VLC Tutorial and Alternative – Best Way to Free Rip DVD on Windows/Mac

VLC Tutorial and Alternative – Best Way to Free Rip DVD on Windows/Mac

Kevin Miller

July 11, 2022 11:45Updated by to Rip DVD

VLC Media Player is a free and open-source media player for Windows and Mac users. You can play streaming video and audio files over the Internet with VLC for free. Moreover, you can rip DVDs and CDs to digital files with VLC too. It can be your free DVD ripper software for Windows and Mac.

From this article, you can get the complete tutorial to rip a DVD with VLC for free for media playback. If you want to rip DVDs with copy protection, you can also get VLC free alternatives for ripping any commercial DVD here. Just make sure those DVD movies are ripped for personal use only.

VLC Tutorial and Alternative

Part 1: How to Rip a DVD with VLC for Free

If you are tired of sorting physical DVD discs, you can digitize your DVD collection to MP4, FLV or other formats. VLC provides many popular video and audio formats. Thus, you can rip a CD with VLC to MP3, M4A and more. This section will show you the detailed steps to convert DVD to MP4 with VLC as an example.

Step 1: Download and install VLC. Insert a DVD disc into the DVD drive on your computer. Then launch VLC for ripping DVD to MP4.

Step 2: Unfold the "Media" list on the top left corner of VLC. Choose "Convert/Save…" to get a new popping-up window.

Step 3: Click "Disc" on the top of the "Open Media" window.

Step 4: Mark before "DVD" under "Disc Selection". Set the destination folder from the "Disc device" list. Click "Convert/Save" on the lower right corner of VLC.

Step 5: Set MP4 as the output format from the "Profile" list. You can specify other details if necessary. At last, click "Start" to rip DVD using VLC for free.

Rip a DVD with VLC

Then how long does it take to rip a DVD with VLC? In common cases, the per half-hour of DVD ripping process takes 15 to 40 minutes. Therefore, if you want to use VLC to rip DVD with multiple episodes, you need to leave your computer alone for hours.

Part 2: Top 5 Best VLC Alternatives to Rip DVDs on Windows and Mac

VLC cannot rip protected DVD discs. Thus, if you want to rip DVDs with copy protection, you can get a VLC alternative from the following recommendations. Those VLC alternatives are powerful and easy to use. You can get the same or even better features to rip a DVD with VLC.

Top 1: Free DVD Ripper

Blu-ray Master Free DVD Ripper allows users to rip all DVDs for free. You can rip DVD to MP4, AVI, FLV, MKV, MOV and over 200 video format with zero-quality loss. Thus, you can enjoy DVD movies on your computer, iPhone, Android and other portable devices directly.

There are not much video editing tools when you use VLC to rip DVD for free. Luckily, you can get flexible edit settings with powerful parameters from the best VLC alternative for Windows 10/11. Compared with VLC, Free DVD Ripper offers a clean and intuitive interface. You can rip DVD to MP4 for free with shortest time.

Step 1

Download and install Free DVD Ripper. Insert a DVD disc into the DVD drive.

Free DVD Ripper

Step 2

Launch the VLC alternative software. Click "Load Disc" to access all DVD videos. Select your target video, then choose the output format from the "Profile" list.

Load Disc

Step 3

Click "Edit" on the top toolbar. You can adjust video brightness, saturation, contrast, hue and other video effects. Click "Apply" or "Apply to All" to save changes.

Edit

Step 4

Set the output folder in the "destination" list. At last, you can click "Convert" to convert DVD to MP4 with VLC alternative for free in minutes.

Convert

Top 2: HandBrake

HandBrake is a free and open source program that can rip DVD and CD on multiplatform. You can also get some video editing tools from the VLC alternative for Mac and Windows. For instance, you can adjust subtitles, chapters and other advanced effects. However, Handbrake is a complex DVD ripping freeware for beginners. The interface is not clear enough.

Overview: HandBrake is a free VLC alternative for experts to rip DVD to device compatible formats.

HandBrake

Top 3: DVD Shrink

DVD Shrink is a free alternative to VLC on Windows. You can rip DVD disc/folder/image to ISO files or hard drive folders. Actually, you can achieve the same effect of using VLC to convert DVD to MP4 with no audio here. Just deselect the unwanted audio track and subtitle before ripping a DVD. However, DVD Shrink stopped updating in 2004.

Overview: A free DVD ripper alternative to VLC for ripping non-encrypted DVDs on Windows.

DVD Shrink

Top 4: Freemake Video Converter

Freemake Video Converter is a free VLC alternative to Windows 11/10/8/7. You can convert common videos and DVDs to popular formats. Furthermore, the program can burn video to DVD for free too. Thus, you can get one more choice to burn DVD with VLC on Windows. Though Freemake Video Converter offers a well-designed interface. It is still not friendly to inexperienced users.

Overview: Freemake Video Converter can rip DVD to common video formats, as well as burning video files to DVD.

Freemake Video Converter

Top 5: WinX DVD Ripper

WinX DVD Ripper offers a free edition to rip DVD to MP4 and other formats on Windows and Mac. The ripped video files can be viewed on your computer, phone or other portable devices without incompatible issues. However, WinX DVD Ripper is not 100% free. You cannot rip a video more than 5 minutes. The copy-protected DVD discs are not supported either.

Overview: You need to upgrade to WinX DVD Ripper Platinum to rip DVD to lengthy video.

WinX DVD Ripper

Obviously, Blu-ray Master Free DVD Ripper is your best VLC alternative to quickly rip DVD for playback on latest phones and tablets. It is the totally free and safe DVD ripping software that can rip any DVD to digital file with no quality loss. Thus, if you fail to rip DVD with VLC on Windows 11/10/8/7, you can download Free DVD Ripper for a try.

Part 3: FAQs of Ripping a DVD with VLC

1. How long does it take to rip a DVD with VLC?

It was decided by your network speed and DVD size. Maybe you can use a great DVD ripper to ensure the ripping speed and quality.

2. Can VLC rip DVD to mp4?

Yes. VLC media player also works as a decent disc ripper and allows converting your DVD disc to MP4 format. You can convert DVD to MP4 with VLC on Windows as well as Mac system.

3. How do I rip audio from a DVD with VLC?

First, launch VLC on your computer and open Media Window. Second, click Disc on the top of the Open Media window. Third, choose Convert/Save… to get a new popping-up window. Fourth, set MP4 as the output format from the Profile list. At last, click Start to rip DVD to begin extraction.

4. How do I fix VLC won't play DVD?

There are many reasons that may cause VLC not playing DVD issues. The main reason is that VLC Media Player is not associated with files in the .vob extension. You can reset VLC preferences to fix VLC won't play DVD.

Conclusion

With no doubt, VLC Media Player is a great choice when you want to rip DVD movie for free. However, it is a little hard to operate and may stop working sometimes. In that case, you can try an alternative tool to get your movie ripped.

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