How to Remove Copy Protection from DVD - 3 Ways to Go

Commercial DVDs always have copy protection measures, which bring great trouble to DVD owners who want to save DVD movies to computer, cloud or mobiles. Therefore, many people wonder how to remove copy protection from DVD?

-- "Most DVDs in my collection are copy-protected. Now, I want to make copies of them and watch freely on my laptop. How to remove encryption from DVD in a good way? Any suggestion is greatly appreciated!"

-- "I have a problem with Frozen 2 DVD, get to about 46 percent and stops."

-- "Use AnyDVD to rip Lionsgate movie Knives Out. It makes it to 1-2% then stops. Tried Handbrake and only got 12 seconds."

It is not an easy task to rip and copy protected DVDs, especially Disney DRM-ed DVDs. Some DVD rippers can remove several copy protection schemes, while some can't. In this article, we'll show you the best software to remove copyright protection from DVD and how to remove copy protection from DVDs with HandBrake and VLC which are frequently asked in communities.

Part 1. Best Software to Remove DVD Copy Protection

To unlock DVD encryptions, firstly you need to find the right DVD copy protection removal software. You can find a program on Google, communities or third-party software download sites. There are some free DVD rippers that are welcomed by users like Handbrake, DVD Decrypter, FFmpeg, MakeMKV, etc. But they are not good at removing DVD copy protection.

For example, DVD Decrypter, one of the best free DVD copy protection removal software, fails to handle with new DVDs with an I/O device eror. MakeMKV crashes now and then. HandBrake itself cannot overcome DVD copy protection. To make HandBrake read encrypted DVDs successfully, there is an additional tool you need to install, namely libdvdcss. However, even if libdvdcss is installed, you may also come across copy-protected DVD reading and ripping errors.

The best choice is WinX DVD Ripper.

WinX DVD Ripper is a free tool which will remove a variety of copy protections from DVDs without additional software. It supports almost all DVD encryptions, covering CSS, region code, RCE, Sony ArccOS, UOPs, Disney X-project (99-title DVD copy protection), and other special encryption schemes. Old and latest DVD movies from Disney, Paramount, 21st Century Fox, and other studios, and non-standard DVDs are well supported.

This DVD DRM removal software can easily rip protected DVDs to MP4, MPEG, ISO, AVI, WMV, MOV, FLV, MP3, iPhone, iPad, Android, and more formats and devices without loss of image/audio quality. The built-in Hardware Accelerator, Super Encode Engine, Hyper-threading tech and Multi-core utility can deliver an exteremly fast ripping speed, about 5 minutes to rip a 2-hour DVD.

How to Remove Copy Protection from DVD?

To begin with, download and install WinX DVD Ripper on your Windows (10/11) PC or Mac. Next, follow the tutorial below to get past DVD copy protection.

Step 1. Import the copy-protected DVD into disc drive and WinX.

Insert DVD disc into optical drive of your computer. Then, open WinX DVD Ripper and tap DVD Disc button on navigation bar to select and open the DVD you just inserted. Then it will fast scan your DVD, bypass DVD copy protection, and detect the correct main movie title for you. When a Disney encrypted DVD is detected, it will pop up a small window and tell you which is the main title and give you a link to learn what is Disney protection.

Tips: You can also input ISO image and DVD folder and convert them to a mainstreaming format.

Step 2. Select output format.

On Output Profile window, you should select an output format based on your own needs. You can choose one from general profiles (like MP4, AVI, WMV), device (Apple, Android, Microsoft, Sony etc.), web videos (FLV, WebM and more), music (MP3, AAC, AC3), TS video or copy DVD as ISO image/VIDEO_TS folder or a single MPEG2 file with full/main title.

Step 3. Rip DVD with Removal of Copy Protection

Tap Browse button to set destination folder (hard drive or device) and click RUN button to rip DVD with removal of copy protection.

If the software fails to rip a protected DVD, go back to the above steps, enable the Safe Mode on the right side of the interface, and try again. This feature will enhance the ability to remove strong DVD encryptions.

Disclaimer: Digiarty Software does not advocate ripping copy-protected DVDs for any commercial purpose and suggests referring to the DVD copyright laws in your countries before doing so.

Watch the YouTube Video Tutorial to Remove DRM from DVD

Part 2. How to Remove Copy Protection from DVD with WinX DVD Copy Pro

WinX DVD Copy Pro is another Digiarty product which can help you strip DVD copy protections. It can remove DVD region code, UOPs, CSS encryption and Disney's fake, and then create a digital or physical copy of your original DVD.

Now let's download and install WinX DVD Copy Pro and show you how to use it to circumvent copy protections in your DVD.

Step 1. Open WinX DVD Copy Pro and then you should see a list of features on the left sidebar. Choose a desired function to start, such as Clone DVD to ISO.

