Let’s face it. DVDs – no matter how well they’re stored – are deteriorating. Very quickly. Even the equipment needed to watch DVDs is becoming obsolete. Now is the time to digitize your DVD collection. Otherwise, your collections – and the investment you’ve spent on them – may be lost forever. It may seem like a complicated process to convert your DVD into a digital format, but it’s not nearly the case. In this article, we’ll take a brief look at the top free DVD rippers in 2020 that will digitize a DVD in clicks.
WinX DVD Ripper is a free DVD ripping software that takes care of all the DVDs you may have. It’s especially reliable to rip old DVDs, damaged DVDs, new releases, and DVDs with region code, CSS, 99 titles, etc. You can back up DVDs in 4 modes, convert a DVD to MP4, H.264, MPEG4, MOV, AVI, WMV, iDevices, Android, TVs, websites, and more. You will find literally many profiles, too many to mention. The best part is, it’s the only free DVD ripper on the market that achieves the perfect balance among ripping speed, output quality, and file size. To be specific, it will run @47x faster, copy a DVD in 1:1 ratio, and reduce a full DVD movie from GBs to 80% smaller in MBs.
2. Handbrake
Handbrake is a popular open-source video transcoder. It comes with a handy DVD converting feature which is very useful for personal and non-protected DVDs. Handbrake can convert DVDs to MP4/MKV in H.264, H.265, MP4G4, MPEG2, VP9/8, and Theora, with quick access to presets for Apple, Android, Xbox, PSP, and other devices. Even with the presets, expect a slight learning curve when getting started. By itself, Handbrake won’t support any protected DVDs. But you can download a third-party file called libdvdcss to help Handbrake read those media.
3. MakeMKV
MakeMKV is one of the few free DVD rippers that boast DVD and Blu-ray decrypter ability. It does what its name implies: convert DVD and Blu-ray discs into a set of MKV files with the original video/audio tracks, chapters, meta information, etc. Another great thing is that MakeMKV is extremely easy to use. There is nothing much to configure. All you do is tell MakeMKV your DVD drive, set an output folder to save the MKV files, hit the MakeMKV button, and wait. The main drawback is that you’re limited to MKV format.
Freemake Video Converter is the most feature-rich DVD ripping software for Windows on the list. It allows you to convert videos, download clips, edit files, burn and rip DVDs. With Freemake, you can convert DVDs into MP4, MP3, AVI, WMV, and an extensive range of formats and devices. It’s easy to use and friendly to basic users. But unfortunately, like many other free programs, it doesn’t support discs with any protection. Besides, the watermark over the converted video can be an annoyance for some users. You’d better get some coffee as the ripping can take quite a while.
If you want to rip some old DVDs or Blu-ray discs released before 2018, you should give DVDFab HD Decrypter a shot. It can convert most DVDs (except for newer and strongly protected discs) to MKV and MP4 videos. With a 3rd party burning engine, it will even burn videos into DVD. When you download the software, you will actually get DVDFab 11. It’s a free component of the commercial program. As a result, the free options are rather limited. For example, there are Full Disc and Main Movie backup modes available.
If you want a quick DVD rip, chances are you already have an app installed on your computer – VLC. You may use VLC to play various media types. But do you know that VLC can also help you convert DVDs? In fact, the free DVD ripper can convert DVDs to various profiles like MP4, AVI, MP4, etc. But ripping with VLC comes with a few trade-offs. You can’t rip protected DVDs, adjust the quality, customize the output, etc.
Verdict
While these are the best free DVD ripping software in 2020, which to use depends on your needs. For example, if you’re ripping Blu-ray discs, then choose between MakeMKV and DVDFab HD Decrypter. If you simply have couples of personal burned DVDs to rip, try Handbrake. If you simply want an easy ripper that can satisfy most of your requirements, like the ideal quality, fast speed, less compression, best format, etc., WinX DVD Ripper is what you need.