Can anyone recommend a DVD ripper that works on Mac M1 and does not need questionable extensions or contain malware? - from Reddit

Does anybody know a (free) program to rip DVD's in original quality and including all menus and stuff? I know there is DVD decrypter for Windows, but is there a DVD ripper program for Mac? - from Reddit

I want to make a digital copy of a DVD movie that is not available on iTunes or any other streaming services. I was trying to use Handbrake to RIP the DVD. I did it on my M1 Max, but it does not work and I have the same distorted videos after ripping. Has anyone gotten this to work in Monterey on an M series chip? - from Macrumors 

A DVD ripper is a must-have for DVD owners today. It can help backup their DVD collections in case the original discs get lost or damaged, convert a region-locked DVD for a local player, or rip DVDs for playback on Macbooks, iMacs, mobile devices, etc. Then you won't have to carry around big DVDs, insert the DVD into the disc drive, or download an MPEG2 decoder.

To determine the best DVD ripping software for Macintosh, MacBook Pro/Air, iMac, I conducted various tests and found out 12 best free DVD ripper software for Mac. We will take a close look at their pros, cons, DVD rippping steps, and key features.

Download 2024 Best Free DVD Ripper for Mac

MacX DVD Ripper Free - Easily Rip any DVD on Mac! [Most Recommended by Users]

  • Rip any DVD to Macs in MP4, MKV, MOV, H.264, HEVC, M4V, AVI, QuickTime, ISO, and 350+ formats.
  • Rip DVDs for Macintosh, MacBook Pro, Air, iMac, M1/M2 Macs, hard drive, Apple TV, iDevices, and 420+ profiles.
  • Strongest! Rip new & old DVDs protected by 99 titles, region codes, CSS, RCE, Disney X-project, UOP, ARccOS, etc.
  • 5x faster GPU accelerated DVD ripping speed on Mac: It takes 5 mins Only to rip a full DVD with original quality.

Tips to Select the Best DVD Ripper for Mac

There is a plethora of free DVD ripping software for Mac, each of which claims to rip any DVD to any format, such as MP4, MOV, MPEG, H.264, and so on. Make sure it's the best free Mac DVD ripper before downloading the program. Otherwise, you may find yourself busy with troubleshooting as it crashes constantly, fails to load the DVD, gets choppy video on output, or keeps giving messages like "no valid source found", etc. Here are 5 criteria to consider.

1. macOS Compatibility: macOS Sonoma and M1/2 Macs weed out 32-bit apps, causing many non-Apple apps, including DVD rippers, to hang at launch. The best DVD ripper for Mac should work with Macintosh to M1/M2 Macs running Sonoma.

2. Fast Speed: Some Mac DVD rippers rely on the CPU, whereas others can double or triple the speed with GPU concurrent computing. If you have hundreds of DVDs to be digitized, choose a DVD ripper for Mac that supports GPU acceleration.

3. High Quality: DVD transcoding entails codec compression, which invariably results in quality degradation. By virtue of an advanced video transcoding kernel, good DVD ripping software for Mac can create high-quality movie files with imperceptible loss of quality (the bitrate should be around 1500 kbps). 

4. Ease of Use: Great tools will feature an intuitive interface with features clearly marked and locally placed, leaving little room for guesswork. Preferably, users can go from DVD to digital on Mac within 3 clicks, regardless of their computer skills.

5. Rip protected DVDs: When handling DVDs with protections, some free DVD rippers end up with errors like halfway encoding, unwatchable rips, etc. Good DVD ripping software for Mac should be able to remove copy protections as all commercial DVDs are copy-protected.

6. Additional features: It will be better if the Mac DVD ripper allows you to adjust the video parameters, trim the video, add subtitles, merge titles, etc.

Research Process:

With these rules in mind, we have spent almost a week to test and select the best free DVD ripper for Mac. A total of 25 DVD ripping programs (free and paid) have been tested, and a homemade DVD, a region 2 DVD, a Disney DVD, a Sony DVD, and a TV series DVD are used as the source discs. Below are the best Mac DVD rippers that deliver good DVD ripping performance on Macs.

No.1 - MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition

Price: Free

Compatibility: MacOS Sonoma, Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, and ealier

MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition is a free DVD ripper for Mac (Apple M1/2 Macs and macOS Sonoma are all supported). Its ability to read DRM-protected discs distinguishes it as the best way to rip a DVD on Mac. It supports almost all the common and latest encryption schemes on the market, including CSS, Region Code, RCE, ARccOS, Disney X-Project DRM, etc. No third-party tools or extra actions are required.

It can freely rip DVDs to Mac in HEVC, MOV, M4V, H.264, MKV, AVI, ISO, and any other formats you need. With just a few clicks, you can watch DVD movies on Mac QuickTime, iPhone, iPad, iTunes, Apple TV, iPod, iPod Touch, or save DVDs on SSD, NAS, USB, and cloud storage. There is a full range of basic editing features to let you cut, crop, merge, add subtitles, etc. 4 unique DVD backup modes are provided for those who want to save a lossless DVD copy.

With Nivida, Intel, and AMD GPU acceleration, hyper-threading, and multi-core CPU techs, ripping DVDs on Mac is super fast. On a newer MacBook or iMac, it's able to rip a full DVD to MP4 in 5-10 minutes. That's roughly 300% the speed of Handbrake. The built-in High-quality engine and De-interlacing engine produce remarkably high quality.

