Best Format to Rip DVD for Quality, TV, Plex, or Others

"I have been painstakingly under storage space constraints so I am now digitizing the DVD collections that I purchased previously. I have experimented a little with various formats. Here is my current dilemma and situation: I want to rip my DVDs into a format so I could permanently keep a copy of the file on the hard drive while keeping within reasonable storage constraints and at the same time having a format that would maintain a reasonable resolution when I would extract scenes for my home movie projects. So my question is: what is the best format to rip video content for archiving DVD home movies?"

When more DVD collectors are joining the club to turn physical movie libraries into digital files, there's a side subject that must always be broached: which is the best video format for archiving home movies? Which is the best, MPEG2, ISO image, MKV, or MP4? The huge amount of video formats, codecs, and containers makes it confusing for users to select the right one. Some formats are best to rip DVD for Plex, NAS, and streaming to a range of devices, some others are the best quality DVD rip formats... Different formats are designed for different purposes. If you don't know the best format to rip DVDs, this post will help you.

Part 1. What's the Best Format to Rip DVD for Quality?

If you want to keep the original quality after converting a DVD to digital file, you can rip DVD to ISO, VIDEO_TS folder, or MPEG2. Now let's analyze the pros and cons of these formats to help you make the right choice.

1. Ripping DVD to ISO:

ISO image file is a single file that contains the entire content of the DVD, CD, or BD, including subtitles, extras, videos, audio, menus, etc. ISO image is an uncompressed and sector-by-sector copy of a disc. It's the best format to rip a DVD for archiving purposes with 1:1 quality & size. It can be played on most video players like VLC and easily allows users to burn it to another DVD with full quality. To build a digital library exactly same as DVD collections and play the movie as you're playing the disc, use ISO image. Note that the ISO image is large in size. 

Well, how to rip a DVD to ISO file?

Step 1. Download and install WinX DVD Ripper on your Windows or Mac computer.

Step 2. Insert the DVD into your computer's DVD drive and click the DVD Disc button on WinX DVD Ripper to open the DVD.

Step 3. On the Output Profile window, click DVD Backup and then choose Clone DVD to ISO Image.

Step 4. Click the RUN button to begin ripping DVD to ISO.

Check detailed guide on how to rip a DVD to ISO image >>

2. Ripping DVD to VIDEO_TS folder:

Video_TS folder, same as ISO image, is also 1:1 DVD copy and can be burned back to DVD. But it's not a single file and contains all the DVD information with IFO, BUP, and VOB files. The  VOB files include the actual video and audio, subtitles, and menus; IFOs are information files or directions that the DVD player uses and the BUP files are backups of the IFO files. It's a format to archive a digital and playable DVD on the hard drive. You can also use VLC or something to play Video_TS folder on your computer.

Well, how to rip a DVD to VIDEO_TS folder?

Step 1. Download and install WinX DVD Ripper on your Windows or Mac computer.

Step 2. Insert the DVD into your computer's DVD drive and click the DVD Disc button on WinX DVD Ripper to open the DVD.

Step 3. On the Output Profile window, click DVD Backup and then choose Clone DVD to Folder.

Step 4. Click the RUN button to begin ripping DVD to VIDEO_TS folder.

Check detailed guide on how to copy DVD to VIDEO_TS folder >>

3. Ripping DVD to MPEG2:

MPEG2 is the video codec used in the DVD with linear PCM, AC-3 or DTS audio within the VOB wrapper. It's also the best video format for DVD conversion when you want the DVD only with original quality. This is because when you rip a DVD to MPEG-2(.mpg), you will have the full video, but lose any extras, including subtitles, hidden files, adverts, alternative audio formats, etc. 

Commercial discs store movies in the highly efficient MPEG-2 compression format. MPEG-2 images have four times the resolution of MPEG-1 images and can deliver both interlaced and progressive-scan content. Due to different frame rates and resolutions, DVDs is encoded in MPEG-2 in either NTSC or PAL standard. MPEG-2 is a lossy video compression method that is not as efficient as the H.264 or H.265, to reduce the overall size of the video data.

E.g.:
MPEG 2 (DVD quality) -> approx. 3.6 GB per hour of video.
H.264 (720P) -> approx. 1GB per hour of video.

Note: Anyway, you should know that DVD format MPEG2 has quality loss when a disc is made. Therefore, you can't go lossy-to-lossless DVD conversion. But you can archive your home DVD movies on the hard drive without further quality loss by extracting the intact content from DVDs.

Well, how to convert a DVD to MPEG2?

Step 1. Download and install WinX DVD Ripper on your Windows or Mac computer.

Step 2. Insert the DVD into your computer's DVD drive and click the DVD Disc button on WinX DVD Ripper to open the DVD.

Step 3. On the Output Profile window, click DVD Backup and then choose Main Title Content Copy or Full Title Copy. The difference between them is that the first will copy DVD with selected audio/video tracks while the second will copy DVD with all audio/video tracks.

Step 4. Click the RUN button to begin ripping DVD to MPEG2.

Check detailed guide on how to copy DVD to a single MPEG2>>

Part 2. What's the Best Format to Rip DVD with Best Quality and Smallest Size

ISO image, Video_TS folder, MPEG2 all provide full DVD quality, but also very large size. For example, the ISO image file ripped from a 4.7GB DVD can also be GBs in size. Though the hard drives are becoming cheaper these days, it's also important for owners of large DVD library to archive DVDs in a format that well balances the size and quality. In this case, you can mainly consider two formats: H.264 or H.265. But which to choose is based on your needs.

