This is an updated list of 2021 best free DVD rippers for MacOS (Big Sur incl.). You can free download any free DVD ripping software for macOS and rip DVDs on Mac freely as per the detailed steps here.

The advent of Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+ changes the way of home entertaining from physical media to digital video. So the internet is abuzz with views of physical discs heading for the graveyard, especially when Apple and Microsoft gradually phased out DVD drives from Mac and Windows. Ah, there is a U-turn. You can revive your movie library by digitizing them with the help of a DVD ripper for Mac.

Audio ripper download - Express Burn Mac Free CD and DVD Burner 10.24 download free - Free CD and DVD Burner for Mac OS X - free. software downloads - best software, shareware, demo and trialware. You are right here. We'll introduce the best DVD burning software that provides you several great functions for both Windows and Mac and then learn the top 10 free DVD burning software for Mac with simple Mac OS X features, which will help you burn videos to DVD with easy steps. 10 Practical free DVD burning software for Mac.

Ideally, a good DVD ripper can extract digital files from DVDs to hard drive in such a way to free up space in your room and protect cherished discs against scratch or damage. It further extends the viewing option to your Macbook, iMac, iPhone, iPad, or any other media players. Therefore, you won't drop the DVD in the disc drive, download an MPEG2 decoder, or take along the bulky DVDs any more. For that reason, we handpicked a list of 10 best free DVD ripper software for Mac, at no cost at all. Keep reading.

Download Best yet 100% Free DVD Ripper for Mac

MacX DVD Ripper Free - Convert any DVD without a Hitch! [Most Recommended by Users]

• Copy and digitize any DVD to MP4, MKV, MOV, H.264, HEVC, ISO, etc.
• Convert DVD content for playing on Mac, Hard drive, TV and mobile devices.
• Unique! Support any new DVDs, 99-title DVDs, damaged DVDs, etc.
• Hardware acceleration supported: It takes 5 mins Only to rip a full DVD with original quality.

Top 10 List of Free DVD Rippers for Mac

What Is the Best DVD Ripper for Mac

There are plenty of free DVD ripping software for Mac, which claims to rip any DVDs to any formats, say DVD to MP4, MOV, MPEG, H.264, etc. But most often, you endure a whole day long sitting aside your Macbook, trying to get the contents off DVDs yet find it crashes constantly, makes scratching high frequency sounds, gets choppy video on output, or keeps giving messages like no valid source found, etc. Therefore, you shall take 'something' into consideration prior to download a free Mac DVD ripping software. Here are the 5 decisive criteria that make up the best one.

macOS Compatibility: macOS Big Sur and M1 Macs weed out 32-bit apps, causing many non-Apple apps incl. DVD rippers hang at launch. So make sure you download a 64-bit DVD ripper on Mac if you've upgraded to Catalina and Big Sur.

Fast Speed: Some DVD converters rely on CPU while some others can accelerate the speed twice or more with GPU's concurrent computing. If you have hundreds of DVDs to be digitized, choose a DVD ripper with GPU acceleration enabled.

High Quality: DVD transcoding involves in codec compression that leads to quality degradation inevitably. Good DVD ripping software manages to create high-quality movie file with almost imperceptible loss of quality (preferably the bitrate is around 1500kbps), by virtue of advanced video transcoding kernel.

Ease to Use: Great tools will feature intuitive interface, with features that are clearly marked and locally placed, leaving little room for guesswork. Preferably, Mac users can go DVD to digital process within 3 clicks, regardless of the computer skills.

DVD decrypting ability: DVD studios adopt copy protection schemes, incl. well-known CSS and region code, to prevent illegal redistribution of commercial DVDs. When facing with the schemes, free DVD rippers no longer hold water but end up with errors like halfway encoding, unwatchable rips, etc. Click to see the complete DVD ripping errors & fixes >>

So the ability to defeat encryption codes is a key factor to consider when searching for a good DVD ripping software for Mac.