How Do I Rip a DVD to My Mac for Free?

Learn how to use MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition to rip DVDs on Mac with the best balance in speed, quality, and size.

Step 1: Insert DVD into your Mac drive

Prior to the ripping, make sure to spare some space to save the final rip. Then free download the DVD ripper on your Mac (Macintosh or newer machines) and insert your disc. Run the software and click the "Add DVD" button to load the disc. You can also convert DVD folder or ISO image to a digital format.

Free download the DVD ripper on Mac >>
Free download the DVD ripper on Windows >>

 Best free DVD ripping software Mac
MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition

Step 2: Choose the output format

MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition will easily find the accurate main title and then bring up the output format screen. For DVDs with tough protections, its unique title check mechanism and DVD analysis algorithm automatically scan the title, crack severely protected DVDs, and smooth the ripping process.

The Mac-specific library offers diversified options, ranging from backing up DVDs to ISO image, MKV, MPG, to converting DVDs to Apple, Android, TVs, and Web. Here are some recommended settings for Mac DVD ripping:

  • To view DVDs on players, phones, tablets, TVs, etc., choose digital format MP4 H.264 for better compatibility, quality, and smaller file size. With no further tweaking, it achieves an H.264 file with crisp pictures.
  • To play DVDs on iPhones or iPads, Android, choose digital format MP4 HEVC for higher quality and smaller space.
  • To save an original copy with menus and extras, copy DVD to ISO image. The disc image contains the whole data of the disc at a 1:1 ratio for later burning but has less compatibility with media players and devices.
how to free rip DVD on Mac
How to rip DVDs on Mac for free

You can also enable the editing features, available for you to cut the commercials, merge the useful parts, add subtitles to the movie rip, etc.

Step 3: Start ripping the DVD on Mac

Click the Browse button to specify the output folder on your Mac and press RUN to begin DVD ripping. Just leave the rest to the Mac DVD ripper. It will finish the process quickly.

After the DVD ripping on Mac, you can use Finder to transfer the ripped file to your phone or tablet. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac using a USB or Wi-Fi connection. Select the device in the Finder sidebar > Movies > check the box "Sync movies onto [device name]"> choose the movie you want to sync > click Apple.

Pros

  • It's among the top free DVD rippers for Mac because it delivers fast and stable DVD ripping.
  • The free DVD ripping software for Macintosh supports almost all copy protections on a purchased DVD.
  • It offers a wide range of output formats and settings to customize the ripping.

Cons

  • It doesn't support Blu-ray discs or DVD burning.
  • The output formats are located based on the devices. It's hard to find a not-commonly-used format among its 350+ output profiles.

No.2 - iSuper DVD Ripper

Price: Free with a paid version for $26.25

Compatibility: macOS 10.7 or later.

iSuper DVD Ripper is a useful program for converting homemade DVDs on MacBook Pro, Air, and iMac. It is the most popular DVD ripper among the several options available on the Mac App Store. You can use it to rip non-protected DVDs on Macs to MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, MKV, FLV, M4V, HD MP4, HD AVI, HD MKV, HD WMV, and extract the DVD audio in MP3, AAC, WMA, etc.

For unencrypted DVDs, iSuper DVD Ripper is very helpful to extract the contents from the disc, add some simple video effects, and convert to different output formats. So many users would use it to rip family DVDs to save on their Macs. However, if you want more features to, for example, rip DVDs with copy protections or make an intact copy of a DVD in an ISO image or DVD folder, you will need to purchase its upgrade version at $26.25.

How do I rip a DVD to my Mac for free with iSuper DVD Ripper?

  1. To rip DVDs on Mac with iSuper DVD Ripper, download it from the Mac App Store. It may require your Apple ID or tough ID to finish the download. Then start the free ripper.
  2. Insert the disc into the Mac's drive or an external disc drive and click the Load Disc button on the top to import the disc.
  3. Select the DVD chapter you want to rip and click on the profile menu to select an output format.
  4. You can crop, edit, and adjust the video settings if needed. Once finished, select an output folder on your Mac and click the Convert button to start ripping the DVD on Mac.
How to rip DVD on Mac free
iSuper DVD Ripper for Mac

Pros

  • The free Mac DVD ripper is available on the Mac APP Store.
  • iSuper DVD Ripper is able to rip a DVD free on Mac to a wide range of output video and audio formats.
  • It offers the ability to add audio/video effects, crop, rotate, add watermarks, merge, record, etc.

Cons

  • iSuper DVD Ripper for Mac is able to rip unencrypted DVDs only.
  • It lacks the functions to make an intact copy of a DVD on Mac, such as rip a DVD to ISO image.
  • iSuper DVD Ripper for Mac works well on even difficult DVDs but needs a fair amount of setup.
  • The ripped DVD files are often out of sequense and you need to manually move each file has to the right place. 
  • Some DVD ripping errors occur sometimes, such as no audio in the ripped video, black bars, audio and video go out of sync, etc.

No.3 - Mac DVDRipper Pro

Price: $29.95 with first 5 rips for free

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.13 or higher.

