10 Best DVD to MP4 Converters for Windows 10/11 and Mac [Updated]

Summary: Ripping a DVD to MP4 means you can digitize DVDs and make movies more portable. This article will show you why and how to make an MP4 digital copy from a DVD on Windows (11/10/8/7)/macOS (Ventura).

Since 1995, DVDs had become a universal entertainment carrier in a global context. People were using discs to record anything important and cherished and to view movies. Roughly years 2004 to 2007 were the golden age of DVDs, with the revenue of yearly sales calculated in billions. More than 127 million DVD players were sold to over 70 million U.S. homes until the end of 2004.

However, with the birth of Netflix streaming, DVDs are all the way descending. The digital era has ripened. Hence, video entertainment gradually shifts from disc to digital. In another aspect, when Steve Jobs set off the Mobile Revolution, the mainstream multimedia device falls on smartphones and tablets, which propels the increasing prevalence of the MP4 format.

Therefore, the demand for DVD to MP4 conversion is doomed to rise. For one thing, you can therefore prevent your cherished movie library from physical damage. For the other thing, you can extend your view options to mobile devices and are no longer restricted to PC only. Here’s all you want about how to free convert DVD to MP4, together with some pitfalls to avoid.

* If you want to play DVDs on Windows, refer to the 10 free DVD players for Windows 10/11.

Top 10 Ways to Convert DVD to MP4 on Windows 10/11 and Mac

There are a lot of paid or free programs that claim to convert DVD discs to MP4. We can call out several big names like WinX DVD Ripper, HandBrake, etc. If you are still unaware of them, you can check the following programs which are commonly listed in the top DVD rippers chart due to user-friendly UI, simple operation, and solid ability of DVD conversion.

Way 1. Convert a DVD to MP4 with WinX DVD Ripper Platinum

Best for backing up any type of copy-protected DVD with the best balance in quality, speed, and size.

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum has harvested an overwhelming number of loyal users throughout its 16-year-long journeys in the DVD ripping industry. Editors of tech giants like TechRadar, PCMag, etc have given their thumbs-up to the program for its impressive DVD-ripping performance. It can back up and rip a full DVD movie to MP4 (HEVC/H.264) in 5 minutes with the best balance in quality & size, and conquer all types of DVDs, from new discs, 99-title, damaged, Japanese, regional, workout to non-standard DVDs. Below are the specific features that add a ton of value:

• Support any DVD: Convert homemade discs, burned or bought DVDs with almost any DVD encryption like Disney X-project DRM, CSS, region code, RCE, APS, Sony ArccOS, UOPs, etc., support navigation algorithms used in DVDs from Paramount, Disney, Sony, etc.
• Rip DVD at 300fps: Unique Level-3 Hardware Acceleration powered by Intel QSV, NVIDIA (CUDA) NVENC, AMD, M1 (Pro/Max/Ultra), and multiple core tech are fully utilized, meant to convert a full disc to MP4 as short as 5 minutes.
• 1:1 quality ratio: 4 DVD copy modes manage to back up DVD with 100% quality reserved. The High-Quality Engine, Deinterlacing, and adjustable HQ encoding help to rip DVD with imperceptible quality loss.
• From 8.5GB DVD to 1GB MP4: Adjust resolution, bitrate, codec, etc to produce optimal file size. Specifically, the ripped file is 700MB-1GB instead of GBs for a full movie, with an 80% space saving. Plus, there're 350+ ready profiles for AVI, WMV, MOV, iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Pros:

• Support for 99-title DVDs and other intractable DVDs.
• Hardware acceleration supported.
• Adjustable movie quality.
• Custom profiles & editing tools.
• Wide range of output formats.

Cons:

• No Linux backup client.
• No Blu-ray ripping.

[Tutorial] How Can I Convert DVDs to MP4 with Quality, Size, and Speed Well Balanced?

• Free download and install WinX DVD Ripper Platinum on your PC.
• Free download and launch WinX DVD Ripper Platinum for macOS.

Step 1. Add the Source DVD Disc/Folder.

Open the DVD to MP4 ripper and click the "DVD Disc" icon. A dialogue box will appear, asking you to select the source disc. Then click OK. DVD Folder and ISO image are also well accepted. The DVD ripper supports advanced encryptions like navigation algorithms used in multiple titles. It will easily detect the correct title hidden in DVDs from Disney, Sony, Paramount, etc.

Step 2. Choose MP4 as the Output Format.

Once the title is detected, it will pop up an Output Profile window. Find General Profiles and select "MP4 Video" (codec: h264+aac) from the right column. Click OK. If you need to convert a DVD for iPhone, Android device, YouTube, or other web services, you can also find a readymade profile.

Step 3. Adjust Settings for Best Quality, Fast Speed, or Small Size.

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum features level-3 hardware acceleration, Hyper-threading tech, multi-core CPU, high-quality engine, DVD compressing engine, and many more advanced technologies that manage to speed up the DVD converting process dramatically while exporting a relatively smaller-size file yet retaining the utmost high quality. Below are the exact settings meant to suit your diversified needs.

