Conceivably, VLC is the most popular as well as powerful free and open source tool in the market. VLC is capable of playing virtually every file format that you can think of, both in Mac and window based computer including DVD of course. Have you ever thought that you can rip DVD with VLC Media Player? In fact, there is a overlooked feature in VLC that allows you to rip your DVDs as well. If you've no idea about this, you're definitely in the right place! This article will guide you to convert DVD to videos with the famous VLC Media player.
How to rip and copy DVD to VLC on Mac OS X is an everlasting and hot issue in all relevant digital copy, video conversion forums and bulletins. Backing up DVD to VLC means that you can enjoy your favorite DVD videos on computer conveniently and can protect your physical DVD disc from scratching. Actually, if you have VLC Player installed on your computer, you can rely on it to free rip DVD to video, audio or ISO file. VLC is famous as an open-source media player which highly supports any popular multimedia files. You can use it to play video/audio files in diverse formats, DVDs, VCDs and CDs with good effects. Insert your DVD into your computer. Open your computer's DVD tray, place the DVD in the tray with the logo side facing up, and close the tray. At this point, you're free to proceed with ripping your DVD on Windows or on a Mac. If any windows open when you do this, close them before proceeding. VLC is a powerful and well-loved application, but few users realize it can do more than just play files. If needed, you can rip DVDs to your PC with VLC. Note that ripping DVDs with VLC won’t defeat any kind of DRM, and it can be a little buggy at times. VLC media player is one of the most useful players which have the functionality to rip and burn DVDs. Although it sounds like a long way to directly copy a DVD, it is practical to know how to copy DVD with VLC media player. Besides the feature of VLC media player copy DVD, there is also an even more effective solution to help solve the problem.
Note: This VLC Rip DVD feature should work with VLC versions 0.9.6 and up. Besides ripping DVD, VLC has another great feature which is the ability to record what is playing in the screen. Take a look at how easy it is to record a DVD or other video formats using VLC.
Part 1: How to Free Rip DVD with VLC Media Player
First, make sure you have VLC installed. If not, go to http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ to download VLC Media Player and install it on your computer. Then launch the program.
Step 1. Open VLC Media Player and go to Media > Open Disc or press the shortcut Ctrl + D to select the DVD files you want to rip.
Step 2. In the Open Media window, choose the Disc tab. Make sure DVD is selected under DVD Selection and hit 'Browse' to choose the right disc device. You can choose the DVD title and chapter to get the exact part that you want to rip. The button 'Play' allows you to preview the DVD part you selected to make sure it is the right video.
Step 3. When you have got the right video, go to Media > Convert/Save.
Step 4. On the Disc tab, choose Convert/Save. Then you will see the below Convert window.
Step 5. Under Destination, you can set the name and output location for the ripped videos. When doing this, just make sure the file extension is right – '.ogg' or '.mp4'. Under Settings > Profile, you can choose the video codecs for your output video. You can edit the Profile settings by clicking the edit button beside the profile options.
Step 6. When you finished the settings, you can hit 'Start' to start the ripping process and just wait for VLC to finish the DVD ripping. While the DVD is being ripped you will see a progress count in the main UI. The amount of time it takes will depend on the file format and size of the DVD but it will take a while no matter what.
Step 7. After the ripping, you can get MP4 or OGG files and can play them on your portable devices. You should be able to play the converted file with other media players assuming you have the right codec. Of course will notice the conversion results in lower quality compared to the original.
Part 2: Solution – Fix 'Won't Rip DVD with VLC'
'When I click Start to rip my disc to MP4, nothing happens. VLC gives no message about ripping process and just show me the interface.'
'I am trying to rip a DVD to an MP4 file with an H264 codec in Windows 7, using VLC. The file does get created, but there is no audio.'
* Fail to support copy protections. VLC is able to rip copy-protected movies, and even if you can't tell the correct title of a DVD, you can find it by playing the movie with VLC. But this dosen't mean a flawless DVD ripping process. Errors like VLC crashes, no audio, pixlated output, etc. can happen easily.