Mac DVDRipper Pro is a professional DVD ripper for Mac that will "copy DVDs to you Mac to protect your DVD from scratches and save the batter life without spinning a disc". If offers different modes to copy the full DVD to your Mac in ISO image or dvdmedia, backup a DVD to another disc, compress the DVD to iTunes, and rip DVDs to .m4v/.mp4/.mkv using H.264, H.265, or VP9 for iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, etc.

MDRP is able to decrypt most protected DVDs. More importantly, it has a frequently-updated internal database of the popular DVDs, which helps access and rip a DVD on Mac fast and reliably. The latest Mac DVDRipper Pro 11 can enhance the ripped DVD quality to 4K and improves its speed by 1.5x faster on an Apple M1/2 Mac. If you want an easy Mac DVD ripper to copy a DVD, try MDRP for the first 5 rips without limits before you pay $29.95 for it.

How do I rip a DVD on Mac with MDRP?

  1. Free download Mac DVDRipper Pro on your Mac and open it. Insert the DVD you'd like to rip into the optical drive.
  2. MDRP will load the DVD. You need to note that if the DVD has a region code that is different from that of Mac's drive, MDRP can't open and rip it.
  3. To rip the DVD on Mac, select "Rip and Convert". Next, you can select the chapter to rip and adjust the audio & subtitle track using the built-in player on the right.
  4. Click the Destination button to set where you want to save the output video on your Mac. Then click Rip to start.
How to convert a DVD on Mac free
Mac DVDRipper Pro

Pros

  • Advanced OCR engine allows users to rip DVD on Mac with soft subtitles on or off.
  • MDRP is able to rip protected DVDs and re-mount a DVD unencrypted with a mode similar to Fairmount.

Cons

  • MDRP doesn't provide many output formats as well as settings.
  • Not all DVD encryptions are supported, including DVD region codes and Disney movies.
  • The DVD titles are shown in numbers only without detailed information. You have to choose the chapters with the integrated player.

No.4 - HandBrake

Price: Free

Compatibility: macOS 10.13 and later; Windows 10 and later; Linux

Handbrake is an open-source DVD ripper for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It can freely convert DVD to MP4 and MKV in H.265, H.264, H.265 MPEG-4 and MPEG-2, VP8, VP9, and Theora. There are several profiles for Apple, Android, Roku, PSP, Xbox, Web, etc. Handbrake only rips DVD that is homemade or unprotected. It cannot rip commercial DVDs without third party-tool like VLC or DVD decrypter libdvdcss, not to mention the Disney's newer protections.

Handbrake is one of the best free choices to convert DVD to MP4 on Mac. Why? Because it supports AMD VCE, Apple VideoToolbox, Intel Quick Sync Video, and NVIDIA NVENC GPU acceleration for H.264/HEVC encoding. Generally, Handbrake auto enables HW acceleration for DVD ripping tasks and switches to pass 2 for better encoding. That means Handbrake will rip DVDs to MP4 fast on a Macbook or iMac equipped with a powerful video card.

How do I use Handbrake to rip a DVD on a Mac?

  1. Go to its official site to download and install the Mac DVD ripping freeware. Handbrake V1.7.2 works with Mac OS X 10.13 and later. If you're running on an Apple silicon based Mac, make sure the Handbrake is 1.4.0 or later.
  2. Insert DVD disc into Mac's DVD drive and run Handbrake. Click the Source button to load the DVD. To rip protected DVDs, download libdvdcss for Handbrake to remove the CSS.
  3. Click "Browse" to set where you want to save the output files. Then click "Presets" and select an output format.
  4. What's the best setting for Handbrake ripping a DVD? Unless you aim for a target file size or speed, we recommend you use Constant Quality with an RF of ~21, Contant Frame Rate, Very Slow encode speed, High Encoder Profile, and 3.1 Encoder Level.
  5. Apply other filters if needed. Once finished, click "RUN" to rip DVDs for free on Mac now.
Handbrake rip DVD free Mac
Handbrake

Pros

  • Handbrake is open-source, free, and safe.
  • Handbrake provides tons of filters and DVD ripping setting options.
  • Handbrake rips DVD on Mac freely with fast speed and high output quality.

Cons

  • Handbrake requires libdvdcss to rip protected DVDs. But Handbrake with libdvdcss support region codes and CSS only.
  • Handbrake is not stable on M1/2 Macs, e.g., the DVD ripping speed on M1/2 Mac is slower, Handbrake on M1/2 use the CPU instead of GPU...
  • The output formats are limited to MP4, MKV, and WebM.
  • Handbrake can't help merge multiple titles or episodes into one single file.

No.5 - MakeMKV

Price: Free

Compatibility: x64 or ARM64 Mac OS X 10.7 or later; Windows XP or later, x86 or x64

To rip protected DVDs on Mac for free, MakeMKV is among the top solutions. It's an easy free DVD/Blu-ray ripper for Mac, Windows, and Linux to free rip DVD to MKV format. MakeMKV remuxes the movie content from DVD MPEG2 to MKV without affecting the quality, reserving all video/audio tracks and subtitles with meta-information. That also means the whole DVD to MKV converting is pretty fast. Therefore, MakeMKV is your premium choice to backup and store your movie contents on your hard drive, NAS, or USB.

However, the output MKV files tend to be really big in size. Normally, a converted DVD movie takes 6 GB on the hard drive and a Blu-ray movie takes 30 GB. This is not good especially when you import the DVD movie into iPhone, iPad, devices with limited storage. In addition, don't expect the ability to customize the DVD video.