1. Ripping DVD to H.264:

H.264 supports up to 4K high-quality video with relatively small size. It's widely supported by modern mobile devices and other platforms. If you're ripping DVDs to a format for easier playback, H.264 is the way to go.

Well, how to convert a DVD to H.264?

Step 1. Download and install WinX DVD Ripper on your Windows or Mac computer.

Step 2. Insert the DVD into your computer's DVD drive and click the DVD Disc button on WinX DVD Ripper to open the DVD.

Step 3. On the Output Profile window, choose a preset with H.264 as the video codec. For example, you can click General Profiles and choose MP4 Video.

Step 4. Click the RUN button to begin ripping DVD. Once done, you'll get a .mp4 file encoded with H.264.

2. Ripping DVD to H.265:

H.265 saves 50% space than H.264 with the same high quality. It's the ideal format for 4K and 8K videos - best format for BD disc rip for quality/space reasons. But H.265 is less common than H.264 and requires more system power to encode, transcode and decode. If you're interested, check details on how to rip DVD to HEVC/H.265.

Part 3. What's the Best Format to Rip DVD for Plex?

Some people are ripping DVD for easier playback on TVs and other devices via Plex media server. Plex won't support VIDEO_TS, ISO image, BDMV or other DVD-type files, so users can't play DVD 1:1 on Plex. The formats supported by Plex include ASF, AVI, MOV, MP4, MEPGTS, TS, MKV, and WMV. You can rip a DVD to any of these formats. But if you have to ask which video format is the best to convert a DVD for Plex, we will recommend MKV.

MKV supports almost all the audio and video compression formats and offers a plethora of extra features like subtitles, menus, multiple video and audio tracks and chapters. It also has high quality and more future-proof compared to MP4. By the way, you can easily rip DVD for MKV format for Plex or other players using Handbrake and MakeMKV.

Check how to rip DVD for Plex>>

Part 4. What's the Best Format to Rip DVD for Mobiles

Different devices support different formats. What's the best video format for archiving & playing DVD movies on phones & tablets? It depends.

* iDevices: MPEG-4 at 640 x 480 pixels and H.264 at up to 720p on most iPads, and up to 1080p on the iPad mini and iPad Air. You can use Apple's MPEG 4 video container format MOV or other H.264 formats for the DVD conversion.

* Android: the format supported by Android mobiles is H.264:

How to convert DVD to a format supported by mobiles?

Step 1. Download and install WinX DVD Ripper on your Windows or Mac computer. This program has hundreds of output presets for mobile devices.

Step 2. Insert the DVD into your computer's DVD drive and click the DVD Disc button on WinX DVD Ripper to open the DVD.

Step 3. On the Output Profile window, choose a device preset or a format that your device supports. For example, you can click Apple Device, choose to iPhone Video, and then select iPhone 13.

Step 4. Click the RUN button to begin ripping DVD. Once done, you'll get a file perfectly compatible with your device.

Part 5. What's the Best Format to Rip DVD for TV

Some people want to rip DVD for playback on TV. So, what's the best format to choose? It depends on the brand and model of your TV. You should check the user guide for your TV and see what video file formats the TV is compatible with via USB flash drive or other digital sources. Most TVs support all the common formats, such as MP4.

How to rip DVD to TV format?

Step 1. Download and install WinX DVD Ripper on your Windows or Mac computer. This program has output presets for Samsung TV, Sony TV, Panasonic TV, LG TV, and Apple TV.

Step 2. Insert the DVD into your computer's DVD drive and click the DVD Disc button on WinX DVD Ripper to open the DVD.

Step 3. On the Output Profile window, choose a TV preset or a format that your TV supports. For example, you can scroll down to TV Video and then choose Samsung TV Video.

Step 4. Click the RUN button to begin ripping DVD. Once done, you'll get a file that can play on your TV with good image and audio quality.

Part 6. Best DVD Ripper to Archive Home Movies in Any Format

There are different transcoding programs designed to rip DVDs to the best format you need. For example, MakeMKV will extract MKV video from DVD/BD "as is"with original quality and Handbrake will transcode DVDs to MP4/MKV. You can also find the functions in one program that allows you to archive DVDs in formats for quality, for Plex, for mobiles and any other purposes, just like WinX DVD Ripper Platinum.

The DVD ripper supports 350+ output profiles, allowing DVD rip to any format one may need. Specifically, it will rip DVD to the best formats for quality, namely, full DVD to ISO image/Video_ts folder, full/main DVD title to mpg to save 1:1 DVD copy on hard drive for archiving purpose; convert DVDs to MP4, H.265, H.264, MOV, AVI, WMV, FLV, etc. with 98% quality reserved; move DVDs for NAS, Plex, TVs, iPhone, iPad, Samsung, Huawei, game consoles, other platforms directly.

Extra bonus - it supports almost all DVD encryptions; its Level-3 Hardware Acceleration offers 5x faster DVD ripping speed.

Free download WinX DVD Ripper Platinum to rip DVD to the best format you need.

Please DO NOT use WinX DVD Ripper to rip rental DVDs.
For Windows and Mac only. If you are a mobile user, please click here

Disclaimer: Digiarty Software does not advocate ripping commercial DVDs for any illegal purpose. You're suggested to refer to the DVD copyright laws in your country before doing so.