* Limited output choice/settings. VLC supports DVD to MP4 h.264, h.265, and MPEG4 as well as several other formats. It won't ensure the output quality, settings. You can't adjust, merge, crop, and do any settings or adjustments.
Vlc Dvd Ripper
* Slow speed. First, the DVD-mp4 process happened in VLC is not quite the same as DVD ripping. It's a process that record the movies in real-time to MP4 or other video files created on your hard drive. DVD ripping is where a DVD ripper cracks the CSS encryption and save the DVD image into another file. It's faster. Second, VLC is mainly a media player instead of a ripper. It only supports GPU decoding.
When wired issues like the above happen during DVD to MP4 ripping with VLC, you can re-install the latest version of VLC, try another output profile, . If VLC still won't rip DVD, the DVD is probably copy-protected. If so, we need to use a DVD decrypter to remove copy protection of DVD at first and then rip it to MP4. On the other hand, we can switch to a VLC alternative to make everything simpler.
Part 3: Have Errors Rip DVD with VLC?- Try Alternative to Rip ANY DVD at 100% Success Rate
Vlc Player Mac Rip Dvds
If don't want to be held back by slow processing, poor output quality and complicated steps, EaseFab DVD Ripper is there for you. It's capable of processing various encryption schemes. With over 10-year experience, this software supports nearly any DVD copy protection schemes, like general CSS mechanism, Sony ARccOS, UOPs, APS, RCE and Disney X-project DRM. It can rip Disney DVDs even with 99 confusing titles, workout DVDs, special Japanese DVDs, and others, without hassle.
The alternative to VLC have the advantages not only in wide range of supported DVDs, but also in more well-configured output presets, more output file formats, super fast speed, high output quality, intuitive interface and more. This software also comes with a Mac version.
This DVD ripping tool is easy to handle and only with three simple steps can you finish the DVD conversion: Load DVD to the program, choose an output format and click Convert to begin ripping DVD.
EaseFab DVD Ripper has top performance when it comes to ripping and copying DVDs, such as:
▶ It can rip DVDs protected by DVD CSS, region code, RCE, Sony ArccOS, UOPs, Disney X-project DRM and more independently. 99-title DVDs and workout DVDs are fully supported. It automatically ticks the right title and delivers high-quality output in order. No crashes.
▶ It provides 320+ different output formats. EaseFab DVD Ripper is able to convert DVD to MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV, FLV, MPEG MP3, AAC, M4A and other mainstream video/audio formats.
▶ It offers a library of preprogrammed optimization profiles for specific devices such as smartphones, tablets, gaming systems, smart TVs and more.
▶ 1:1 Disc Backup: Directly Copy main movie from DVD discs and leave out extras; 1:1 Backup original DVD to computer hard drive with all languages, subtitle tracks and chapter info.
▶ Advanced Customization tools: Allow you to manually adjust codecs, aspect ratios, bit-rates, frame rates and more before you rip a DVD. Also, it includes a basic video editor you can use to trim away unwanted footage, crop video, add watermarks and edit subtitles.
▶ With the Intel QSV and NVIDIA CUDA powered hardware acceleration, the conversion is processed on GPU instead of your computer's CPU and you can convert a full DVD disc to H.264 MP4 as short as 10 minutes.
Final Words:
Though VLC Media Player comes with powerful abilities to convert video/DVD format, it still has some drawback. For example, the supported output format is limited. And sometimes it can't recognize protected DVD well and failed to convert the DVD successfully. Plus, VLC Media Player is too complicated for a novice who has little knowledge about DVD ripping process.
If you're interested in backing up your DVD collection and don't want to be held back by time restrictions or slow processing, EaseFab DVD Ripper is the best tool we've tried. It isn't free like VLC, Handbrake, etc., but you get a lot for your money, and it can even handle discs that are encrypted, region-locked or unplayable. It can create videos files for playback on virtually any device too, with handy preset profiles so you can watch your favorite movies on a phone or tablet.