferred content. This Mac Blu-ray player is available in both a free and premium version. To access all features, you can upgrade for a starting price of $44.95 per year.

However, such free Mac Blu-ray player service comes at the cost of unresponsive customer support. Some users complained that they would give them negative stars because they didn’t hear from the support team once. During our testing, there were several annoying problems. For instance, the Blu-ray ripper often crashes when playing a Blu-ray disc on old computers.

Note: If you find it disappointed that Leawo cannot give you 4K playback enjoyment, just take a look at VideoByte Blu-ray Player, a media player ideal for playing regular videos up to 4K.

Pros:

Support Blu-ray discs in all regions.
Provide Blu-ray menu control.
Able to play video/audio files like 4K MKV, HD AVI, SD MP4, etc.
Enable snap screenshots for sharing.
Play the latest Blu-ray discs on Mac.
Simple to use and has an intuitive interface.

Cons:

Crash several times when starting to play Blu-ray/DVD.
A little hard to use the virtual mouse to control the Blu-ray menu.
Loading a Blu-ray disc could take 35 seconds which is slower than other products.
Use too much CPU of a computer.
Ads included.
Terrible customer support.

Best 4K Blu-ray Players for PC & Mac: Tested and Ranked

Top 3. Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player: Limited Blu-ray Support

Best for playing commercial HD Blu-ray collections

Macgo has two versions of Mac Blu-ray player software for Mac users. What we introduce today is the basic one – Macgo Blu-ray Player. It is a Mac Blu-ray player that can easily play commercial Blu-ray discs in high quality. As most commercial Blu-rays are encrypted with copy protection, Macgo can decrypt the common protection and play them for you. But when it comes to playback experience, Macgo Blu-ray Player may pale compared with other free tools such as VLC. It may get laggy, sometimes drop the frame, or get stuck.

Another factor that could affect your experience is its watermark. When you play your favorite Blu-ray movie discs, the Macgo would put a watermark in the center during the playback unless you upgrade to the pro version. What’s worse, Macgo doesn’t support many formats like MP4, 4K video, MKV, FLV, MOV, 3GPP and other formats.

Additionally, Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player can play Blu-ray movies with up to 1080P quality. However, if you intend to play 4K Blu-ray movies, you will need to upgrade to Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player Pro. The Pro version has more advanced features and supports high-definition decoders that can provide 4K Blu-ray image effects. Moreover, it supports multiple video formats to ensure a flexible and enjoyable viewing experience.

💡 Tips for Premium Blu-ray Players:
Both Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player Pro and VideoByte Blu-ray Player provide paid services with similar functions. They can play encrypted Blu-rays, support Blu-ray menu, and provide crystal-clear sound quality. Additionally, they are compatible with most macOS versions – Macgo covers Mac OS X 10.8 and later, while VideoByte covers Mac OS X 10.9 or above (including macOS Catalina).

Compared to the pricey Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player Pro, another affordable option – VideoByte Blu-ray Player – offers similar features and support higher image quality with a 30-day free trial.

Pros:

Play commercial Blu-ray discs easily.
High video quality is supported for playback.

Cons:

Offer up to 1080P quality Blu-ray video playback.
Watermark in the picture center.
Consume high CPU usage.
No support for all DVDs, DVD files, and Blu-ray folders/ISO files.
All media files are unavailable for playback.

Top 4. Free Mac Blu-ray Player: Limited Playback Control

Best for playing media files in a wide range of formats

As its name suggests, Free Mac Blu-ray Player is completely free of charge for playing Blu-ray discs, Blu-ray folders, and ISO files on Mac. Featuring wide compatibility in formats like MP4, MOV, M4V, WMV, and so on, this Blu-ray player opens media files of popular formats. It also offers menu control, with which you can choose any chapter, audio tracks, and subtitles freely to have a wonderful Blu-ray-watching experience on MacBook Pro/Air.