No.1 - MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition

MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition is a free DVD for Mac (macOS Big Sur) that offers excellent DVD ripping performance. What makes it the top way to rip a DVD on Mac is its ability to read DRM-protected discs. It supports almost all the common and latest encryption schemes on the market, including CSS, Region Code, RCE, ARccOS, Disney X-Project DRM, etc. No third-party tools or extra actions required.

It can freely convert DVDs to HEVC, MOV, M4V, H.264, MKV, AVI, ISO, any other formats you need. With just clicks, you can watch DVD movies on QuickTime, iPhone, iPad, iTunes, Apple TV, other mobiles, TVs, or save DVDs on SSD, NAS, USB, cloud storage. There is a full range of basic editing features to let you cut, crop, merge, add subtitles, etc. 4 unique DVD backup modes are provided for those who want to save a lossless DVD copy.

With GPU acceleration, hyper-threading, and multi-core CPU techs, ripping DVD on Mac is super fast. On a newer MacBook or iMac, it's able to rip a full DVD to MP4 in 5-10 minutes. That's about 300% the speed of Handbrake. The High-quality engine and De-interlacing engine are built-in to produce remarkably high quality.

Free download the DVD ripper on Mac >>
Free download the DVD ripper on Windows >>

No.2 - iSuper DVD Ripper

iSuper DVD Ripper is a useful tool to convert homemade DVDs on MacBook Pro, Air, iMac. It's safe and free to download from the Mac App Store. You can use it to rip non-protected DVDs to MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, MKV, FLV, M4V, HD MP4, HD AVI, HD MKV, HD WMV, and extract the DVD audio in MP3, AAC, WMA, etc.

For un-encrypted DVDs, iSuper DVD Ripper is very helpful to extract the contents from the disc, add some simple video effects, and convert to different output formats. If you want more features to, for example, rip DVDs with copy protections or make an intact copy of DVD in ISO image or DVD folder, you will need to purchase its upgrade version at $26.25.

How do I rip a DVD to my Mac for free?

1. To rip DVD on Mac with iSuper DVD Ripper, download it from the Mac App Store. It may require your Apple ID or tough ID to finish the download. Then start the free ripper.
2. Insert the disc to the Mac drive or an external disc drive, click the Load Disc button on the top to import the disc.
3. Select the DVD chapter you want to rip and click on the menu profile to select an output format.
4. You can crop, edit, adjust the video settings if needed. Once finished, select an output folder on your Mac and click the Convert button to start ripping the DVD on Mac.

No.3 - HandBrake

Handbrake is an open-source DVD ripper for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It can freely convert DVD to MP4 and MKV in H.265, H.264, H.265 MPEG-4 and MPEG-2, VP8, VP9, and Theora. There are several profiles for Apple, Android, Roku, PSP, Xbox, Web, etc. Handbrake only rips DVD that is homemade or unprotected. It cannot rip commercial DVDs without third party-tool like VLC or DVD decrypter, not to mention the Disney newer protections.

Handbrake is one of the best free choices to rip a DVD to MP4 on Mac. Why? Because it supports AMD VCE, Apple VideoToolbox, Intel Quick Sync Video, and NVIDIA NVENC GPU acceleration for H.264/HEVC encoding. Generally, Handbrake auto enables HW acceleration for DVD ripping tasks and switches to pass 2 for better encoding. That means Handbrake will rip DVDs to MP4 fast on a Macbook or iMac equipped with a powerful video card.

How do I use Handbrake to rip a DVD on a Mac?

