13 August 2014

How to rip a DVD to a Mac or Windows PC: Step by step guide

There are lots of reasons why you might want to rip and copy a movie from a DVD and store it on your computer. You might want to watch a new DVD on your iPad or tablet (which do not have DVD drives); you might just want to backup your expensive movie collection; another reason might be that your DVD collection is bulging and you want to free up some room in your house (a terabyte hard drive full of movies could save a huge amount of cubic meters in your house). Whatever the reason, here's how to rip DVDs to your Mac or PC.

How to rip a DVD with Handbrake

Step one

To rip a DVD you have to download specialist software, don’t panic though, we’ve found some DVD ripping software that is free and works brilliantly. Simply go to http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php and select the link for your operating system (Mac, PC and Ubuntu), then install the Handbrake software when the download is complete.

How to rip a DVD: Step 1

Step two

The next thing you need to do is insert the DVD you want to rip into your PCs optical drive and then open the Handbrake program. You then need to click on the Source button located in the top left of the window.

How to rip a DVD: Step 2

Step three

From here you need to locate and select the DVD drive and click open.

How to rip a DVD: Step 3

Step four

Now that you have select the DVD that you wish to rip, you need to set a destination folder for the ripped content to be saved in. This can be done by clicking on the browse button on the right hand side of the window.

How to rip a DVD: Step 4

Step five

The last thing of note that needs doing is choosing the file preset for your ripped DVD. Handbrake comes with a good list of standard presets for you to chose from (like mp4), so you can rip a DVD to the correct format for popular mobile devices (iPad, Android and more).

How to rip a DVD: Step 5

Step six

Now you have the Source, the Destination folder and have set which file format you want the DVD to be ripped to, the next and final task is the easiest off all; simply hit the Start button at the top of the Window and let Handbrake do the rest.


How to rip a DVD with DVD Shrink

Note: some poeple - but by no means all - have reported issues with DVD Shrink installed malware onto their computers. If in doubt do not download this program, instead use the Handrake software featured above.

Step one

Download a DVD ripping program. There are hundreds of these programs available for download on the internet, some will require you to pay for them, some won't. We've found and tested a program called DVD Shrink, this is free and easy to use.

Step two

Once you have installed DVD Shrink, click on the 'Open Disc' icon near the top rleft of the window, then ensure you have selected DVD drive you want to rip the movie from.

How to rip a DVD step one

Step three

Before you start ripping a DVD you might want to 'Shrink' the file size of your ripped DVD. The smaller the file, the more the quality will be affected. If you wish to do this, click on 'Edit' > 'Preferences' and in the drop down box on the new window select 'Custom' and then enter your desired file size.

How to rip a DVD step three

Step four

To avoid ripping unwanted DVD titles of trailers to your storage device, click on 'Re-author' at the top of the window, then open the 'DVD Browser' tab, after that you need to locate and select the file that is the biggest. This will more often than not be the movie/content you are looking for. If you are unsure, you can preview the file in the bottom left of the screen.

How to rip a DVD step two

Step five

Click on the 'Backup!' button at the top of the window. A new sub-window will then open asking you where you want to save the file. Once you have chosen the file's destination, click 'Ok' and DVD Shrink will start to rip the content on your DVD. A normall DVD should take between 30-50 minutes to rip.

How to rip a DVD step four

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