Still, the Mac Blu-ray player doesn’t allow you to view your Blu-ray movie in full screen. And it imposes a watermark when playing your BD discs. If you want to create GIFs or take screenshots of your favorite scenes, you need to find extra editing tools to remove the watermark. Moreover, you won’t get 24/7 customer support in the free version when you run into any problems.

Pros:

Provides Blu-ray disc menu.
No ads and safe.

Cons:

Watermark on the top left corner.
No permission to switch to full screen.
Cannot open some newly-released Blu-ray movie discs.
No customer support in the free edition.
Its technical upgrade is slow and the latest upgrade was launched in 2019.

Top 5. Aurora Blu-ray Media Player: Takes up High CPU Resources

Best for playing Blu-rays in different foreign languages

Another Blu-ray player software for Mac is Aurora Blu-ray Media Player. It is a media player ideal for opening a variety of video types, including DVD, ISO, VCD, and HD Blu-rays. If the Blu-ray you want to play is a foreign movie, Aurora has multiple language options and can play it with different languages of subtitles and audio tracks. If you have an outstanding home audio system, you can also get the best sound experience via output channels such as DTS HD 7.1.

As powerful as Aurora Blu-ray Media Player is, the software allows unlimited access to play Blu-rays on Mac but offers playback in its free trial version with a watermark. Meanwhile, it takes up relatively high CPU resources. So you may not run multiple tasks when watching Blu-ray movies. Besides, this Blu-ray player for MacBook Pro/Air contains several different settings that may require a steep learning curve to grasp.

Pros:

Support multiple languages with subtitles and soundtrack.
Superb sound experience.

Cons:

Only support 1080P video quality.
Have a watermark on the free version.
A rather complex interface.
No support for the Blu-ray menu.

Top 6. DVDFab Ultra HD Player: Not Bad & Expensive

Best for playing UHD Blu-rays in common formats

DVDFab Ultra HD Player is a 4K Blu-ray player for macOS and Windows. When playing Blu-ray discs with main movie titles and background audio, it also offers menu controls, enabling you to control the Blu-ray playback. To ensure a high-quality viewing, DVDFab Player supports HEVC, 4K UHD, and other digital media files such as AVI and MP4, making it perfect for playing 4K Blu-ray movies on MacBook Pro/Air. When playing movies of lossless quality, you can easily perceive the details even if you only have a mediocre monitor display.

However, DVDFab Player is not a free Blu-ray player. It only provides a 30-day free trial. When the trial ends, you’ll have to purchase a license. But the cost for its one-year plan is almost equal to 3 times of other products. Also, it applies transcoding technology to improve its performance, which might lead to quality loss when playing the disc. Moreover, many users have reviewed failure to play Blu-ray on MacBook Pro, so it is wise to use its free trial for testing before upgrading to a subscription.

Tips: Premium Blu-ray Players: DVDFab or VideoByte?

While both programs offer Blu-ray playback on Mac for similar prices, VideoByte Blu-ray Player outperforms DVDFab. It boasts slightly lower costs and flexible subscription options that cater to different budgets. Moreover, VideoByte delivers a noticeably smoother and more stable viewing experience, especially on older computers.

Pros:

Support 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and DVD.
Support most formats such as MKV, MP4, and AVI.

Cons:

Its free trial only lasts 30 days.
Too expensive for its full version.

Top 7. Elmedia Player Free: Free but Limited Service

Best for playing unprotected Blu-ray discs with various editing features

Elmedia Player is a free and powerful Blu-ray player that can play virtually all kinds of media files or physical discs. This Mac Blu-ray player comes with additional features including downloading external subtitles and can fix issues such as audio and subtitles out of sync.

It also offers basic playback settings such as pausing video, adjusting volume, and resizing the screen, enabling you to watch your preferred part. For tech-savvy users, the player also offers many customization settings to tweak. However, the only drawback is that the software may fail to work with protected Blu-ray discs on MacBook Pro/Air/iMac.

Pros:

Support thousands of video and audio formats.
Support subtitles and playlists.
Highly customizable settings.

