How to Transfer & Rip Blu-ray Movies to a USB Flash Drive

Blu-ray discs are great for movie night at home, but they’re completely useless when you’re on a road trip, sitting on a plane, or simply want to ditch the clutter in your living room. Carrying an optical drive everywhere just isn't practical.

In just a few simple steps, digitizing your Blu-ray library and storing it on a portable USB drive is a popular way. Modern TV playback, tablet media watching, and home network streaming all require digital movie formats like MP4 or MKV instead of raw discs. By transferring your Blu-ray movies to a USB flash drive formatted in exFAT, you get high-definition backup, instant device compatibility, and zero playback stutter. Read on to learn the 3 best methods to copy, rip, and convert your Blu-ray collection today.

Part 1. Preparations Before Copying Blu-ray to USB

Essential Equipment to Copy Blu-ray to USB

Before starting the Blu-ray ripping process, let's see some essential preparation to facilitate your ripping process.

Blu-ray Drive: You'll need a computer with a Blu-ray disc drive, or an external USB Blu-ray drive that can read Blu-ray discs.

USB Drive: Blu-ray movies contain a lot of data, so you'll need a USB drive with ample storage space. A 64GB or 128GB USB drive is generally recommended, but it depends on the size of the Blu-ray disc. Ensure the USB drive is formatted with a file system that can handle large files, such as exFAT or NTFS.

Blu-ray Ripping or Copying Software: Most commercial Blu-ray discs have copyright protection, which prevents direct copying. You'll need specialized Blu-ray ripping software to bypass these protections. Note that the legality of this varies by region. There are various software options available, both free and paid.

CRITICAL: Format Your USB Drive Correctly (FAT32 vs. exFAT)

Before you start transferring Blu-ray files, check your USB drive's file system. DO NOT use FAT32.

FAT32 has a strict 4GB single-file size limit. Since a typical 1080p Blu-ray movie file is between 10GB and 25GB (and 4K UHD can exceed 50GB), copying a Blu-ray to a FAT32 drive will trigger the error: 'File is too large for the destination file system.'

How to format your USB drive to exFAT or NTFS on Windows:

Step 1.Plug your USB flash drive into your PC.

Step 2.Open This PC, right-click your USB drive icon, and select Format.

Step 3.Under File system, select exFAT (recommended for cross-platform support) or NTFS.

Step 4.Set Allocation unit size to Default, check Quick Format, and click Start.

Note: Formatting will erase everything on the drive, so back up your existing files first!

Part 2. Rip a Blu-ray to the Internal and External Hard Drive

You can rip and transfer Blu-ray movies to an external hard drive using Blu-ray Master Free Blu-ray Ripper. The program can rip your Blu-ray collection to more than 500 common video formats with excellent quality. After that, you can copy Blu-ray to USB by setting the download folder as the USB flash drive. Its batch Blu-ray conversion feature can help you save a lot of time. You can rip Blu-ray video chapter and video to iPhone, iPad, Wii, PS, and other popular portable devices for offline playback. You can also use its provided editing tools to flexibly adjust your video effects.

Step 1.Free download, install, and launch Free Blu-ray Ripper. Insert your Blu-ray disc into the BD drive. Click Load Blu-ray > Load Blu-ray Disc to scan all Blu-ray contents.

Note: Remember to clean your Blu-ray discs regularly, which helps prevent the buildup of substances that could potentially damage the disc's surface over time.

Step 2.Set the best format, MP4, in the Output Format list to rip Blu-ray to the hard drive. It also includes many device-specific formats for you to choose.

Step 3.Click the gear button to adjust video and audio parameters, like encoder, bitrate, channel, etc. To copy Blu-ray to USB flash drive or other external hard drives, you can click the folder button at the bottom to set the output folder. Just make sure you have connected the flash drive to your computer before.

Step 4.Lastly, click the Rip All button on the lower right corner to transfer Blu-ray movies to USB flash drive.

Then you can insert the USB flash drive with ripped Blu-ray movies into Xbox 360, PS4, etc., for playing.

This free tool offers a free and easy workflow to rip Blu-rays to a USB flash drive. With GPU acceleration, you can effortlessly complete the ripping process in a lossless way. The free version is able to handle encrypted Blu-rays, but it limits you to choosing high-resolution output profiles.

Part 3. Free Way to Transfer Blu-ray to USB

MakeMKV is one of the best Blu-ray ripping software programs that has powerful Blu-ray decryption capability to handle the newest Blu-ray copy protection. It remuxes the Blu-ray movies and makes 1:1 raw copies of the original Blu-ray, including full Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and Dolby Atmos audio. Moreover, it will scan and show the titles, subtitles, and audio tracks for you to select. Follow us to see how to use it to rip and copy Blu-rays.

Step 1.After downloading MakeMKV on your computer, install and open it. Insert a Blu-ray disc into the optical drive and load it into the software.

Step 2.It will scan and show the Blu-ray's full information in the interface. Select the titles, audio tracks and subtitles.

Step 3.See the Output folder area and click the folder button to set an export folder. Then, click Make MKV to start the conversion.

Note: It requires about 50-100GB storage space to save a ripped 4K Blu-ray movie. You can use HandBrake to compress the output MKV files to a proper size without losing much video quality.