How do I rip a DVD on Mac with MakeMKV?

  1. Free download MakeMKV on Mac. It's completely free to rip a DVD disc to Mac during the beta-testing phase, and if you want to decrypt a Blu-Ray disc, you will need to pay $50.
  2. Open the software and insert the disk. It accepts both DVD and Blu-Ray discs. Then click "Open Disc" to load the information.
  3. MakeMKV will scan and identify the titles correctly and pop up a list of disk chapters. Choose the chapter, normally the longest and biggest title.
  4. Select a folder on Mac to save the output MKV files and click "Make MKV". It shows a fast DVD to digital processing speed on Mac, with an average of 30 minutes to rip Blu-ray disc. The output MKV keeps high video and audio quality, but the MKV file is enormous (6.73GB MKV file for a 7.84GB DVD in our test).
convert protected DVD on Mac free
MakeMKV

Pros

  • MakeMKV can copy a DVD to MKV on Mac with original video, audio, and subtitle tracks without quality loss.
  • MakeMKV supports both encrypted Blu-ray discs and DVDs.
  • MakeMKV offers fast speed as it only remuxes DVD data to MKV without re-encoding.

Cons

  • MakeMKV doesn't support GPU. This may result in high CPU usage and take a long time to finish the rip.
  • MakeMKV rips DVD to MKV only, which is large in size and not playable in Apple apps such as iTunes or iDevices.
  • There are no options to configure the video and video settings.

No.6 - Disk Utility

Price: Free

Compatibility: all macOS systems

Although it's not the best option for ripping DVDs, Disk Utility can be used as a DVD ripper for Mac. If you just want to rip a few handmade DVDs for simpler playback or backup, you don't need to look for or download additional software because it comes pre-installed on all Mac machines. Even novice users will find it straightforward to navigate thanks to its user-friendly layout.

However, Disk Utility lacks advanced features commonly found in dedicated Mac DVD ripping software. As a result, you won't be able to choose which audio, video, or subtitle tracks to use while the file is being ripped. More so than other rippers, it is slower. It can manage tiny DVDs rather well, but larger or more complicated discs could be difficult for it to handle.

Furthermore, if you encounter a copy-protected DVD, you'll need additional software or tools to bypass the encryption before using Disk Utility for ripping.

How do I rip a DVD on Mac with Disk Utility?

  1. Insert the DVD into your Mac's DVD drive. Open "Disk Utility". You can find it in the "Utilities" folder, which is located within the "Applications" folder.
  2. In Disk Utility, you will see a list of drives and volumes on the left-hand side. Select the DVD that you want to rip from the list. Click on the "File" menu in the top-left corner of the screen and select "New Image" and then "DVD/CD Master". This will create a disk image of the DVD.
  3. Choose a location on your Mac where you want to save the disk image file. You can also choose the desired file name for the disk image. Make sure to select a location with enough storage space. Adjust the image format to "DVD/CD master" and the encryption to "none".
  4. Click the "Save" button to start creating the disk image. This process may take some time, depending on the size of the DVD and the speed of your Mac. Once the disk image is created, you can eject the DVD from your Mac by right-clicking on its icon and selecting "Eject".
convert protected DVD on Mac free
Disk Utility

Pros

  • It's built in macOS so users don't need to download extra DVD rippers on Mac.
  • Disk Utility allows you to create disk images of DVDs on Mac without quality loss.
  • Disk Utility is easy to use.

Cons

  • It doesn't support DVDs with copy protections.
  • It can't rip DVDs to other formats.

No.7 - Movavi Video Converter for Mac

Price: $69.25 with free trial available

Compatibility: macOS 10.13 or higher, with 64-bit Intel processor

Movavi Video Converter for Mac is among the best DVD rippers for Mac that are designed for family DVDs. It has a very user-friendly interface that makes it easy to use, even for those who are not tech-savvy. So users can get started DVD ripping on Mac immediately after they download it. Users can easily rip home DVDs to MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, as well as devices, audio, or image files. It's also one of the fast Mac DVD rippers that support Nvidia, AMD, and Intel GPU acceleration. So users can enjoy a quite fast speed when ripping a DVD to H.264/MPEG-2.

As a versatile video converter, it offers more features and settings than many other Mac DVD ripping freeware on the list. For example, there are a set of features that let users to compress the output file, add effects, tweak colors, adjust video settings, search for online subtitles, enhance video quality, and more. Considering what it offers, Movavi Video Converter is a good option when users need to convert family DVDs for easier usage.

How to rip a DVD on Mac with Movavi Video Converter for Mac?

  1. Movavi Video Converter for Mac has a free trial to let users try out it. Free download the DVD ripper for Mac and open it. Insert the DVD into the optical drive.
  2. Clik the Add Media button on the top menu bar and choose Add DVD. Then click Open DVD and navigate to the source DVD in your Mac's opitical drive.
  3. Once the source DVD is loaded, you can scroll the output format list on the bottom of the screen and choose an output format or device you need.
  4. Click Save to and set an output folder on your Mac for the ripped DVD video and then click Convert. It will then start to rip the DVD to the Mac folder you just set.
rip DVD on Mac for free
Movavi Video Converter for Mac

Pros

  • The DVD ripping speed is very fast with support to GPU acceleration.
  • As an overall media converter, it offers many other features to transcode, compress, edit, add filters, upscale quality, and more.