Cons:

Can only play unprotected Blu-ray videos on laptops.

Part 3. Comparison Between Free Blu-ray Player for Mac

With 8 Blu-ray players for Mac, you can pick anyone. For those who want to play homemade Blu-ray videos, a free Mac Blu-ray player like VLC is recommended. Alternatively, you can opt for a paid player like VideoByte Blu-ray Player, which offers a free trial for you to experience its robust features.

Premium options like VideoByte offer excellent features, including 4K video playback, stable and fast playback performance, the ability to play encrypted latest Blu-ray, and compatibility with various Mac models like MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and more.

	Blu-ray discs, folders & ISO files	Protected Blu-ray	4K UHD Blu-ray	Easy to use	Price	Supported macOS
VideoByte Blu-ray Player	√	√	√	√	$49.95/ lifetime (with 30-day free trial)	Mac OS X 10.9 or above (including macOS Catalina)
VLC Media Player	√	× (Only support unprotected ones & AACS)	√ (Not stable)	×	Free	Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later
Leawo Blu-ray Player	√	√	√	√	$44.95/year (Free for basic version)	Mac OS X Yosemite (10.10) and later
Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player	× (Blu-ray disc only)	√	×	√	$29.95/lifetime (Free for basic version)	Mac OS X 10.8 and later
Free Mac Blu-ray Player	√ (Not the latest ones)	√	√	√	$40.21/lifetime (Free for the basic version)	Mac OS X 10.9 and later (macOS Sonoma included)
Aurora Blu-ray Media Player	√	√	×	×	$49.95/lifetime	Mac OS X 10.8 – 10.15 Catalina
DVDFab Ultra HD Player	√	√	√	√	$49.99/year (with 30-day free trial)	Mac OS X 10.10 – 14
Elmedia Player Free	√	×	√	√	Free	Mac OS X 10.12 and later

Tip:

Some of you may also want to buy Blu-ray player hardware to read your Blu-ray, since a normal DVD drive won’t detect Blu-ray discs. Here we’d like to recommend several choices and you can select one:

ASUS BW-16D1X-U Blu-ray Drive: $124.99 (Amazon)
LG BP60NB10 Ultra Slim Blu-ray Drive: $99.99 (Amazon)
LG WP50NB40 Ultra Slim Portable Blu-ray Writer: $110 (Amazon)

FAQs About Playing Blu-rays on Mac

Q1: How to bypass Blu-ray region codes?

A professional Blu-ray Player is usually region-free, and whatever region codes your Blu-ray discs are locked with, the Blu-ray player will handle them well. Most Blu-ray players we’ve mentioned in the post can meet your needs, so you can check them twice and select the one you like. By the way, we still recommend you try VideoByte Blu-ray Player which is a region-free and easy-to-use one.

Q2: Can you use a Blu-ray player on Mac?

No, you can’t play Blu-ray discs on MacBook Pro/Air directly. MacBooks do not come with a built-in Blu-ray drive required to read the discs. To play Blu-ray videos on your Mac, you need to acquire an external Blu-ray drive to read Blu-rays and Blu-ray playback software to play them.

Summary

The above 8 best free Blu-ray players for macOS are the most useful playback utilities that we highly recommend. To evaluate if the Blu-ray player will satisfy your needs, you can also consider these factors:

Smooth playback of protected and non-protected Blu-ray discs up to 4K.
Compatible with macOS.
Free of charge. No watermark.
Supported popular video and audioformats for
Customization settings for playback controls.
Ease of use.

However, there is no such thing as a free lunch. You may find that some free tools have limitations, such as free trials and limited formats. They may not be able to play all your Blu-ray movie collections. Therefore, if you want to play a commercial Blu-ray disc on a Mac and get a smoother playback experience, we recommend VideoByte Blu-ray Player, a professional and easy-to-use Blu-ray player for Mac. Try it out to enjoy Blu-ray movies on your Mac.