1. To Convert DVD to MP4 with the Best Quality.

• Check the High-Quality Engine box to improve the output quality. It will analyze the source DVD and well balance the quality and bitrate based on the collected information. Check the "Yadif Double Frames" De-interlacing box to remove any jagged interlacing artifacts.
• To get the best possible quality and smallest size, choose MP4 H.265. It has a 50% smaller size at the same quality compared to H.264.
• Drag the bar from LQ to HQ encoding. HQ encoding will give you a higher quality. But if you also value the ripping speed, keep the slider in the middle. It will balance the ripping speed and exported quality.

2. To Convert a DVD to MP4 from GBs to MBs.

DVDs are cumbersome and become a headache for those who have an enormous number of DVDs. They need nice DVD storage ideas and are often suggested to convert DVD to MP4 or other files to save space and find target items easily. We are happy to find that WinX DVD Ripper offers many settings in a bid to shrink DVD size properly.

In addition to selecting "MP4 H.265" as the output format, flexible options are offered to further reduce the size of the ripped MP4 video. Click the gear button beside the profile and enter the parameter settings window. A slew of other variables such the video/audio codecs, pixel dimensions, frame rate, bit rate, audio sample rate, etc. will help convert a DVD at 8.5GB to a smaller MP4 file. Here are the recommended video size settings:

• You're not suggested to adjust the frame rate and aspect ratio, if unnecessary.
• Enable Video Codec and select the codec H.264 or H.265. It has a smaller size without too much compromise on quality.
• Lower the bitrate. In our test, it is acceptable to adjust the bitrate from the original 2500 kbps to around 1800-2000 kbps. There will not be any noticeable pixelation when viewing the output MP4 video.
• Lower the resolution. The standard DVD resolutions are 720×480 (NTSC) and 720×540 (PAL). Reducing the resolution to 640×480 won't make any quality difference but thereafter downsize the output movie file.

Please note: Adjusting these variables do have some effect on the re-encoded video quality. You can go even smaller, only at the cost of quality loss. Generally, if you want to keep the original DVD quality, the H264/AAC (mp4) profile will manage to export the final rip with a smaller size ranging from 1.2Gb - 1.6Gb. But by converting the DVD to H.265 MP4, the size can be reduced by 50% at the same quality.

Performance tests are conducted by WinXDVD Software in Aug 2022 using WinX DVD Ripper Platinum to convert a Frozen DVD to MP4 in different settings based on the above parameter suggestions on Intel Core i9-12900KS and Nvidia GeForce GTX 2060, Windows 10.

3. To Convert DVDs to MP4 with 47X real-time Faster Speed

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum takes full advantage of the level-3 hardware acceleration, Multi-core CPU, Super Encode Engine based on MMX- SSE & 3DNow!, and Hyper-threading tech, all meant to speed up the DVD converting process to a new level. Here are the recommended speed settings:

• Check the boxes of Intel and Nvidia to enable the hardware accelerator. The GPU-accelerated DVD ripper is powered by unique Level-3 Hardware Acceleration tech. It applies Intel QSV, NVIDIA Cuda/Nevenc, AMD, or M1 (Pro/Max/Ultra) in DVD decoding, MP4 encoding, and processing. It will speed up DVD to MP4 conversion by 5x faster than most other tools without sacrificing the picture quality.
• Set the CPU core to the utmost. In our test, the highest CPU core is 8. So we set it to 8.

The rip went from about 150fps to 390fps based on the computer we have (higher configuration, faster speed). We conducted the tests using 10 DVD rippers we reviewed under the same test environment.

• With common DVD rippers: It takes an average of 30 minutes for a one-and-half-hour move. For example, on a modest machine, we find that HandBrake takes 30-45 minutes to rip a feature-length movie to MP4 while the peers need more time. On a computer with a higher configuration, a full DVD can take anywhere from 15-25 minutes.
• With WinX DVD Ripper Platinum: Ripping a full DVD takes roughly 5 minutes (depending on your computer hardware), with Level-3 Hardware Acceleration enabled. That is 7x faster compared with other rippers in our DVD ripping tests.

Step 4. Start Converting DVD into MP4 Format.

Click the "Browse" button to select a destination folder in the dialog box that opens, and click OK. Then click the big blue "RUN" button to start converting. After the DVD is converted into MP4 (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC/HEVC) video, you can freely save the DVD video to a computer or transfer it to iPhone, iPad, Android, game consoles, tablets, and computers that don't have a hard drive.

Watch a video tutorial on how to convert DVDs to MP4 H.264 or HEVC with the best performance.

Besides WinX DVD Ripper Platinum, there is still a wealth of DVD to MP4 converters. Below are the programs which are commonly listed in the top DVD rippers chart due to user-friendly UI, simple operation, and solid DVD converting ability.

Way 2. Rip a DVD to MP4 with Handbrake

Best for advanced users in need of open source unprotected DVD to MP4 ripper.

Handbrake is a popular yet free DVD to MP4 converter among users running Windows, Mac, and Linux. There is no more DVD decryption feature built-in Handbrake since version 0.9.3. But you can still rip some protected discs to MP4, MKV, or WebM, if with VLC libdvdcss installed. By loading the libdvdcss library in the application folder, Handbrake will dynamically read CSS and region-locked DVDs and then re-encode them into MP4.

Besides enabling you to rip DVDs to digital format, Handbrake also lets you get a quick result by taking advantage of the presets in the side panel, from General, Web, Matroska to Devices. There are advanced parameters you can tinker with, available for precise encoding settings, effects, parameter adjustment, etc, which, though, are something of a learning curve.