MakeMKV is always the first choice for many people to free copy Blu-ray movies to a USB flash drive. To use it for free, you can choose to get a registration key from the MakeMKV forum each month or buy it for long-term use. One problem that many people complain about is that the output MKV files are large.

Part 4. Transfer Blu-ray to USB Flash Drive

Leawo Blu-ray Ripper is another excellent Blu-ray ripping software that allows you to rip and transfer Blu-ray videos to a USB flash drive. It can decrypt and rip Blu-ray movies to MP4, MKV, AVI, WMV, and more digital formats, which can meet your different watching needs. Further, this powerful tool can handle BD25, BD50, BD66, BD100 discs, folders (in BDMV and BDAV), and ISO image files. It is accessible for both Windows and Mac users. You can follow the below guide to learn how to use it to transfer Blu-rays to your USB flash drive.

Step 1.Go to the official website of Leawo Blu-ray Ripper to download it safely. Install it on your computer and open the software.

Step 2.In the upper menu, select the Convert option and click Add UHD / Blu-ray / DVD > Add from CD-ROM to add one Blu-ray file you want to transfer to USB. After loading the Blu-ray file, there will be three ripping modes: Full Movie, Main Movie, and Custom Mode. Choose the Main Movie mode and click the OK button to proceed.

Step 3.Choose Output Profile and Change to set the export format. You can choose Multi-track MP4, which can be played on various devices. Then, click the Convert button.

Note: You can also choose Output Profile > Edit to adjust the parameters of the output profiles.

Step 4.Click the three-dot icon beside the Save to option to set the download folder of ripped video as the USB drive, and click Convert again to start the conversion process.

Part 5. Pro Tips: How to Play USB Blu-ray Movies on Smart TVs, PS5 & Xbox

Transferring the file to your USB drive is only half the battle—you also need to make sure your hardware can play it. Here is what you need to know before plugging your USB into your living room setup:

Audio Codec Compatibility (AAC vs. AC3/DTS)

Smart TVs (Samsung, LG, Sony): Modern TVs easily handle AAC and AC3 (Dolby Digital) stereo/5.1 audio. However, many newer TVs (especially LG and Samsung) have dropped native support for DTS audio tracks. If your Blu-ray rip uses a DTS audio track, you might get video with no sound. Tip: Choose AAC or AC3 when encoding your Blu-ray to ensure sound works everywhere.

Playing on Game Consoles (PS5 & Xbox Series X)

• PS5: Insert your USB drive, open the Media Gallery app from the home screen, select the USB tab, and play your MP4 or MKV files directly.
• Xbox Series X/S: Download the free Media Player app from the Microsoft Store. Plug in your USB drive, open the app, and browse your movie files.

Subtitle Format Matters

Smart TVs often struggle to render Blu-ray PGS subtitles (.sup). If you want external subtitles, use text-based SRT subtitles or burn/hardcode the subtitles directly into the MP4/MKV video during the ripping process.

Part 6. FAQs for Transferring Blu-ray to USB Flash Drive

• What is the best file system for a USB drive to store high-definition Blu-ray movies?

  ExFAT is always the best choice that works seamlessly across Windows and Mac. It supports files larger than 4GB (essential for 20GB+ Blu-ray movies).

• Can I put a raw Blu-ray ISO file on a USB flash drive and play it directly on my Samsung Smart TV?

  No. The TVs fail to play Blu-ray ISO files and you need to rip Blu-ray movies to MP4/MKV to play them properly on TV.

• How big of a USB flash drive do I need to store a 1080p or 4K Blu-ray movie?

  It depends on the Blu-ray you choose to convert. For a compressed 1080p Blu-ray rip (MP4/MKV), a 16GB to 32GB USB drive is enough (files are usually 8GB–15GB). For an uncompressed 1080p backup or a 4K UHD Blu-ray rip, you will need at least a 64GB or 128GB USB flash drive, as file sizes range from 30GB to 80GB+.

• Why does Windows say 'file is too large for the destination file system' when copying a Blu-ray to USB?

  This situation occurs when your USB drive is formatted with the FAT32 file system, which has a hard limit of 4GB per individual file. Reformatting your drive to exFAT can solve this problem.

• Is MakeMKV completely free to rip Blu-rays to an external hard drive or USB?

  Yes. You can regularly go to the MakeMKV forum to get the registration key to use MakeMKV beta for free forever.

• How long does it usually take to rip a Blu-ray disc and save it to a USB 3.0 drive?

  On average, it takes about 15 to 30 minutes to rip a Blu-ray disc to a USB drive.

• What video format should I choose when ripping Blu-ray to USB for maximum device compatibility?

  MP4, H.264 video encoding, and AAC audio are always the best choice. If you want to maintain multiple audio tracks and subtitles, MKV is better.

Wrapping up

We believe you have learned how to transfer Blu-ray to USB flash drive in these 3 easy ways. Blu-ray Master Free Blu-ray Ripper is especially recommended because this tool can rip Blu-ray movies to various formats to USB, which can efficiently facilitate your subsequent playback and storage. MakeMKV is excellent in handling the latest Blu-ray copy protections. Choose one proper tool based on your needs and back up your Blu-ray collections.