Step 2. Insert the DVD you want to remove copy protection into DVD drive. Then, you should see it beside Source DVD. Next, you should choose a destination folder to save the output file.

Step 3. Make sure you have checked the boxes of "Remove DVD region code", "Remove UOPs", "Remove CSS encryption", and "Check Disney's fake". Otherwise, it will not remove copy protection from your DVD.

Step 4. Click RUN and then it will start stripping copy protection.

Part 3. How to Remove Copy Protection from DVD with HandBrake

In fact, when you try to import a copy-protected DVD into HandBrake, you will get a message saying "please note that HandBrake does not support the removal of copy-protection from DVD Discs. You can if you wish use any other 3rd party software for this function…".

Well, what software can be used to work with HandBrake for removing DVD copy protection? That is libdvdcss.

From VideoLAN, libdvdcss is a simple library designed for accessing DVDs encrypted with CSS DVD copy protection system like a block device without having to bother about the decryption. libdvdcss is compiled into DLL files for Windows users. Now, we'll show you how to use libdvdcss together with HandBrake to remove copy protection from DVD.

Step 1. Pick the version of libdvdss you want from libdvdcss repository. The latest version is recommended.

Step 2. Download desired compiled libdvdcss library on your computer and unpack the archive.

Step 3. Move libdvdcss-2.dll into the Handbrake installation folder (usually C:\Program Files\HandBrake).

Step 4. Open HandBrake, load DVD, select title, preset, save path, and then start ripping your copy-protected DVD. Check detailed guide on how to rip DVD with HandBrake >>

The steps to install libdvdcss on macOS EI Capitan are more complicated because of a security feature called System Integrity Protection. To install libdvdcss on Mac, you can refer to the tutorials here.

Part 4. How to Remove Copy Protection from DVD with VLC

VLC is not only a DVD player, but also a DVD ripper. Since libdvdcss which we have introduced in part 2 is inside VLC, you can use VLC to remove CSS copy protection mechanism from DVD. Now, let me show you how to rip copy protected DVD with VLC.

Step 1. Insert DVD into disc drive. Next, open VLC, click Media and then click Convert / Save...

Step 2. On Open Media window, click Disc tab, and make sure the DVD you want to rip is selected in Disc device. Then, select title, audio track, subtitle track, and click Convert / Save.

Step 3. On Convert window, choose output profile and destination folder, and then hit Start to begin ripping DVD.

Part 5. List of Most Common DVD Copy Protection Schemes and How Do They Work

▪ CSS (short for Content Scramble System) utilizes a proprietary 40-bit stream cipher algorithm to restrict DVD-Video access. This digital rights management (DRM) and encryption system is employed on many commercially produced DVD-Video discs.

▪ APS (Analog Protection System): This DVD copy protection system is also known as Copyguard or Macrovision. It adds pulses to analog video signals to negatively impact the AGC circuit of a recording device so the images on copied DVDs becomes garbled and unwatchable.

▪ DVD region codes restricts region where DVD disc can be played by matching region number with configuration flag in DVD players. Although we can change the region on our DVD drive, there is a limit to how many times the region can be changed.

▪ RCE or REA: It is also known as region-code enhanced. It is a retroactive attempt to prevent the playing of one region's discs in another region, even if the disc was played in a region-free player.

▪ UOP (user operation prohibition): A form of use restriction to prohibit the viewer from performing a large majority of actions during sections of a DVD using most DVD players. It is used mainly for copyright notices or warnings, such as an FBI warning in the United States.

▪ Sony ArccOS (Advanced Regional Copy Control Operating Solution): A copy-protection system designed as an additional layer to be used in conjunction with CSS. The system deliberately creates corrupted sectors on the DVD, which cause copying software to produce errors.

▪ CPRM (Content Protection for Recordable Media): This copy protection scheme has largely been restricted to the Japanese market. Special CPRM-compatible recordable media are required, with each disc including a unique Media ID inscribed as a bar code in the inner hub area. When a CPRM-compliant recorder detects compatible media, it uses the unique Media ID on the disc to encrypt the data it records to the disc. The recorder will also write a block of data called the Media Key Block (MKB) which is used to decrypt the disc. If the disc is copied, the Media ID on the new disc will be different and the recorded data will not decrypt correctly.

▪ Disney X-Project DRM (99 titles copy protection): This is when the disc title structure has been messed up with multiple erroneous angles, 99 titles and video file references. There are 99 titles, among which some titles have similar video length and size, but only one is the right title for proper playback. This protection confuses DVD rippers and induces them to select the wrong title to rip. As a result, we will find the movie is out of order or the movie is way too short. And even if one manages to rip a movie, it may result in a 40GB or 60GB file or file structure.

Part 6. Frequently Asked Questions