In the latest version, Handbrake updated Intel QSV for better video processing and had many other fixes like issues with subtitle pass-through durations, MP2 audio sources, etc. If you are going to turn a DVD into an MP4 using the newer Handbrake version like 1.5.0 or above, please make sure to have Microsoft .NET Desktop runtime 6 or later installed on Windows 10 or later.

Pros:

• Open-source and cross-platform.
• Customizable settings are great, especially for experienced users.

Cons:

• Cannot mix multiple DVD titles in one content.
• It is futile for Disney and other newly-protected DVDs.

[Tutorial] How to Convert a DVD to MP4 with Handbrake?

Step 1. Download, install and open Handbrake on your PC or Mac.

Step 2. Insert the DVD you want to convert to MP4.

Step 3. Click Open Source to load the DVD movie. Handbrake will take some time to scan the title.

Note that you can rip unprotected DVDs only. If the DVD, ISO image, or DVD folder is encoded with CSS or region code, please download libdvdcss, a simple library designed for accessing DVDs with CSS decryption (make sure the version is compatible with your Windows version. Here is the 64-bit version we offer and then back up the .dll file to your Handbrake folder.).

Or else, an error message like "copy-protected sources are not supported", or "no valid source or titles found" will prompt when you try to free convert CSS-encrypted DVD to MP4 using Handbrake.

Step 4. The main title will be selected for homemade DVDs by default. For protected DVDs, you can find the title via VLC and manually select the right title from the Title dropdown box.

Step 5. Click the quality presets drop-down menu, ranging from General, Web, Matroska, Hardware, etc. You can preferably choose Fast480p30 for the US or Fast576p25 for Europe. You can also choose HQ and Super HQ for better image quality, which may also result in slow DVD encoding speed.

Step 6. Choose the format MP4 from the drop-down list in the Summary.

Step 7. Adjust the quality settings as per your needs. You can use the Picture, Video, Audio, Subtitles, and Chapters tabs further. Preferably, you can choose H.264 for MP4 video, set RF 18-22 for your DVD movies, enable 2-pass encoding for better image quality, and more.

Step 8. Click the Browse button at the lower part and select a destination folder to save the resulting MP4 file. You can also use an external drive and store your DVD movie on your HDD or SDD, a USB drive, a NAS, or in the cloud.

Step 9. Then click Start Encode on the above toolbar to begin to free convert DVD to MP4 on Windows or Mac You can watch the conversion process. After the ripping, you can add the MP4 movie to your library in a movie library problem like Plex.

What to look out for: Handbrake may fail to encode some DVDs to MP4 properly if you upgrade to macOS 10.11 or newer. This is because Apple introduced new System Integrity Protection to prevent the execution of unauthorized code. You have to download libdvdcss additionally and take advantage of it to deal with the protected DVDs if you are working with Mac.

Way 3. Convert a DVD to MP4 with VLC

Best for both DVD conversion and playing. No need to download an external DVD ripper.

VLC proves itself a solid choice with its simplified interface and powerful DVD decoder feature. Can VLC convert DVD to MP4? Yes. Besides a full-fledged media player that supports a pretty extensive list of video and audio formats, it offers an easy way to transcode video/DVD to MP4 H.264, H.265, WMV, WebM, and more, with no need for extra codec packs.

However, VLC comes with a few trade-offs. VLC just supports ripping CSS and regional discs. You can't decrypt and rip a sophisticatedly-protected DVD with VLC, and you have no control over the conversion - resolution, bitrate, frame rate, deinterlacing, aspect ratio, volume, and more. Despite VLC doesn’t offer more conversion profiles like AVI or WMV, and there are some hidden tabs and buttons in our test, you can still follow the steps to rip a DVD to MP4 with VLC.

Pros:

• Support an extensive range of codecs, such as HEVC, AV1, DivX, MPEG2, XviD, VP9, etc.
• Work with a lot of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, etc.
• Expandable via plugins.

Cons:

• DVD/video editing features are limited.
• It is relatively hard to find the output formats.
• DVD encoding speed is relatively slow compared with other rippers.

[Tutorial] How to Convert DVD to MP4 with VLC?

Step 1. VLC acts as a DVD ripper since version 0.9.6. So you can feel free to download, install and run the VLC media player above 0.9.6. And then feel free to enjoy the free DVD to MP4 conversion on your Windows or Mac.

Step 2. Insert the original DVD into the disc drive.

Step 3. Open VLC, and select Convert/Save... under the Media menu in the top left corner of the main interface.

Step 4. Click the Disc button to load the DVD. VLC requires a special library called libdvdcss if you want to break the CSS encryption encoded on DVDs. The Windows and Mac builds have the library built-in, so it’s no problem to rip CSS DVD to MP4 on Windows and Mac. But if you have some other protected DVDs, make sure to decrypt the DVD beforehand.

Step 5. Once the DVD movie in the Disc Device is loaded correctly, you can do some tweaking. Under Starting Position, you are available to choose which title or chapter you want to rip. Just leave this as the default if you want to rip the whole movie. Under Audio and Subtitles, you can also choose the specific audio or subtitle track as per your needs.

Step 6. Click the Convert/Save button once you finished the settings. Alternatively, you can also go to the Open Disc from Media tab > browse and choose DVD location at Disc Drive > choose Convert from the drop-down menu next to the Play button.