Cons

  • It can't rip DVDs that contain region codes and copy protections.
  • It chrages for $69.95 and the free trial has some limits such as watermarks, length limits, etc.

No.8 - Cisdem Video Converter for Mac

Price: $49.99 with free trial available

Compatibility: macOS 10.12 or later

Cisdem Video Converter for Mac, though not free, is an all-in-one solution for various audio and video processing operations. It has a strong DVD ripper built-in to rip both homemade and protected DVDs. Most encryptions currently applied on discs are supported, including CSS, region code, RCE, RPC, UOP, and more. Simply load any disc, you can rip it to MP4, MKV, MOV, H.265 MP4, H.264 MKV, etc. More than that, 300+ ready profiles for Apple devices, Android devices, TVs, etc. are here to make things easier.

The overall DVD ripping speed on Macintosh is fast with its advanced accelerating tech. You can further adjust the video parameters like resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio, etc. to get the best output quality. However, it won't let you make an intact DVD copy to formats like ISO images. Therefore, it can hardly reserve 100% output quality.

free DVD ripper for macOS
Cisdem Video Converter

Pros

  • Cisdem Video Converter offers rich features beyond DVD ripping, including video converting and editing.

Cons

  • Cisdem Video Converter for Mac doesn't have the ability to make an exact copy of a DVD without quality loss.
  • It doesn't work with some old DVDs.
  • Priced at $49.99 for a license code for a Mac, it's quite expensive.

No.9 - VLC

Price: Free

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later; Windows XP SP3 to the last version of Windows 11; others

Among the many ways to rip a DVD on a MacBook Pro, Air, or iMac, there is no doubt the easiest one. Whether you're on Mac, Windows, Mac, Linux, and even mobiles, chance that you have VLC player installed on your system. VLC is not the most powerful DVD ripper for Mac, but it can get the job done. It offers a handy option to convert DVDs to H.264, H.265, MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4, DIVX, H.263, VP8, WMV, MJPEG, Theora, and Dirac.

Like Handbrake, VLC itself supports homemade DVDs only. The good news is that you VLC has libdvdcss in it to help decode a protected DVD. That means you can use Handbrake and VLC together to rip a DVD with encryptions without the need to download extra libdvdcss library.

How do I rip a DVD on Mac with VLC?

  1. Free download VLC on Mac if you haven't installed it. It works on Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later.
  2. Insert the DVD to Mac and open VLC. On the top menu bar, click File and select Open Disc. It has no problem loading any non-protected DVDs. For commercial DVDs, you need to you need to skip the DVD title in the VLC settings, or it'll keep recording the menu video repeatedly (if this doesn't work, try Handbrake and VLC together or use other professional DVD rippers).
  3. At the bottom left corner, check the box for Stream output and click the Setting button.
  4. First, click Browse and a window will pop up to let you name the converted DVD and select an output folder on Mac to save it. Next, open the drop-down menu at the Encapsulation Method and choose an output format. You can free rip DVDs to QuickTime for Mac. Below are some basic options for video and audio settings.
  5. Then click Open to convert DVD on Mac with VLC. See the detailed guide on ripping DVDs with VLC on Mac.
rip DVD free on MacBook, iMac
VLC

Pros

  • VLC is free and open-source.
  • VLC lets you convert DVDs to MP4, MOV, H.264, and various other formats freely on Mac.

Cons

  • VLC doesn't support protected DVDs. But you can rely on Handbrake and VLC to handle encrypted discs.
  • Don't expect a high DVD ripping performance as VLC only specializes in video and audio playback. 

No.10 - MacTheRipper

Price: Free

Compatibility: Mac OS 10.8 Mountain Lion or earlier

MacTheRipper, also called for MTR, has long been a popular tool that helps Mac users to create backup copies of DVDs. It has many versions, and MacTheRipper V2.6.6, V3, and V4 are the most downloaded versions. You should note that only Version 2.6.6 and earlier is free and supports protected DVDs (UOPs, ARccOS, RCE, CSS, APS, etc.). But it doesn't work on Mac OS X newer than Snow Leopard. You need to send a gift on its official forum for a license to use MacTheRipper 3.0 and MacTheRipper 4.1.

There are 3 modes provided to rip DVDs on Mac: Auto Full Disc Extraction mode, Auto Full Disc ISO Extraction mode, and Full Disc Rip And Rebuild mode. You can't use it to convert a DVD for QuickTime, Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, or other devices as it only extracts DVD and won't convert DVD to video. It's the best choice to save a DVD backup copy on Mac hard drive for later burning.

While there are no newer versions available on its official site, you can find newer updates such as MTR 5.x on Techspot, Macupdate, Softpedia, etc. The newer versions add the ability to remove copy protections on Mac.

How do I rip a DVD on Mac with MTR?

  1. Download the latest version of MactheRipper on your Mac, and install it for ripping DVDs on Mac.
  2. Insert your DVD disc into your Mac and launch the Mac The Ripper application.
  3. MTR will detect and scan titles in the disc. If RCE Region Protection was detected, it will ask you to modify the "RCE Region" number. The RCE Region should be set to the region the DVD was purchased in. For example, the US is Region 1, while Europe is Region 2.
  4. Click Extract to start ripping DVDs on Mac with MacTheRipper. The converted DVD will be saved as a folder on Mac.
Backup and copy DVD on Mac free
MTR

Pros

  • This DVD ripper for Macintosh offers flexible options for users to extract DVD data to an ISO image/Video_TS folder with 100% original quality.
  • Excellent support forum and the developer is always open to questions and bugs.