1. Go to its official site to download and install the freeware. Handbrake works with Mac OS X 10.12 to Big Sur.
2. Insert DVD disc into Mac's DVD drive and run Handbrake. Click the Source button to load the DVD. To rip protected DVDs, download libdvdcss on Mac to remove the CSS.
3. Click 'Browse' to set where you want to save the output files. Then click 'Presets' and select an output format.
4. What's the best setting for Handbrake ripping a DVD? Unless you aim for a target filesize or speed, we recommend you use Constant Quality with an RF of ~21, Contant Frame Rate, Very Slow encode speed, High Encoder Profile, and 3.1 Encoder Level.
5. Apply other filters if needed. Once finished, click 'RUN' to rip DVDs for free on Mac now.

Tutorial: download Handbrake for Mac to rip DVD movies >>

No.4 - MakeMKV

To rip protected DVDs on Mac for free, MakeMKV is among the top solutions. It's an easy free DVD/Blu-ray ripper for Mac, Windows, and Linux to free rip DVD to MKV format. MakeMKV remuxes the movie content from DVD MPEG2 to MKV without affecting the quality, reserving all video/audio tracks and subtitles with meta-information. That also means the whole DVD to MKV converting is pretty fast. Therefore, MakeMKV is your premium choice to backup and store your movie contents on your hard drive, NAS or USB.

However, the output MKV files tend to be really big in size. Normally, a converted DVD movie takes 6 GB on the hard drive and a Blu-ray movie takes 30 GB. This is not good especially when you import the DVD movie into iPhone, iPad, devices with limited storage. In addition, don't expect the ability to customize the DVD video.

How do I rip a DVD on Mac with MakeMKV?

1. Free download MakeMKV on Mac. It's completely free to rip a DVD disc to Mac during the beta-testing phase, and if you want to decrypt Blu-Ray disc, you will need to pay $50.
2. Open the software and insert the disk. It accepts both DVD and Blu-Ray discs. Then click 'Open Disc' to load in the information.
3. MakeMKV will scan and identify the titles correctly and pop up a list of disk chapters. Choose the chapter, normally the longest and biggest title.
4. Select a folder on Mac to save the output MKV files and click 'Make MKV'. It shows a fast DVD to digital processing speed on Mac, with an average of 30 minutes to rip Blu-ray disc. The output MKV keeps high video and audio quality, but MKV file is enormous (6.73GB MKV file for a 7.84GB DVD in our test).

No.5 - VLC

Among the many ways to rip a DVD on a MacBook Pro, Air, or iMac, there is no doubt the easiest one. Whether you're on Mac, Windows, Mac, Linux, and even mobiles, chance that you have VLC player installed on your system. VLC is not the most powerful DVD ripper for Mac, but it can get the job done. It offers a handy option to convert DVDs to H.264, H.265, MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4, DIVX, H.263, VP8, WMV, MJPEG, Theora, and Dirac.

Like Handbrake, VLC itself supports homemade DVDs only. The good news is that you can use the extra library to decode a protected DVD with VLC. On Mac computer running El Capitan and later, you need to open the Terminal window by hitting Command + Space keys and execute the command brew install libdvdcss to download and install the library (http://download.videolan.org/pub/libdvdcss/1.2.11/macosx/libdvdcss.pkg).

How do I rip a DVD on Mac with VLC?

1. Free download VLC on Mac if you haven't installed it. It works on Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later.
2. Insert the DVD to Mac and open VLC. On the top menu bar, click File and select Open Disc. It has no problem loading any non-protected DVDs. For commercial DVDs, you need to download libdvdcss, or it'll keep recording the menu video repeatedly.
3. At the bottom left corner, check the box forStream output and click the Setting button.
4. First, click Browse and a window will pop up to let you name the converted DVD and select an output folder on Mac to save it. Next, open the drop-down menu at the Encapsulation Method and choose an output format. You can rip DVD to QuickTime for Mac. Below are some basic options for video and audio settings.
5. Then click Open to convert DVD on Mac with VLC. See the detailed guide on ripping DVD with VLC on Mac.