Step 7. When the Convert window pops up, select Video - h.264 + MP3 from the Profile dropdown menu

VLC doesn't provide too many profiles for users compared with other free DVD to MP4 converters. But since MP4 is widely compatible with computers, HD/4K TVs, phones, tablets, and game consoles from Microsoft, Sony, etc, and accepted by media players, editors (e.g. iTunes, iDVD, iMovie) and web services (e.g. YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo), why bothering about the output format. Just choose to convert DVDs to MP4, you can watch MP4 copies on the train, airplane, bus, etc without taking along physical discs.

Step 8. Click the Browse button and pick a folder where you want to save the converted movie. Give the converted movie a new name with a file extension .mp4. Or VLC won't rip the DVD to MP4 properly. Then click the Start button and convert a DVD to a .mp4 file.

Click for a detailed VLC tutorial to rip a DVD...

What to look out for: VLC is a well-recognized media player with GPU-accelerated DVD/video decoding ability. But when it comes to DVD and video encoding, VLC has a worse performance compared with professional DVD ripper software. So if you value speed when converting DVD to MP4, you can choose the other tools in our list.

Way 4. Convert DVD Content to MP4 with Freemake DVD Ripper

Best for beginners to free convert DVD to MP4.

Freemake DVD Ripper is voted the 4th best DVD to MP4 converter simply because it has been recognized as a trustful video converter for 10 years. The program features a large library of 50+ preprogrammed profiles, which means you can not only convert DVD to digital MP4, WMV, and AVI video files, but also format your DVDs to play on phones, tablets, smart TVs, gaming systems, and more anywhere.

Compared to other free DVD converters, it has the benefit to remove some protections like the DVD region codes. But for other protected DVDs, Freemake will be glitchy.

Besides converting both local video and DVD, Freemake also helps to convert online video all the easier, and burn files to physical DVD directly. Although advised for free, Freemake is not free. You have to pay for a license key to access the advanced features and enhancements such as video converting speed and watermark removal.

Pros:

• Burn video to DVD directly.
• Preconfigured to work with many devices.

Cons:

• The converted movie is watermarked if not upgraded to its paid version.
• Advanced features are only available to the Web Pack.
• The conversion isn’t that speedy.
• Cannot convert ISO image.

[Tutorial] How to Convert a DVD to MP4 with Freemake DVD Ripper?

Step 1. Run Freemake DVD Ripper after you download it, and insert a DVD into the drive. Installation of Freemake DVD Ripper can be a little bit confusing since the actual program is the Freemake Video Converter. But don't worry, it still works when it comes to converting DVD to MP4 format.

Step 2. Here you are open to converting multiple files or one file according to your needs. To convert DVD to MP4, just choose Only one file, after which you can click the +DVD button at the top part, select your DVD drive with the physical movie, and choose a VIDEO_TS folder on the DVD. Choose the biggest VOB file from the list (click here to learn how to convert DVD VOB to MP4). The program will read the disc and show you multiple titles. Choose the one with the longest length.

You can also select the audio and subtitle tracks you like if the movie has multiple tracks. Freemake is unable to rip DVDs with multiple tracks pertained at a time.

Note: Freemake doesn't read copy-protected DVDs, and sometimes, even the longest title length doesn't guarantee 100% successful DVD to MP4 conversion, so it's better to resort to another DVD ripper.

Step 3. Select MP4 from the profile list at the bottom of the interface and change the settings for the MP4 if needed. For example, you can stick with One-pass encoding for high quality or two-pass encoding for better MP4 quality, adjust the output file size from 210 to 7379 Mb, pick the quality you want from the dropdown lists, including sticking with standard DVD quality, or upconverting to 720p, though it won't add any detail.

Step 4. Besides the ready-made MP4 profile for DVD conversion, you can also customize the MP4 preset according to your needs. Click the gear-shaped icon to change the frame size, video codec, frame rate, bitrate, audio parameters, etc

Step 5. After all the changes, click the Convert button to begin the DVD conversion.

What to look out for: There are some upsell attempts when you are using the free DVD to MP4 converter version. The ripped movies are generally accompanied by the Freemake logo, making them almost unwatchable. You'd better upgrade to its paid version to remove the branding.

Way 5. Rip DVD to MP4 with DVDFab HD Decrypter

Best for free ripping not only DVDs but also Blu-rays.

DVDFab HD Decrypter is good for your ripping needs if you have any old or not-so-strongly protected DVDs or Blu-rays. With it, you can convert your entire disc to MP4 or MKV format so that you can enjoy the digitized MP4 movie on mobile or laptop on the go.

However, it’s a little confusing when it comes to downloading DVDFab HD Decrypter. During the installation, 25 additional software including DVD copy, DVD ripper, DVD creator, DVD cinavia removal, UHD creator, etc that are packed all in one DVDFab 12 is downloaded. But you can still choose to use DVDFab HD Decrypter for free as long as you are not ripping the newly protected DVDs and are not annoyed by the constant pestering to upgrade.

Pros:

• Clean and easy to use.
• Output options are reasonable.

Cons:

• Cannot rip newly released DVDs.
• Limited ripping options.

[Tutorial] How Do I Rip a DVD to MP4 for Free with DVDFab HD Decrypter?

Step 1. DVDFab HD Decrypter is built in DVDFab 12 version, so you can first of all download DVDFab 12 from its official page to use DVDFab HD Decrypter to freely convert DVD to MP4.

