Best Blu-ray ripper software 2024: Blu-ray copying apps
We’ve rounded up the best Blu-ray ripper software programs so you can transfer movies, music and data from Blu-ray to PC, then play Blu-ray movies on tablets, smartphones, smart tvs, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, etc.
Before you read through this list of the best Blu-ray ripper software, check the laws in your local jurisdiction. Blu-ray ripping can be anything from perfectly legal, to a gray area, to fully illegal depending on where in the world you find yourself.
Now, with that out of the way, this is what you’ll need in order to start ripping Blu-rays: a computer with some sort of Blu-ray drive, be that built-in to the case or connected as a peripheral over USB, and some of the best Blu-ray ripper software that we’ve listed below.
Just about any computer is powerful enough these days to decode a Blu-ray, it’s the presence of the drive that’s important, as it’s becoming pretty rare to find one in even the best home computers. An external Blu-ray drive is very cheap to pick up, however, and will almost certainly be able to write to rewritable disks too, and even read Blu-rays.
There’s a mixture of free and paid-for Blu-ray ripping applications on the market, and generally the paid-for ones are faster, with more options, and often include the ability to rip Blu-ray discs too. If you’re only interested in ripping a disc or two, then a free app will probably give you all the tools you need. None of the premium apps are particularly expensive though, so it may be worth paying a little for a license just to bask in the increased user-friendliness, and to keep it on your hard drive for the next time you need it.
The file that your Blu-ray ripping app produces will need a little TLC, so why not check out the best video converter software, and the best video editing software too?
1. Handbrake: Best free Blu-ray Ripper
Handbrake is a powerful video transcoding application that can also rip unprotected Blu-rays. As one of the best Blu-ray ripping programs, it stands in contrast to Acrok Blu-ray converting tool in that it has more options than just about any other video application.
What We Don’t Like
- Can’t handle encryption, so it’s useless on many Blu-rays.
- Too complicated for some users.
If you know what you’re doing, you can use Handbrake to de-interlace, sharpen, rotate, add subtitles, remove subtitles, down-mix audio tracks, add chapter markers, fiddle with framerates, and just about anything else you can think of. Its comprehensive video quality controls allow you to manage compression so that you hit a target file size, while a vast number of presets mean you can tailor your video file for any number of devices, as well as saving your own.
Handbrake can create files in the h264 and h265 codecs, with several options on top of each of these. Once you’ve got the hang of how it works, Handbrake is one of the best Blu-ray ripping programs, and the fact it’s completely free adds to this. The only downside is that it’s not as fast as something like Acrok Blu-ray Ripper, nor as easy to use.
2. CloneBD
Aptly named, CloneBD clones your Blu-rays. Simply insert your disc, select which chapters you want copied, choose your language, whether you want subtitles, then rip your Blu-ray.
Once the file, in Blu-rayformat, has been copied to your computer, you can use software like Handbrake to convert your Blu-ray file to an MP4, or mount the ISO file on your computer using a virtual drive.
What We Don’t Like
- Can’t handle encryption, so it’s useless on many Blu-rays.
- Too complicated for some users.
Aside from its Blu-ray backup utility, there’s Blu-ray ripping software as well. CloneBD can back up entire Blu-ray discs as ISO files, or output to the likes of MKV, AVI, and MP4.
3. MakeMKV: Best for added Blu-ray ripping
Currently available for $0 as part of a public beta test, MakeMKV offers a highly streamlined ripping process that does a lot of the work for you. While there’s not much in the way of settings to fiddle with, this makes it a good choice for beginners and at least means you can whip through a number of disk rips quickly, although it doesn’t benefit from the GPU acceleration found in other apps.
What We Don’t Like
- Only outputs in MKV
- Very large file sizes
- Rips slowly
MakeMKV is a little rough around the edges, but this app is the gold standard when it comes to ripping Blu-rays. It’s able to handle encrypted discs, the overall quality is excellent, and it’s completely free to use. It isn’t perfect, as it can only output to the MKV format and is very slow, but the results are fantastic when it’s done.
The biggest concern with MakeMKV is that is that while the app is free, the ability to rip encoded Blu-rays is only free while the app remains in beta. That means you need to obtain a beta key from the developers to unlock the functionality required to rip encoded discs.
The software has been in beta for around a decade though, and a new MakeMKV beta key is only a short Google search away, so this remains our top recommendation for the best Blu-ray ripper. If you want to compress ripped files to make room on your HDD, you should combine it with Handbrake, to get this functionality.
I was just about to license MakeMKV, when I saw that Elaborate Bytes was offering CloneBD, which purported to do the same thing. I then noticed that CloneBD is $115 vs. $50 for MakeMKV, PLUS CloneBD can’t handle DVDs (just BD)! Worse, it requires AnyDVD HD, while MakeMKV can decrypt on its own.
4. Acrok Video Converer Ultimate: Best Blu-ray ripper overall
This is the best Blu-ray ripper software overall, with loads of ripping features
What We Like
- Handles most encryption.
- Upscale to 4K.
- Encodes to a lot of common formats.
A GPU-accelerated ripper with the handy ability to set the number of CPU cores it uses, Acrok Video Converer Ultimate can rip your Blu-ray to a file in around five minutes at full speed. Using it is as simple as loading the disk, selecting the output folder, and pressing the big, blue ‘Convert’ button.