No.6 - MacTheRipper

MacTheRipper, also called for MTR, has long been a popular tool that helps Mac users to create backup copies of DVDs. It has many versions, and MacTheRipper V2.6.6, V3, and V4 are the most downloaded versions. You should note that only Version 2.6.6 and earlier is free and supports protected DVDs (UOPs, ARccOS, RCE, CSS, APS, etc.). But it doesn't work on Mac OS X newer than Snow Leopard. You need to send gift on its official forum for a license to use MacTheRipper 3.0 and MacTheRipper 4.1.

There are 3 modes provided to rip DVDs on Mac: Auto Full Disc Extraction mode, Auto Full Disc ISO Extraction mode, and Full Disc Rip And Rebuild mode. You can't use it to convert a DVD for QuickTime, Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, other devices as it only extracts DVD and won't convert DVD to video. It's the best choice to save a DVD backup copy on Mac hard drive for later burning.

How do I rip a DVD on Mac with MTR?

1. Download the latest version of MactheRipper on your Mac, install it for ripping DVD on Mac.
2. Insert your DVD disc into your Mac and launch the Mac The Ripper application.
3. MTR will detect and scan titles in the disc. If RCE Region Protection was detected, it will ask you to modify the 'RCE Region' number. The RCE Region should be set to the region the DVD was purchased in. For example, the US is Region 1, while Europe is Region 2.
4. Click Extract to starting ripping DVD on Mac with MacTheRipper. The converted DVD will be saved as a folder on Mac.

No.7 - FFmpeg

FFmpeg is a powerful, free and open-source command-based project used to handling videos, including ripping DVDs on Mac. FFmpeg supports most video formats, from the most obscure ancient formats up to the latest ones. The libavcodec, libavutil, libavformat, libavfilter, libavdevice, libswscale and libswresample libraries contained in it can satisfy any needs when ripping a DVD on Mac.

However, the command lines require a steep learning curve, making FFmpeg an unfriendly choice for beginners. For advanced users, you can simply brew install ffmpeg GUI on your Mac, input a command line to do many flexible tasks. For example, to rip a DVD with FFmpeg, browse for the DVD files in the Finder and get the .vob file name you want to convert in the VIDEO_TS folder:

To rip DVD to MP4:
ffmpeg -i concat:VTS_02_1.VOB|VTS_02_2.VOB|VTS_02_3.VOB|VTS_02_4.VOB|VTS_02_5.VOB -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0 -codec:a libvo_aacenc -ab 128 -codec:v libx264 -vpre libx264-ipod640 movie.mp4

To rip DVD to H.265:
ffmpeg -i 'concat:VTS_01_1.VOB|VTS_01_2.VOB' -vcodec libx265 new-video-h265.mp4

No.8 - Cisdem Video Converter

Cisdem Video Converter for Mac, though not free, is an all-in-one solution for various audio and video processing operations. It has a strong DVD ripper built-in to rip both homemade and protected DVDs. Most encryptions currently applied on discs are supported, including CSS, region code, RCE, RPC, UOP, and more. Simply load any disc, you can rip it to MP4, MKV, MOV, H.265 MP4, H.264 MKV, and etc. More than that, 300+ ready profiles for Apple devices, Android devices, TVs, etc. are here to make things easier.

The overall DVD ripping speed on Mac is fast with its advanced accelerating tech. You can further adjust the video parameters like resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio, etc. to get the best output quality. However, it won't let you copy DVD intactly to formats like ISO image. Therefore, it can hardly reserve 100% output quality.

No.9 - DVDFab DVD Ripper

DVDFab DVD Ripper for Mac has free and paid versions. With the free version, you're allowed to rip DVDs to MKV and MP4 at 480P only. Don't expect ripping the DVD at a satisfactory speed, as the free version relies on the CPU for encoding. You may also find that newer DVDs are not supported. But if you upgrade to its paid version at $84.99, you will get a far more comprehensive Mac DVD ripping solution.