Step 2. Opt for Copy or Ripper from the option bar on the top side. Then insert the disc you want to rip to your computer.

Step 3. Click the + button to load the DVD movie. If you have an ISO image or DVD folder, just drag and drop the file into the main interface

We are happy to find that DVDFab HD Decrypter asks users to specify the disc's region code. As we all know virtually all commercial DVDs have region codes ^[wiki] which only permit the discs to be played on DVD players that have identical codes. E.g, you can't play a DVD from Britain (where region 2 is employed) in America (where DVDs and DVD players have a region code of 1). So if you are asked to set the volume, just feel free to choose the region. You can also click here to convert DVD region code >>

Step 4. Wait for DVDFab to scan the movie. Then a window showing Free HD Decrypter is used to open the disc will pop up. Just feel free to close it.

Step 5. By default, DVDFab HD Decrypter will convert DVD to MP4 format. It also enables you to convert DVDs to MKV format. But since MP4 features a high compression rate and great output quality, it delivers a smaller file size than other formats when set as the same quality. Sometimes an MKV file at least doubles the size of an MP4. So you can leave the format unchanged.

Under the profile, you can also select audio track, subtitle track, and even choose forced subtitles here.

Step 6. The free DVD to MP4 converter also gives you easy access to advanced setting options. Besides the ability to tweak codec, resolution, and more, you can also set bitrate, choose the video quality from fast speed, standard, to high quality, change the DVD video quality, set the output size, and split the chapter before converting DVD to MP4.

Step 7. Click the Start button to rip DVD to MP4 for free. The ripping process will be shown automatically and you can see the CPU load. DVDFab HD Decrypter deliberately disables the hardware acceleration decoder and encoder, all wishing you to upgrade to its paid version to speed up the conversion process. Just let it go and wait for completing the whole converting process. The DVD movie will be converted into MP4 finally.

What to look out for: DVDFab HD Decrypter is a free version that supports limited output formats like MP4 and MKV. It cannot work with all discs, especially those released after 2018.

Way 6. Convert DVD to MP4 with Wondershare Uniconverter

Best for converting unprotected DVDs with advanced editing features.

Uniconverter is a fully functional DVD video converter toolbox that can extract homemade movie from DVD and encode it to an extensive range of formats. In addition to DVD to MP4 conversion, you can also compress, edit, record, merge, play, and burn video as per your needs. It features an intuitive interface that helps you to jump straight to the task you need and therefore makes the whole video processing a hassle-free experience. The latest version 14 added features such as AI-powered vocal remover, noise remover, and more.

Wondershare claims to have a dramatic speed boost as a result of its High-Speed Conversion tech, compared with its Movavi and Freemake. We, therefore, made a few speed tests using these DVD to MP4 converters. Uniconverter was 4 minutes lag behind WinX DVD Ripper Platinum and just 3x faster than Freemake under the same test environment, which is quite exaggerated and far from the acclaimed 120x faster speed.

Besides, it is likely to cause a loss of audio sync during conversion. But if you value features, you can still have a try.

Pros:

• A wide range of features, from convert, compress, record, to edit.
• Intuitive interface.

Cons:

• Cannot rip protected DVDs.
• Converting performance is not as fast as it boasted on the official page.
• Advanced features like DVD title merging are available in subscription plans.

How to Convert DVD to MP4 on Windows 10/11 with UniConverter?

Step 1. Launch Wondershare Uniconverter on your Windows or Mac platform, then click Converter on the main interface to activate the Video Converter feature.

Step 2. Click + disc to load a DVD movie, IFO file, or an ISO image. In our test, Uniconverter took a few minutes to add a file. Don’t worry, just leave it to analyze the disc information. If you have some commercial DVDs to rip, please resort to some other DVD rippers for help, Uniconverter doesn’t rip protected DVDs at all.

Step 3. Click and open the Output Format menu from the bottom, go to the Video tab, choose MP4 format, and select a preferred resolution from the right. In general, MP4 is selected by default. You can also choose HEVC MP4 from the Output Format window.

Step 4. Back to the main window, you are available to select the subtitle and audio track, or even add external subtitle files or audio tracks as per your needs. And adjust the settings like encoder, resolution, bitrate, and sample rate.

Step 5. Click Start All. The converting task will begin.

What to look out for: Wondershare Uniconverter just converts 1/3 length of the original movie duration with the trial version. You cannot merge files or enable the High Speed Conversion unless you upgrade to the registered version. It offers 3 individual plans, including an annual plan starting at $39.99/year, a 2-year plan starting at $59.99/2-year, and the most popular perpetual plan starting at $79.99 with lifetime usage of Uniconverter.

Way 7. Transcode DVD to MP4 with Movavi Video Converter

Best for unprotected DVD to MP4 ripping with AI upscaling.

Movavi Video Converter supports 180+ formats and 200+ devices, which makes DVD conversion to MP4 an easy task and gets your DVD optimized for playing on your mobile device, game console, PC, TV, or media player flawlessly. You can even search for subtitles online and add them right away to best fit your movie rips. We are happy to find that Movavi delivers an AI-powered quality upscaling, which can upscale your original 480p DVD resolution to even 1080p with crisp images.