Cons

  • The free MTR 2.6.6 doesn't work on the latest macOS Sonoma/Ventura/Monterey while the latest versions require a complicated gift-sending process to get a code.
  • The latest MTR V4.1 doesn't support DVDs with protections.
  • It can rip DVDs to ISO image or DVD folder only. You need to take an extra step to convert the output file to a more compatible video format.

No.11 - WINX FREE DVD Ripper for Mac

Price: Free

Compatibility: MacOS Sonoma or earlier

WinX Free DVD Ripper for Mac is another DVD ripper designed for macOS from Digiarty. As one of the flagship products from the company, WinX Free DVD Ripper for Mac is one of the most powerful DVD rippers on macOS that are able to handle DVD encryptions, such as region codes, bad sectors, multiple titles, fake titles, etc.

You can get pretty much everything you may want from a paid Mac DVD ripper. For example, you can use it to convert DVDs into any format you may need, including MP4, HEVC, MOV, M4V, ISO image, MPEG, WMV, AVI, and more. There are also ready presets for Apple TV, Mac, Apple apps, iPhone, iPad, etc. It can take full use of your Mac hardware to ensure fast DVD ripping speeds.

How to rip a DVD on Mac with WinX Free DVD Ripper for Mac?

  1. Free download WinX Free DVD Ripper for Mac and open it. Insert the DVD into the optical drive.
  2. Clik the Disc button on the top menu bar of WinX Free DVD Ripper for Mac to load the DVD. Then the Mac DVD ripper will start to read the DVD info and remove the protection if any.
  3. It will then pop up the output format window. Select your desired format and set an output folder.
  4. Once everything is ready, click Run to start DVD ripping for Mac free.
rip DVD on Mac for free
WinX DVD Ripper for Mac

Pros

  • It lets you convert DVDs into various different formats .
  • It supports ripping DVDs with encryptions without using other tools.
  • Very fast rippipng speed on a decent Mac.

Cons

  • It offers free trial only, which allows you to rip 5 minutes of a DVD.
  • Not as stable as its counterpart for Windows.

No.12 - FFmpeg

Price: Free

Compatibility: macOS, Windows, and Linux

FFmpeg is a powerful, free and open-source command-based project used to handle videos, including ripping DVDs on Mac. FFmpeg supports most video formats, from the most obscure ancient formats up to the latest ones. The libavcodec, libavutil, libavformat, libavfilter, libavdevice, libswscale and libswresample libraries contained in it can satisfy any needs when ripping a DVD on Mac.

However, the command lines require a steep learning curve, making FFmpeg an unfriendly choice for beginners. For advanced users, you can simply brew install ffmpeg GUI on your Mac and input a command line to do many flexible tasks. For example, to rip a DVD on Mac with FFmpeg, browse for the DVD files in the Finder and get the .vob file name you want to convert in the VIDEO_TS folder:

To rip DVD to MP4:
ffmpeg -i concat:VTS_02_1.VOB\|VTS_02_2.VOB\|VTS_02_3.VOB\|VTS_02_4.VOB\|VTS_02_5.VOB -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0 -codec:a libvo_aacenc -ab 128 -codec:v libx264 -vpre libx264-ipod640 movie.mp4

To rip DVD to H.265:
ffmpeg -i "concat:VTS_01_1.VOB|VTS_01_2.VOB" -vcodec libx265 new-video-h265.mp4

encode DVD on Mac for free
FFmpeg

Pros

  • FFmpeg lets you rip a DVD free on Mac with different file sizes, quality, video codecs, subtitles, etc.
  • It's very easy to combine multiple DVD titles and episodes using FFmpeg concatenate commands.

Cons

  • FFmpeg doesn't know how to remove the DRM and read a DVD directly. To rip a DVD on Mac with FFmpeg, you need to tell FFmpeg the VOB files in the VIDEO_TS folder of the DVD.
  • FFmpeg, as a command line tool, is more error-prone than other GUI free DVD rippers for Mac.
  • FFmpeg can be a bit difficult to get started for a beginner in audio/video processing.

No.13 - DVDFab DVD Ripper for Mac

Price: $39.99 for the paid version

Compatibility: macOS 10.10 - 13

DVDFab DVD Ripper for Mac has free and paid versions. With the free version, you're allowed to rip DVDs to MKV and MP4 at 480P only. Don't expect to rip the DVD at a satisfactory speed, as the free version relies on the CPU for encoding. You may also find that newer DVDs are not supported. But if you upgrade to its paid version at $39.99, you will get a far more comprehensive Mac DVD ripping solution.

The paid version is updated with the latest encryptions. Here, you can find almost all the possible output formats or specific devices you may need. You'll have full control over settings for frame rate, output resolution, video, and audio bitrates, audio sample rate, image cropping, and many more. The DVD ripping is GPU accelerated to offer a fast conversion speed. The best part is, its unique Enlarger AI (sold separately) can be applied to upscale the DVD video from 480P to 1080P with high quality.

how to rip DVD on Mac free
DVDFab DVD Ripper

Pros

  • It supports DVDs protected by CSS, APS, RC, Sony DADC, and more.
  • You can use it to rip 3D DVDs to 3D MKV, MP4, AVI, WMV, M2TS, etc. (paid version).
  • Flexible subtitle options are available to extract subtitles to IDX/Sub file/SRT file for future use.