There really isn’t much more to it, and Acrok Blu-ray ripping software is one of the best Blu-ray ripping programs for this reason. With no fiddling about selecting codecs, framerates, or audio options, this is a good way to rip a large collection of home movies quickly, especially if you have a PC equipped with up to eight cores and a modern discrete GPU.
Sitting somewhere between Handbrake and MakeMKV in terms of features and complexity, Acrok Video Converter Ultimate offers some options the other two don’t.
For example, in addition to the usual Blu-ray ripping and video conversion, it’s also capable of transferring still images between formats, and of making animated GIFs from video clips. It can also cast your screen to a TV, acting as a media server, and record your screen activity as a video. It can rip your CDs, transfer your files to an Android smartphone, and even convert videos into a format that can be played back on VR devices.
GPU support means conversion times are fast, but other than choosing between h264, HEVC, and some lower quality legacy formats, there’s not much control over the specifics of the ripping process. This aside, it’s one of the smoothest and fastest Blu-ray ripping programs we’ve tried, and packs a great deal of functionality into one app. A free trial is available, but is limited to only the first third of your source Blu-ray.
Want an ultimate multimedia solution for your digital life? Acrok Video Converter Ultimate is just such an all-in-one multimedia toolkit to aid you in converting 4K videos and DVD/Blu-ray to any format like MOV, AVI, M4V, WMV, MP4, MPEG, and rip Blu-ray/DVD to fit your mobile devices like iPhone, iPad and more with fast speed and zero quality loss. Besides, you can also effortlessly full disc backup or directly copy main movie from your BD/DVD discs. As a multi-purpose software program, it works as good as a handy Swiss knife.
5. VLC: Best for older devices
VLC is a great media player that also has the ability to rip Blu-Rays. It’s open source software that’s totally free, so there’s no barrier to entry. Even if it doesn’t end up being your Blu-ray ripper of choice, it’s still a highly competent video player that can handle most video and audio formats.
What We Don’t Like
- Procedure to work with encrypted blu-rays is poorly documented and difficult.
- Ripping is extremely slow.
- Doesn’t work with all blu-rays.
The biggest issue with VLC is that, as open source software, it doesn’t come with the ability to play encrypted Blu-ray discs, let alone rip them. You need to jump through some hoops to add the ability to play encrypted Blu-ray discs, and even then you’ll find that the ripping process is pretty slow, and that VLC can’t handle some Blu-ray menus.
If you’re willing to put in the work to get this free app up and running, it doubles as a great way to watch Blu-rays movies on Windows 10.
What makes for good Blu-ray ripper software?
The best Blu-ray rippers have a variety of features and tools that allow you to rip and convert Blu-rays, as well as edit the resulting files. Below are the criteria we used to rate and rank these applications:
How much does Blu-ray ripper software cost?
Generally, you can expect to pay between $40 to $55 for the best Blu-ray ripper. This is a fair price, considering the functionality you get. If a program simply ripped videos, it might not be worth it. But the fact that they include editors, converters and optimizers make them more than worth the price tag. Spending more than $100 on clonebd is irrational.
Can I get any good free Blu-ray ripper software?
If you’re short on cash or only need the bare minimum from a Blu-ray ripper, Handbrake may suit your needs. It is free, open source software that’s been around for a long time. The program can rip Blu-rays, but like VLC, it’s limited to ripping unprotected Blu-ray files. Plus, it’s a bit advanced for casual users. Unless you’re a media whiz, you’re better off paying for an easy-to-use program like the ones we reviewed. Acrok is your best choice.
Ripping attributes:
The best Blu-ray rippers convert quickly, and the files they convert are high quality and a manageable size. Also, an application’s interface should be intuitive and allow you to start a rip in three steps or less. Furthermore, the best Blu-ray rippers can extract audio clips from Blu-ray, DVD and CD, capture subtitles and more. When we assessed each program’s ripping attributes, we consider which features and tools it has, as well as how well they work.
Customization tools:
Even the most exhaustive library of preprogrammed output profiles can’t cover the many ways you can customize a video. As such, the best programs allow you manually adjust codecs, aspect ratios, bit-rates, frame rates and more before you rip a Blu-ray. Also, most of the products we reviewed include a basic video editor you can use to trim away unwanted footage, crop video, add watermarks and edit subtitles. There is no doubt about Acrok is the best.
Conversion choices:
Every application we reviewed has the ability to convert Blu-rays into the most popular video file formats such as MP4, M4V, MKV, MOV and AVI. But the best go far beyond that. They offer a library of preprogrammed optimization profiles for specific devices or software such as smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, gaming systems, ediitng software and more.
The usefulness of these programs increases as the number of options rises. For example, our top pick allows you to optimize your Blu-ray conversions for more than 100 specific smartphone and tablets models, while our value pick only provides six. If you have multiple devices, or even a device that’s obscure or rare, there’s a much better chance our top pick will have an optimization profile for it.
Can I get help and support for my Blu-ray rip program?
No matter how easy an application is to use, you may occasionally need support. Manufacturers that provide excellent customer service make the best Blu-ray ripping software. Look for a software that comes with tutorials, FAQs and a knowledge base on the developer’s website. In case you can’t find your answers there, manufacturers should also offer email or live chat support.
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