Movavi slips to third place, ranking next to WinX DVD Ripper Platinum and Wondershare Uniconverter when it comes to the DVD to MP4 converting speed in our test. This is due to its SuperSpeed mode. It also has batch-processing options. This comes in handy for those who have accumulated a large library of DVDs and need to process them at a time.

Prices of Movavi Video Converter start from $54.95 for the annual subscription. You can also opt for the lifetime subscription which costs $64.95.

Pros:

• AI-powered DVD upscaling.
• Speedy DVD conversion.
• A clumsy interface makes for a bad user experience.

Cons:

• Protected DVDs are not supported.
• Watermarks are added to the converted rips when using a free trial.
• There is no Help file.

How to Convert DVD to MP4 on Movavi Video Converter?

Step 1. Open Movavi Video Converter, click Add Medium button > Add DVD > Open DVD, where you can add your DVD movie to the program. Make sure your DVD source is unprotected. Movavi doesn’t allow any ripping of copy-protected DVDs.

Step 2. To rip a DVD to MP4 format, you can go to the Video tab in the lower part of the window, and then set MP4 as the target format. Once you've already selected the MP4 profile, Movavi will automatically calculate the output file size.

Step 3. Click the Save to button to specify the output folder where you want to save the converted MP4 file, and click the Convert button. The converting process will start immediately.

What to look out for: Movavi can only process disc that does not contain any copy protection or region restriction. Commercial DVDs in our test failed to convert using this tool. Plus, this program is only for a 7-day free trial.

Way 8. Convert DVD to MP4 with DVDVideoSoft

Best for ripping DVDs to video and audio for mobile devices.

Free DVD Video Converter from DVDVideoSoft is a lightweight program for Windows that will rip DVDs to MP4, AVI, MKV, MP3, and a slew of formats.

Since disc drive is ditched from modern devices. Modern PCs, Macs, ultrabooks, and game consoles like Xbox One S are coming without a disc drive. To play DVDs, you need an external DVD drive and MPEG2 decoder. This becomes an extra burden when you want to bring some DVD movies on your trips. DVDVideoSoftware knows well about your concern, offering a slew of profiles for mobile devices like iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, etc.

The program is free, safe, and easy to use, which lets users select the DVD titles, languages, and subtitles without any hassle.

Pros:

• Preset configurations.
• Add subtitles to the movie.

Cons:

• No DVD decrypting ability.
• No frequent updates.

[Tutorial] How to Convert DVD to MP4 on Windows 10/11 with DVDVideoSoft?

Step 1. Open the software after you download the program on your computer and click the Browse button to select a drive with your DVD or DVD folder.

Step 2. Then click the Choose button to select the DVD title you want to convert to MP4. If you're not sure which is the correct title, you can play the DVD with VLC and remember the title. You can also set the languages and subtitles and click OK.

Step 3. Click Browse to set an output folder. Then under the Formats, select MP4 as the output format. Choose preferred presets under the Presets optimized for playback on your computer or mobile. Available profiles for Apple TV, iPad, iPod, PSP, and MP4 are also available for you to choose from.

Step 4. After all the steps, click Convert to start. A conversion process window will pop up showing the progress. You can cancel it anytime. Since MP4 is the best format to backup DVD to. You can therefore save the rips on a computer hard drive, USB, flash drive, iPhone, Android, et, categorize MP4 videos by genre, year, etc. as per your needs, and easily locate them by searching.

What to look out for: DVDVideoSoft supports unprotected discs only. So you will need to download extra software to rip copy-protected DVDs. Moreover, if you want more advanced features such as parameter adjustment and basic editing options, you’d better look for other professional DVD to MP4 converters for help.

Way 9. Convert DVD to MP4 with MediaCoder

Best for fast and Customizable DVD ripping.

MediaCoder has been there since 2005. It cracked the top 9 for the first time in our list as a free media transcoder. It supports converting DVDs to the most popular video and audio formats like H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, VP8/VP9, and more. It takes advantage of QuickSync, NVENC, and CUDA to deliver a quick DVD to H.264/H.265 converting speed. Users are also allowed to adjust the output settings like video bitrate, format, rate mode, and more. However, compared with other free DVD to MP4 converters, the program is quite complicated to get started.

Pros:

• All-in-one DVD video solution.
• Support batch conversion.

Cons:

• The relatively clumsy interface makes it intimidating.

[Tutorial] How to Convert DVD to MP4 Free with MediaCoder

Step 1. Free download MediaCoder from its official download page. Mediacoder has several servers for hosting the released files. In our test, installation is troublesome and we had to turn to another one for successful downloading.

Step 2. Run the DVD to MP4 converter. Click Add Track from the File menu and select your DVD. Or you can load your ISO image from the Add file button.

Step 3. Click on the Video tab and check Enable Video function. Go to Format, and choose the video codec you want. It will show you a wide range of codecs, including H.264, HEVC, MPEG4, VP9, Xvid, etc. For the best compatibility, we recommend you convert DVD to MP4 H.264.

Step 4. On the right side, you can choose whether to use software encoding such as X264, X265, or hardware encoding before converting DVD to MP4. For hardware accelerated ripping, you can move to Intel, NVENC, or CUDA tab, and choose the quality presets options, such as high performance, high quality, and lossless in NVENC settings, the GOP, B-Frames, etc. All the settings share almost similar meanings.

Higher quality means slower ripping speed. Faster speed achieves at the cost of quality degradation. Just choose the setting according to your preference.