The paid version is updated with the latest encryptions. Here, you can find almost all the possible output formats or specific devices you may need. You'll have full control over settings for frame rate, output resolution, video, and audio bitrates, audio sample rate, image cropping, and many more. The DVD ripping is GPU accelerated to offer a fast conversion speed. The best part is, its unique Enlarger AI (sold separately) can be applied to upscale the DVD video from 480P to 1080P with high quality.

No.10 - Any Video Converter Ultimate

Any Video Converter Ultimate lets you rip DVD, convert videos, record screen, burn DVD, and download videos. After downloading it on Mac running on Mac OS X from 10.7 to 10.15, you can easily convert DVDs to MP4, M4V, AVI, WMV, MOV, WMA, MP3, and 200+ other formats. If you need to extract the CD music to a playable audio file, it also helps. With GPU acceleration, you don't need to worry about the ripping speed.

However, before you download the DVD ripper on Mac, there are things to note. The biggest drawback of it is the lack of support for ripping protected DVDs. To remove the DVD encryptions, you will need to download another program called DVDSmith Movie Backup. This free program can help AVC deal with encrypted discs. But it's available for Windows only. Also, avoid it if you want one click to convert DVDs to the latest devices.

How Do I Rip a DVD to My Mac for Free

The above-mentioned Mac DVD rippers are equally matched. What matter most is whether the program fits your bill. For a quality-loss DVD ripping, MakeMKV and Mac The Ripper are second to none. But if you have hundreds of discs and want to have your entire DVD library backed up onto hard drive at fast speed without exhausting your storage space, MacX DVD ripper, Handbrake, VLC, iSuper DVD Ripper are your good options.

While if the last thing you want to do is to end up with errors just because the new title comes with tricky protection scheme or the DVD is formatted unnaturally, the ultimate choice is to download MacX DVD Ripper, which not only features great DVD decryption ability, but also comes with unique level-3 hardware acceleration tech that can speed up the whole process and maintain good balance between quality and size.

You can follow the tutorial below and learn how to rip a DVD on a Mac using MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition with best balance in speed, qulaity and size.

Step 1: Insert DVD into your Mac drive

Prior to the ripping, make sure to spare some space to save the final rip. Then free download the DVD ripper on your Mac and insert your disc. Run the software and click 'Add DVD' button to load the disc. You can also convert DVD folder or ISO image to a digital format.

MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition will easily find the accurate main title. For DVDs with tough protections, MacXDVD's unique title check mechanism and DVD analysis algorithm automatically scan the title, crack severely protected DVDs and smooth the ripping process.

Free download the DVD ripper on Mac >>
Free download the DVD ripper on Windows >>

Step 2: Choose the output format

The Mac specific library also offers diversified options, ranging from back up DVD to ISO image, MKV, MPG, to convert DVD to Apple, Android, TVs, Web. Here are the further suggestions:

• To view DVD on players, phones, tablets, TVs, or so, choose digital format MP4 H.264 for better compatibility, quality and smaller file siz. With no further tweaking, it achieves an H.264 file with crisp picture.
• To play DVD on newer iPhones or iPads running on iOS 11/12, choose digital format MP4 HEVC for higher quality and smaller space.
• To save an original copy with menus and extras, copy DVD to ISO image. The disc image contains the whole data of the disc at 1:1 ratio for later burning but ha s less compatibility with media players and devices.

You can also enable the editing features, available for you to cut the commercials, merge the useful parts, add subtitles to the movie rip, etc.

Step 3: Start ripping the DVD on Mac

Click Browse button to specify the output folder and press RUN to begin DVD ripping. Just leave the rest to the DVD ripper. It will finish the process quickly.

Optional: Transfer Ripped Movies to iPad or iPhone.

After the DVD ripping, you can use Finder to transfer the ripped file to your phone or tablet. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac using a USB or Wi-Fi connection. Select the device in the Finder sidebar > Movies > check the box “Sync movies onto [device name]”> choose the movie you want to sync > click Apple. Or you can rely on third-party data transfer software such as MacX MediaTrans for help.