Cons

  • The free version has many limits on the output video formats, resolution, audio quality, etc.
  • DVDFab DVD Ripper is bundled in DVDFab. You need to download the package to get the DVD ripper (make sure you have at least 20GB of free hard disk space on your Mac).

Comparing the Best DVD Rippers for Mac

To help you select the best DVD ripping software for Macintosh that suits you the most, here we perform a head-to-head comparison on the key features of the above Mac rippers.

Mac DVD Rippers Input Output Speed Quality Rip Protected DVD Edit features

MacX DVD Ripper [Editor's Choice]
Free download

DVD, ISO image, Video_TS folder 320+ Very Fast,
Rip a DVD in 5 minutes
Original Yes, home DVDs, region DVDs, new and old DVDs, etc. Add subtitle, cut, merge, crop, rotate, adjust...
iSuper DVD Ripper for Mac DVD 20+ Slow Fair No Yes
Mac DVDRipper Pro DVD 5 Fast Original Yes No
Handbrake DVD/Blu-ray, ISO, DVD folder, video MP4, MKV, WebM Slow Excellent No Yes
MakeMKV DVD, Blu-ray MKV Fast Original Yes No
Disk Utility DVD ISO image Fast Original No No
Movavi Video Converter DVD, videos 180+ Fast Good No Yes
Cisdem Video Converter DVD, videos 300+ Fast Excellent Yes Yes
VLC DVD, videos 15 Slow Fair No No
MacTheRipper DVD DVD folder, ISO Image Slow Original Yes No
WINX FREE DVD Ripper for Mac DVD, ISO image, DVD folder 350+ Fast Excellent Yes Yes
FFmpeg videos 30+ Slow Good No Yes
DVDFab DVD, DVD folder, ISO image 1000+ Fast Good Yes Yes

Summary

Which is the best DVD rippping software for Macintosh? The above-mentioned Mac DVD rippers are equally matched. What matters most is whether the program fits your bill. For a quality-loss DVD ripping, MakeMKV and Mac The Ripper are second to none. But if you have hundreds of discs and want to have your entire DVD library backed up onto a hard drive at a fast speed without exhausting your storage space, you will need MacX DVD Ripper, Handbrake, VLC, iSuper DVD Ripper, Movavi Video Converter or other programs.

If you dont' want to end up with errors just because the new DVD title comes with a tricky protection scheme or the DVD is formatted unnaturally, the ultimate choice is to download MacX DVD Ripper, which not only features great DVD decryption ability but also comes with unique level-3 hardware acceleration tech that can speed up the whole process and maintain a good balance between quality and size.

Performance Test:

MacXDVD's ripping performance is impressive on an iMac 5K (3.2 GHz Intel Core i5, AMD Radeon R9 M380, 2048MB, on Big Sur). We tested several titles, including Wonder Woman 1984, The Croods: A New Age, Frozen 2, and Incredible 2 (for test and personal use only). It did a great job selecting the right title. While Handbrake, VLC, or other free Mac DVD rippers, though with the help of a third-party tool like libdvdcss, either popped up error messages, quitted unexpectedly, or produced problematic rips.

The conversion frequency of MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition reached an average of 240 fps, twice as high as that of Handbrake. It took 12 minutes to convert the full-length Frozen 2 DVD to MP4, while we could still view web pages and do other tasks since the CPU usage remains as low as 131-134%. Bear in mind, DVD encoding speed is greatly dependent on your computer configuration. Higher config will lead to great performance.

As to the quality, MacXDVD repackages the movie content from DVD MPEG2 to MKV, which doesn't affect the output quality at all while preserving all video, audio, and subtitle tracks. We also tested the DVD transcoding feature, which is known to lead to some quality loss inevitably. Fortunately, MacXDVD created a small .mp4 file with 720x480 (16:9) in 1.61GB from the 7.84GB DVD, and there wasn't any noticeable change between the source DVD and ripped file, but merely a pixel-level difference.

You can definitely download MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition for a try.

FAQ about Mac DVD Rippers

Q1. Is It Legal to Rip DVDs on Mac?

Many users who want to space-shift or format-shirt their legally purchased DVD or Blu-ray discs are often concerned about the legality of DVD ripping. The fact is, currently it is considered illegal to rip copyrighted DVDs in the US, even if you bought the DVDs yourself. Some other countries have already made it legal. In practice, as the DVD conversion happens locally on your computer, you won't get prosecuted or caught if you don't distribute the digital copies. However, you're highly suggested to obey the law where you live. Check if it's legal to rip copy-protected DVDs in your country.

Q2. Can I Rip a DVD to My Mac with Mac Build-in App?

Yes, as long as the DVD is unprotected. Mac's built-in app Disk Utility is able to rip a homemade DVD to an ISO image file. However, you can't use it to rip a protected DVD on Mac.