Step 5. Move to the top right corner of the main interface, and click the Output Folder to specify where the program should save the converted files. When all the formats and settings are done, click START and wait.

Note: Sometimes you will be informed of problematic loading because the decoder file could not be found and got an error code 0.13 asking you to try another video source. The truth is MediaCoder cannot decode protected DVD or ISO image, making it a failure in our DVD to MP4 conversion. So make sure the DVD is unprotected.

What to look out for: MediaCoder's interface is a little bit intimidating, which may not be instant to go about everything, especially if you are a green hand. Besides, the DVD to MP4 converting speed is a bit slow when compared with other professional DVD rippers.

Way 10. Rip DVD to MP4 with Leawo DVD Ripper

Best for ripping DVDs to a large number of file formats.

Leawo DVD Ripper accomplishes the task of ripping and converting DVDs to over 180 video formats, incl. MP4, WMV, MKV, and FLV. You can also extract audio from DVD and save it as MP3, AAC, etc. Therefore, it gives you digitized content that can be used across multiple devices without any hassle and escalate your home DVD movie experience without any DVD player at all.

DVD is fragile, which is vulnerable to warping, scratching, and breaking. When it is damaged or aged, sectors become unreadable and you may encounter problems like it skips or even aborts; it doesn't seem to read or load. Leawo knows what people want - to back up DVDs against scratches or any damage, offering 3 backup options, including full movie, main movie, and custom mode.

In addition, Leawo DVD Ripper also works as a handy video editor that is available for you to trim and crop video, add effects and watermarks, and select subtitles and audio tracks from the source DVD movie at your will. You can try it for free and get a 1-year license code for $29.95 or a lifetime license for $39.95.

Pros:

• Multiple options for file loading modes.
• Convert DVD to a large number of formats.
• Built-in video editor and 3D movie creator.

Cons:

• Outdated device profiles.
• Grammer errors in the tutorial.

How to Convert a DVD to MP4 Format with Leawo DVD Ripper

Step 1. Go to its official page and download Leawo DVD Ripper on your computer. Please note that the program you are downloading is Leawo Prof.Media v11. DVD ripper is a just module of the program. Just click the DVD Ripper to initiate the feature.

Step 2. On the Convert interface, click Add UHD/Blu-ray/DVD to import a DVD disc, folder, or ISO image. You are offered three options, including full movie, main movie, and custom mode. In our test, we choose the main movie to import the longest title, then click OK to start importing the DVD movie.

Step 3. When you are directed back to the main interface, you can select the subtitle or audio track as you like if the movie has multiple tracks.

Step 4. Choose MP4 with H.264 as the output profile under Format in the profile panel. You can also choose to convert DVD to H.265 MP4 in Leawo. It is optional for you to change the video codec, bitrate, resolution, frame rate, audio codec, etc of the selected profile, and then click Save to Custom to add the customized profile to the Custom group.

Optionally, Leawo DVD Ripper is equipped with some basic edit features such as trim, crop, adding a watermark or effect to the movie, etc. You can make simple tweaks before DVD to MP4 conversion.

Step 5. Return to the Convert interface, and click the green Convert button to set the output directory and save the output file.

Step 6. Click the Convert button at the bottom of the sidebar to start converting the movie from DVD to MP4 format, after which a window showing you the required hard disc space will pop up and ask you to upgrade to its paid version before the conversion. You can reject it, and see a progress bar on the main interface. It won't take too much time.

What to look out for: It seems Leawo DVD Ripper undergoes slow updates. In our test, we found that the readymade device profiles are relatively archaic. This pushes it to the no.10 spot in our best DVD to MP4 converter review.

How We Test the DVD to MP4 Converters?

In order for the programs to make our best DVD to MP4 converting software list, it needs to excel on several tests that we run on a total of 20 DVD rippers we researched and we shortlisted 10 programs in this test. Here are our primary concerns during the testing workflow:

1. Overall features and interface. For the first part, we assessed their usability by checking their user interfaces and features, from the most essential MP4 (H.264/HEVC) profile to the general output formats and devices, customization settings, basic editing features, batch processing, DVD quality upscaling, to other value-added features.

2. Protected DVD ripping ability. One of the most important tests we run is the DVD decrypting test. We selected different genres of DVD discs, from relatively aging and slightly damaged DVDs, region-locked DVDs, workout DVDs, Disney animated DVDs, DVDs produced by Sony and Lionsgate, TV series DVDs, and even Japanese DVDs. Then we loaded these discs one by one into the programs researched. Some showed "no title found error", some crashed while converting, while some succeeded and finally got ahead in our list.

3. Performance test. We performed all these DVD to MP4 conversions under the same testing environment, both on a relatively aging computer and a modern computer, in order to show their respective DVD ripping performances in terms of speed, quality, and size.

We enabled the hardware acceleration and software only to test the DVD converting speed. And we also checked the CPU and memory usage when using each of the DVD ripper programs. When it comes to quality, we relied on SSIM to check the similarity between the original DVD and the processed MP4 file. We also measured the output MP4 file size through different quality and parameter settings.

4. Experts' and users' reviews. We read reviews written by the experts from authoritative media and find out what users are saying about these DVD to MP4 converters in order to get into the mind of them, have a better understanding of the products’ pros and cons, and then decide the order.

