Tired of your DVD collection taking over your shelves? The best free DVD rippers help you convert movies, TV shows, and home videos into digital files, freeing up space while keeping your collection safe and accessible. With discs becoming fragile and many modern devices dropping DVD drives, ripping DVDs into digital files is a smart way to future-proof your media.
So, what are some important features to look for in a good DVD ripper? It should handle discs, ISO files, or DVD folders, and let you save in popular formats like MP4, AVI, or MOV—along with other useful capabilities such as subtitle support, batch ripping, faster performance, and more, making it easier and safer to back up your collection without risking unwanted software or malware.
💡 A note on paid vs. free DVD rippers: While this list focuses on free options, most free DVD rippers have limitations, such as an inability to handle DRM-protected DVDs (especially with recent encryption schemes), restricted output formats, potential quality loss, or higher CPU usage. For advanced features—like DRM removal—a one-time purchase of an affordable premium option can offer significant advantages. This guide includes a mix of genuinely free tools and highly-rated premium software with generous free trials, helping you find the right fit for your needs.
Why You Need a DVD Ripper
If you have a collection of DVDs, ripping them to digital files can save time, space, and hassle. Here are some of the main reasons why a DVD ripper is worth using:
- Free Up Physical Space: Convert DVDs into digital files and store them on an external hard drive, flash drive, or cloud storage to declutter your shelves.
- Protect Your DVDs: Preserve old or valuable discs from scratches, wear, and potential damage.
- Watch Anywhere: Enjoy your DVD movies or shows on laptops, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, or even projectors without relying on a disc drive.
- Easily Share Content: Share clips or full movies with friends, family, or online platforms.
- Extract Clips for Projects: Use parts of your DVDs for video essays, compilations, or creative editing.
- Recover Damaged DVDs: Rip DVDs that are scratched or failing to play, saving content that might otherwise be lost.
- Future-Proof Your Collection: Ensure your DVDs remain accessible even as physical drives become less common.
- ...
Top 10 Best Free DVD Rippers in 2025
1. VideoProc Converter AI - The Overall Best DVD Ripper
Compatible OS: Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7; macOS 10.13 and later
Editor's rating:

No matter how big or small your DVD collection is, VideoProc Converter AI makes ripping and digitizing discs effortless. This all-in-one DVD ripper endowed with the great talent of copying and ripping DVDs on Windows and Mac. It can rip all old and new DVDs with copy-protections, copy full title to MKV, VIDEO_TS folder, and ISO image file, and digitize DVDs to MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, and 370+ formats to play, share, archive, and edit conveniently.
For beginners, it has a full list of presets categorized by devices (iPhone, iPad, Android, TV, etc.) and video platforms (YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, etc.), so that you can rip a DVD in one click. For tech-savvy users, VideoProc Converter AI gives you full control over the video resolution, the bitrate, the frame rate, the video codec, and the subtitle track.
By the level 3 hardware acceleration tech, VideoProc Converter AI rips DVDs in the fastest manner. Knowing that most DVD owners want the best of the best, it offers one-stop video solutions incl. editing, AI video upscaling, deinterlacing, compressing, recording, downloading, etc.
Pros:
- Handle homemade and commercial DVDs: movies, music, TV shows, workout, and anime DVDs.
- Remove copy protection from DVDs: Bypass CSS, UOPs, Disney X project, APS, Sony ARccOS, etc.
- Support hardware acceleration and boost DVD ripping up to 47x real-time faster.
- Copy and convert DVD to MP4(AV1/HEVC), FLV, MTS, MKV, AVI, MP3, and any format you want.
- 6 DVD backup options to deliver videos in the original quality.
- Compress and edit ripped DVD videos to fit smart TV, Facebook, YouTube, iPhone, Android, etc.
- AI-enhance video quality of old, low-reslution, blurry, and slightly scratched DVDs.
Cons:
- Cannot rip Blu-ray discs.
Video Tutorial: How to Rip a DVD with VideoProc Converter AI
Three Hacks That Make DVD Ripping in VideoProc Converter AI Never this Easy
#1 If you don't know the type of your DVD file system, just keep the default setting, and VideoProc Converter AI will detect the right title for you automatically.
#2 Tick the box before NVIDIA/Intel/AMD and select multi-core usage to enjoy up to 47x faster ripping speed.
#3 Enable Safe Mode, and VideoProc Converter AI will handle the entire ripping process without interruptions.
#4 Import the digitized DVD movie to its Super Resolution and Frame Interpolation (AI modules), and you can upscale low-res or old movie to HD/4K and convert films from 24fps to smooth modern FPS.
2. VLC - Best Free DVD Ripper with Media Playback Support
Compatible OS: Windows (64-bit only), Mac, Linux
Editor's rating:

VLC is well-known as a media player available on both computers and mobile devices. It supports a wide arrange of media formats, of course, including discs. You can browse to open DVD, Blu-ray, audio CD, and SVCD/VCD with VLC, and convert them to MKV, MP4, TS, and more. Since it won't rip DVD with smart presets, you need to manually adjust settings of codecs, resolution, frame rate, and select title, audio track and subtitle track. To rip DVD/Blu-ray in the original quality, output settings have to match the source content, so you must be well aware of the source information.
Compared with HandBrake, VLC is much simpler for beginners and semi-pros. Follow the lead of its intuitive interface, you can load, rip, and export the DVD video easily. But note that, you are only allowed to select one title/chapter at a time. If no title that contains all chapters in the DVD, you have to rip DVD chapters one by one, and finally, merge them into one video. Alas, it gets users baffled again.
Pros:
- Free and supported on most computers.
- Intuitive and easy to pick up for most users.
- Rip kinds of discs – DVD, Blu-ray, VCD, and CD.
- A perfect player on computer for DVD and Blu-ray.
Cons:
- Can't read the best title automatically.
- No sound issue occurs when ripping DVD to MP4 format container.
Official website: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html
3. HandBrake – Best Free and Open Source DVD Ripper Software
Compatible OS: Windows (64-bit only), Mac, Linux
Editor's rating:

HandBrake is an open source video transcoder that also functions as the best free DVD ripper. It supports DVD, Blu-ray discs, and ISO image files without copy protection. For advanced users who prefer customize output settings, this software gives you maximum free to tweak on your DVD videos – video encoding modes, resolution, bitrate, subtitle tracks, title/chapter selection, video dimensions, filters, etc. Besides, it has handy presets categorized by devices, web, Matroska, production, and general use.
Although it comes with easy video editing features like rotate, flip, sharpen, and denoise, you cannot preview what you have done to your video in real time. It takes a long time to render the ripped video and then unitizes the system default media player to play it. Beginners may spend hours and even days adjusting DVD ripping settings before they get the whole media content from the disc successfully.
Pros:
- Capable of ripping both DVDs and Blu-ray discs.
- Entirely free and lightweight.
- Flexible ripping settings, and can be manipulated with command lines.
- Support most modern and widely used video codecs: H.265, H.264, VP9, and MPEG-4.
Cons:
- Unable to rip encrypted DVD and Blur-ray.
- No real-time preview.
- Limited output formats – MKV, MP4, and WebM.
- Fail to rip large movie DVD/Blu-ray when you load multiple tasks on your computer.
Official website: https://handbrake.fr/
4. MakeMKV - Best Free Blu-ray and DVD Ripper
Compatible OS: Mac, Windows, Linux
Editor's rating:

Although MakeMKV is a video converter, it offers less optimal formats for the ripped DVD video. It grabs all the contents from the disc and saves them in an MKV file. After you insert a disc and load it to MakeMKV, the ripper detects and presents all the tiles and source information in a fast manner. If you don't know which title to rip, just choose the one with the biggest size. This DVD and Blu-ray ripper choose MKV as the only output format because it contains all the data you need: video, audio, chapters, track language, etc.
Pros:
- It reads and converts both DVD and Blu-ray discs even protected with AACS and BD+.
- It preserves the original video quality of BD and DVD movies.
- The MKV file you get contains all media contents in the discs.
- The workflow is super easy for all users.
- Its beta version comes with all features available and completely free.
Cons:
- Only one video format container MKV.
- You need to play the disc and select the right title manually.
- No more customizable settings to reduce the file size or change the video resolution.
Official website: https://www.makemkv.com/
5. MediaCoder – Best Free DVD Ripper for Windows
Compatible OS: Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista
Editor's rating:

This is an audio and video transcoder that can be applied to grab videos from unencrypted DVD, VCD, CD, and BD. You can tell from its interface that this is an aged tool – old-school UI design with loads of settings panels. Honestly, this is not friendly to newbies. It costs you much time understanding the function of each panel and setting the start and end of your desired part, because it doesn't read the discs by titles, instead it roughly grabs all video files and merges them into a long video.
Pros:
- A rich set of parameters for tuning the video and audio files.
- Support tens of lossy and lossless compression formats.
- Best for advanced users with much multimedia knowledge.
- Completely free and easy to download.
Cons:
- Not available for Mac.
- It rips all titles by default.
- Extremely slow preview on the recent Windows 11/10 system.
Official website: https://www.mediacoderhq.com/
6. Freemake – Bbest DVD Ripper for Windows 10
Compatible OS: Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista
Editor's rating:
The DVD ripping software from Freemake is recognized as the best DVD ripper for Windows for almost 10 years. It is pretty easy to extract subtitles, video, audio, menus from DVDs and Blu-ray discs. It has assisted millions of users with varied goals - archiving, copying, transferring online, or playing DVDs on portable devices. As long as the media content is non-corrupted, Freemake can rip any type of DVDs including DVD-R DL, DVD+R DL, DVD-R/RW, and DVD+R/RW, as well as region-locked and copy-protected DVDs and Blu-ray.
Pros:
- Rip most old and new DVDs and decrypt region-locked DVDs.
- Customizable settings for optimizing video quality and size.
- Easy for beginners.
- Copy DVD videos to USB, HDTV, iPhone, iPad, Android, etc.
- Support 50+ video formats.
Cons:
- Windows only.
- It does not support video codecs like H.265, VP9, and AV1.
- Apparent quality loss when shrink the DVD size.
- The ripped video will be watermarked in the free version.
Freemake DVD Ripper "Downloading installation files failed" Error
Even though you can download the.exe file from its official site, you are always stuck by this error. That's because Freemake DVD Ripper has been expired and merged into another software called Freemake Video Converter.
Official website: https://www.freemake.com/
7. WinX DVD Ripper Platinum – Best Premium DVD Ripper for Windows 10/11
Compatible OS: Windows, Mac
Editor's rating:

The next DVD ripper we are going to talk about is WinX DVD Ripper. You must be familiar with this brand if you started using DVD ripper a long time ago. It has set the industry standard for DVD ripping. By its special compatible CSS mechanism, it decrypts Disney X-project DRM, Sony ARccOS Protection, DVD region lock, and user operation prohibition. So it can rip DVD on Windows 11/10 and Mac without fuss. Another thing makes WinX DVD Ripper Platinum a robust ripper is the tech of hyper-threading and multi-core hardware acceleration (up to 8 cores), which empowers you to rip a full DVD to MP4 H.264 in 5 minutes.
Besides MP4, it can rip DVD to AVI, MPEG, M2TS, and any format accepted by TV, hard drive, laptops, and mobile devices. To keep everything you want, it backs up almost all content in your DVD including all chapters, subtitle track, and tag info. And if necessary, you can do some edits before ripping, like say, trimming, cropping, or adjusting audio volume.
Pros:
- Optimize the file size 80% smaller while keeping the original resolution.
- Remove DRM from Disney, Warner Bros, and Paramount movies.
- 350+ output format options for playing DVD videos on any devices and platforms.
- It offers a free edition for people on a budget.
Cons:
- Cannot rip Blu-ray discs.
- It doesn't support AMD hardware acceleration.
Official website: https://www.winxdvd.com/dvd-ripper-platinum/
8. Format Factory – Best Free DVD Ripping Software for Windows
Compatible OS: Windows 11/10/8/7
Editor's rating:

Format Factory is a powerful multimedia processing tool competent to convert videos, images, and documents. And DVD ripping is just one of its functions. Just as the name suggests, it is compatible with a truly wide array of formats. Besides DVDs, you can use to rip BD, and music CD. In the ROM Device/DVD/CD/ISO option, Format Factory offers 5 ripping utilities for converting DVD to video file, Blu-ray disc to MKV, CD to audio file, DVD/CD to ISO/CSO, and ISO to CSO. You can pick the output format as you like from its format arsenal freely.
Pros:
- It is completely free and safe.
- It reads and keeps all the contents in the DVD, titles, chapters, metadata, etc.
- Compatible with most media formats: MP4, WMV, AVI, 3GP, MP3, AAC, WMA, etc.
- Simple editing tools for video, audio, and image files.
Cons:
- You cannot preview the movie before ripping.
- It can't detect and select the best title automatically.
- Format Factory has no Mac version.
- It tends to take a long time to rip movie DVDs without the help of hardware acceleration.
Official website: http://pcfreetime.com/formatfactory/
9. VidCoder - Best Free and Open Source DVD Ripper for Windows
Compatible OS: Windows 11, 10, 8, 7 (64-bit)
Editor's rating:

VidCoder comes in handy if you want to rip DVD or BD to widely supported and playable video formats MP4 and MKV. Like most DVD ripping software, VidCoder offers both customizable ripping settings and dumb-easy presets. If you are an experienced user, you can control the results as you wish, such as the format, video size, resolution, and quality. In most cases, we just keep the default settings and then wait for the ripped video.
The core encoding engine is written by HandBrake developers based on the Net Framework. You don't need to install Handbrake but have NET 4.7.1 pre-installed on your PC. Otherwise, VidCoder won't start running and will prompt you to download and install it.
Pros:
- Instant preview of what the ripped video looks like.
- Flexible settings for video titles and chapters, languages, and subtitles.
- Rip and merge multiple chapters into one video.
- Powerful batch encoding.
- Multiple codec options: H.264, H.265. MPEG-4. MP3, AAC, etc.
- Video encoding is boosted by hardware acceleration.
Cons:
- Cannot rip decrypted commercial discs.
- Only two available video containers in VidCoder – MP4 and MKV.
- You can't preview the whole video until the DVD ripping is finished.
Official website: https://vidcoder.net/
10. Magic DVD Ripper – Best DVD Ripper and Copy Software for Windows
Compatible OS: Windows 11/10/8/7
Editor's rating:

Since developed as a pure DVD ripper, Magic DVD spends every effort dealing with DVD, and that's why there are no extra features like video editing in it. Most users are confused by it its brother Magic DVD Copier. Actually, they come with almost the same functions, but Magic DVD Copier is more expensive and has one more feature - burning videos to blank discs.
Back to Magic DVD Ripper, it has 4 ways to rip the disc – copying the disc fully, ripping the main movie, splitting DVD9 into DVD5 discs, and compressing the DVD to tit on a single player disc (but with 55% quality loss). On top of that, DVD Magic Ripper can help you convert DVDs including encrypted DVDs to playable formats on smartphones, iPods, PSP, PS4/PS3, etc. Besides common video formats, it also enables you to convert DVD to VCD or SVCD.
Pros:
- Rip full DVD disc including trailers, menus, and special features.
- Remove DVD restrictions (Region, RCE, CSS, etc.).
- High speed ripping without much quality loss.
- Compatible with all Windows computers.
Cons:
- No real-time preview.
- No smart title selection. You need to play the DVD and figure out the right title in advance.
Official website: http://www.magicdvdripper.com/
Best DVD Ripper Software Comparison
For anyone who in a rush, we've made this comparison table of the 10 best DVD ripping software on the market. Check it out and pick the best one for you in just a second.
| DVD Ripper | Ratings | OS | Free or Paid | Supported Input Files |
|---|---|---|---|---|
VideoProc Converter AI |
|
Windows, Mac | Free and paid | Copy-protected DVDs, ISO image files, CDR |
WinX DVD Ripper |
|
Windows, Mac | $59.95 | Commercial and homemade DVD, ISO image file |
Format Factory |
|
Windows | Free | DVD, Blu-ray, CD, ISO |
VidCoder |
|
Windows | Free | DVD and Blu-ray without encryption |
HandBrake |
|
Windows, Mac, Linux | Free | DVD and Blu-ray without copy protection |
VLC |
|
Windows, Mac, Linux | Free | Unencrypted DVD, SVCD/VCD, Blu-ray, Audio CD |
Magic DVD Ripper |
|
Windows | $49.95 | Most homemade and commercial DVDs, and encrypted DVDs |
MakeMKV |
|
Windows, Mac, Linux | Free | DVD, Blu-ray |
MediaCoder |
|
Windows | Free | Unencrypted DVD, VCD, Blu-ray, CD |
Freemake |
|
Windows | Free with watermarks | Common and region-locked DVDs, Blu-ray |
Why These DVD Rippers Are Not on the List
DVDShrink
DVDShrink is an obsolete Windows freeware to copy and back up DVDs, and it doesn't perform very well in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7. Although it claims that it won't charge anything, it asks you to donate and redirects you to other sites. And after browsing the entire website, I did not find any download button.
Aurora DV Ripper
Aurora was once the hot DVD ripping software on Windows XP and Windows 98, but it hasn't been updated since 2006. So it is not the best DVD ripper on modern computers.
FAQs
1. Ripping or copying?
DVD ripping and copying both read and extract data from physical discs to a digital format, but differ in the way of achieving this goal. DVD ripping is a compressed process and strips out some special features, thus ripped videos are smaller than the one copied. While copying is to duplicate the original discs bit by bit. So when you play the copied DVD video, you'll feel like playing the original DVDs and dealing with menus, trailers, etc.
2. What is the best format to rip a DVD?
If your goal is to rip and store the DVD in the best quality, it is better to choose DVD standard video format MPEG2 that keeps the original resolution 720p @29.97fps. But note that you'll lose subtitles, VMG files and more info. While for 1:1 copy in an uncompressed way, ISO and Video_TS Folder are your best choices.
When you rip and convert movie DVDs for playback on tablets, smartphones, or TVs, the best format should be widely supported and playable. MKV is the most recommended among DVD collectors because it includes subtitles, video and audio tracks, menus, and chapters.
3. How long does it take to rip a DVD?
It depends. The DVD video length and size, the target format, the computer configuration, and the DVD ripper you use all combine to affect the ripping speed. Generally, it takes 12 - 30 minutes to rip a standard DVD movie. However, the time can be shorter or longer based on the DVD ripping software you use and whether it utilizes hardware acceleration and multi cores to improve the speed.
Taking VideoProc Converter AI as an example, with the hardware acceleration engine enabled, it only takes 10 minutes while keeping the CPU usage around 20% to rip a feature-length movie DVD (109 min, NTSC 720x480) to MKV.
Disclaimer
Before ripping a DVD, we need to address the elephant in the room – DVD copy protection. According to the case Real Networks v. DVD CCA, any use of circumvention tools for infringing purposes is illegal and forbidden, while, to make a personal backup copy of the media content is permissible under some conditions. But note that this differs from country to country. Therefore, go check your local laws before you use these DVD rippers.