This is because almost all DVD movies or TV shows bought or rented are technically copyrighted and DVD rips will inevitably involve breaking DVD copy protections, e.g. the Content Scramble System. Such action is currently unlawful in the US and UK. Apple is of course unwilling to set against law or money in consideration of continuous cooperation with U.S. studios for iTunes movies. Therefore, there is no built-in method to rip DVDs to Mac. This makes it a sense to download a third-party free DVD ripper for Mac instead.

Q3. How do I Rip a Protected DVD on a Mac?

For DVDs encoded with CSS or region code, you can install libdvdcss on Mac or windows to crack the DVD copy protection and then rip the DVD with Handbrake or VLC.

Chances are DVDs from major film studios like Disney, Sony, Warner Bros., etc. often impose strong protections on DVDs. These discs are deliberately placed with bad information and hide the true titles. As a result, 99% of DVD rippers for Mac will go awry like DVD won't load, encounter a large number of tracks with the same runtime, show impossibly 40GB or more of data but output just several KB.To rip the severely protected DVDs, the workaround is to resort to MacX DVD ripper that is built-in a DVD analysis scheme to crack Sony ARccOS, Disney X-project DRM, UOP, 99-titles, and more.

Q4. What Is the Best Format to Rip DVD to Mac?

Apple apps such as Mac's default player QuickTime, Photos, and Keynote work with many video formats, among which MP4 and MOV are well-known with the best compatibility. When digitizing DVDs with a free DVD ripper for Mac, many users are at a loss whether to choose MP4 or MOV.

* MP4 - Both MP4 and MOV use lossy video compression to sacrifice minimal quality for file size. MP4 is popular for streaming over the internet and playable on Mac, Windows, and almost all media players, say VLC, 5KPlayer, QT, etc. But P-frames or B-frames in MP4 makes it difficult to edit.

* MOV - As MOV is originally developed by Apple for its QuickTime player, it's much friendlier in the Apple ecosystem. MOV contains one or more tracks, meant to store each type of data including audio, video, subtitle, etc in a hierarchical structure, which is good for editing. So for Mac computers, converting DVD to digital MOV for Mac QuickTime is more preferred than MP4.

Q5. Is it Possible to Rip Scratched DVD on Mac?

DVDs are too fragile, that's why we need to back up the DVD collection. If your discs are already damaged or scratched, there are measures to remedy them.

  • For a few scratches on the surface, polish the surface with cotton balls and abrasive white toothpaste or Brasso polish. You need to polish across the grain and don't do it in circular direction. This needs patience.
  • For deep scratches and severe damages, you can take the damaged disk to a local DVD store with a polishing machine or other places like Phoenix to resurface the badly scuffed disc. This will cost a couple of dollars. Or if the standalone DVD player with an error-recovery scheme can ignore the errors and play the DVD, you can capture the movie with a DV. But this will lost the selectable audio, subtitles streams, and original menus.

Note: if the program refuses to rip a well-conditioned DVD with an error stating that there is a bad sector, it's because the DVD is protected by a copy protection scheme from Sony named ARccOS. The system deliberately mixes corrupted sectors with the correct ones to mislead DVD copy software.

Q6. How long does it take to rip a DVD on Mac?

The DVD ripping speed mainly depends on factors like the CPU performance, the read speed of the DVD-ROM drive, USB transfer speed, the contents of the movie, the ripping ability of the software, etc. That means  more CPU cores, RAM and a specialized video encoding module in graphics cards, and an advanced drive, all make it faster to rip a DVD. However, on the same computer, some DVD rippers can take advantage of the GPU, such as Intel QSV, Nividia Cuda/Nvenc, and AMD to speed up the rip. Free Mac DVD rippers that support GPU acceleration are MacX DVD Ripper and Handbrake.

Q7. Can you rip DVDs with QuickTime on Mac?

No. QuickTime is the default player on Macs. It doesn't provide a DVD-ripping feature. More than that, it's not able to play DVD and DVD media such as ISO image and Video_TS folder files.

Q8. What is the best open source DVD ripper for Mac?

The open-source Mac DVD rippers include Handbrake, MakeMKV, FFmpeg, and VLC. Among them, Handbrake is one of the most popular and highly rated. It's able to rip DVDs to Mac in MP4, MKV, and WebM, with a wide range of features and settings for video encoding. Handbrake is regularly updated and supported by a large community of users.

Q9. How do I rip old DVDs to my Mac?

First, you can try to rip an old DVD with the Mac DVD ripping software of your choice. However, an old DVD may get damaged or become unplayable, and to rip an old and damaged DVD successfully, you will need to use a DVD ripping software for Macintosh that is capable of recovering data from damaged discs. Mac DVD rippers like MacX DVD Ripper, Handbrake, and DVDFab may help handling corrupted DVDs.

Q10. How do I rip a DVD to MP4 on Mac?

MacX DVD Ripper, Handbrake, iSuper DVD Ripper, MDRP, Cisdem Video Converter, etc. are all Mac rippers that supports MP4 output. Simply select one that suits you the most and follow the steps to rip DVDs to Mac in MP4.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
author- bella
Bella Brown

Bella has been working with DVD digitization for over 12 years. She writes articles about everything related to DVD, from disc drive, DVD copyright protection, physical structure, burning and backup tips. The unceasing passion of DVD movies helps her build a rich DVD library and ensure a practical solution to address almost all possible DVD issues. Bella is also a crazy fan for Apple products.