In short, we made a thorough evaluation to determine not only which DVD rippers offer the best picture quality, the fastest ripping speed, and the best overall user experience. After all, you will be living with the DVD to MP4 ripper for years to come, and using it should be a joy, not a pain.

Common DVD to MP4 Errors You May Meet

Besides the above-mentioned programs, there is still a wealth of other DVD to MP4 converters in the market. They basically share similar workflows but also produce alike troubles as below:

1. It takes too long.

I was ripping some DVDs but the rip was averaging 11.8 FPS, getting closer to 25-30 minutes a DVD. I've restarted my computer, checked my CPU usage (under 20%), and everything I could think of but it still took a long time. It's annoying when you're ripping 5-10 DVDs a day.

DVD to MP4 ripping speed relies on both the DVD ripper software itself and computer hardware. The faster processor the computer has, the faster the encoding will be. How long does it take to convert a full DVD to MP4? Generally, a DVD ripper is widely considered as fast when it can convert a DVD movie to MP4 within 15 minutes, with an average speed of 25FPS+. It's unacceptable when it takes hours to finish a DVD copy, especially when you need to copy a large DVD collection.

2. The output is not as good as the original DVD.

I'm trying to rip some family DVDs (weddings, etc.). But the ripped MP4 (same resolution as the original) has some pixels on the screen.

The DVD ripping process will re-encode the video and lose quality for that reason. But different codecs like MPEG4, H.264, and HEVC have different qualities (generally, HEVC > H.264 > MPEG4). To keep the the visually same quality (including Dolby digital sound), DVD to MP4 x265 is the best choice.

Besides, copy protections like fake titles, bad sectors, CSS, etc. can possibly result in bad quality if the software fails to remove them. That means you need to install a powerful DVD ripper to handle copy-protected DVDs.

3. The ripped MP4 is huge in size.

I have Pavtube but when converting using the best settings in h.264 (mp4) the file gets huge. Tried using Handbrake, files are smaller (3.3gigs...). Need to convert some DVDs to an iPhone, so is it possible to SHRINK it somewhat to fit on a mobile device?

A complete DVD is anywhere from 4-7GB and the rip size depends on how nice you want the quality. Simply put, the smaller size, the lower quality. Generally, for a full-length movie (1.5-2 hrs) encoded in MP4 H.264 codec, 1.2-1.8 gigs will give good quality. But incapable DVD rippers sometimes produce a rip as large as 40GB, especially when they cope with newly-released DVD movies, 99-title DVDs, and Disney DVDs. So a good DVD ripper with decrypting ability is deemed essential.

Summary: It's kinda a paradox to get a fast speed, optimal quality, and small size for the DVD to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. However, a battle-tested DVD converter like WinX DVD Ripper Platinum can get the best possible results in a balanced way.

Frequently Asked Questions

8. How do I convert DVD to mp4 on Mac?

Mac users can create a copy of unprotected DVDs with Mac’s Disk Utility. However, there isn’t any native way to digitize DVDs. To convert a DVD to MP4 on Mac, you need to resort to third-party DVD ripper for Mac like MacX DVD Ripper Pro, and Handbrake for Mac to do the task. Here we take converting DVD to MP4 using MacX DVD Ripper Pro as an example.

Step 1. Download and launch the DVD ripper on your Mac computer. Then add your DVD, ISO image, or DVD folder and let the program scan the title automatically.

Step 2. Once the movie's main title is selected, you are prompted with a pop-up window leading you to choose an output format. Choose MP4 H.264 as the export format.

Step 3. Click the Browse button to locate the destination folder where you want to save the exported movie file.

Step 4. Tap the RUN button and it will begin converting DVD to MP4. You can witness the converting processing and it will finish the conversion in a few minutes.

Detailed guide: how to rip DVD to MP4 on Mac for free

Disclaimer: Digiarty Software does not advocate ripping copy-protected DVDs for any commercial purpose and suggests referring to the DVD copyright laws in your country before doing so. DVD copy protections (DVD region code not included) only have an effect on illegal DVD copying, but not on DVD playback.

Conclusion

The range of abilities of these DVD to MP4 converters is fairly broad. On the unsurpassable decryption end you find WinX DVD Ripper, which goes beyond all the rivals in our test when loading DVDs, either old or new. When it comes to incredibly fluid workflow, Freemake, Wondershare, and Movavi get an upper hand, though they cannot deal with protected DVDs in our test.

While if you are a tech geek, and advanced customization is what you concern most, go to Handbrake and MediaCoder, both of which have many controls over the parameters. You can pick the one that best fits your requirements.

External Sources:

1. DVD ^[wiki]: DVD offers high storage capacity (up to 8.5GB/4 hours at typical bit rates) to store any kind of digital data. Most DVDs store video in MPEG-2 format at 720x480 pixels for NTSC and 720x576 pixels for PAL in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio. To play a DVD, you need a  DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder (e. g., a DVD player or a computer DVD drive with a software DVD player).

2. MP4 ^[wiki]: MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14) is a digital multimedia container format most commonly used to store video, audio as well as data like subtitles and still images. It works with a variety of compression schemes like H.264, HEVC, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, AAC, and MP3 audio tracks. Relievedly, problems with disc storage or playback can be circumvented by ripping DVD to MP4 files, not only because MP4 is playable on almost all devices, but is easily categorized, managed, and saved on computer hard drive, USB, NAS, etc.