Performance Test:

MacXDVD's ripping performance is impressive on an iMac 5K (3.2 GHz Intel Core i5, AMD Radeon R9 M380, 2048MB, on Big Sur). We tested several titles, including the classic Star Trek, and new releases Frozen 2, Venon, Incredible 2. It did a great job selecting the right title. While Handbrake, VLC or other free Mac DVD rippers, though with the help of third-party tool like libdvdcss, either popped up error message, quitted unexpectedly, or produced problematic rips.

The conversion frequency of MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition reached averagely 240 fps, twice as high as that of Handbrake. It took 12 minutes to convert the full-length Frozen 2 DVD to MP4, while we could still view web pages and do other tasks since the CPU usage remains as low as 131-134%. Bear in mind, DVD encoding speed is greatly dependant on your computer configuration. Higher config will lead to great performance.

As to the quality, MacXDVD repackages the movie content from DVD MPEG2 to MKV, which doesn't affect the output quality at all while preserving all video, audio and subtitle tracks. We also tested the DVD transcoding feature, which is known to lead to some quality loss inevitably. Fortunately, MacXDVD created a small .mp4 file with 720x480 (16:9) in 1.61GB from the 7.84GB DVD, and there wasn't any noticeable change between the source DVD and ripped file, but merely pixel-level difference.

Free Mac Dvd Burner Download

You can definitely download MacX DVD Ripper Mac Free Edition for a try.

FAQ about DVD Ripping

Q1. Is It Legal to Rip DVDs on Mac?

Many users who want to space-shift or format-shirt their legally purchased DVD or Blu-ray discs often concern about the legality of DVD ripping. The fact is, currently it is considered illegal to rip copyrighted DVDs in US, even if you bought the DVDs yourself. Some other countries have already made it legal. In practice, as the DVD conversion happens locally on your computer, you won't get prosecuted or caught if you don't distribute the digital copies. However, you're highly suggested to obey to the law where you live. Check if it's legal to rip copy protected DVDs in your country.

Q2. Can I Rip a DVD to My Mac with Mac Build-in App?

No. The DVD ripping process on Mac doesn't go as simple as burning, which can be achieved with Mac's built-in app like Finder or iDVD. While the former is still out of reach with Mac unless you own a third-party DVD converter software.

This is because almost all DVD movies or TV shows bought or rented are technically copyrighted and DVD rips will inevitably involve in breaking DVD copy protections, e.g. the Content Scramble System. Such action is currently unlawful in the US and UK. Apple is of course unwilling to set against law or money in consideration of continuous cooperation with U.S. studios for iTunes movies. Therefore, there is no built-in method to rip DVD to Mac. This makes it a sense to download a third-party DVD ripper for Mac instead.

Q3. How do I Rip a Protected DVD on a Mac?

For DVDs encoded with CSS or region code, you can install libdvdcss on Mac or windows to crack the DVD copy protection and then rip the DVD with Handbrake or VLC.

Chances are DVDs from major film studios like Disney, Sony, Warner Bros., etc. often impose strong protections on DVDs. These discs are deliberately placed with bad information and hide the true titles. As a result, 99% of DVD rippers for Mac will go awry like DVD won't load, encounter a large number of tracks with the same runtime, show impossibly 40gb or more of data but output just several KB.To rip the severely protected DVDs, the workaround is to resort to MacX DVD ripper that is built in DVD analysis scheme to crack Sony ARccOS, Disney X-project DRM, UOP, 99-titles, and more.

Q4. What Is the Best Format to Rip DVD to Mac?

Apple apps such as Mac's default player QuickTime, Photos, and Keynote work with many video formats, among which MP4 and MOV are well-known with the best compatibility. When digitizing DVD with free DVD ripper for Mac, many users are at a loss whether to choose MP4 or MOV.

* MP4 - Both MP4 and MOV use lossy video compression to sacrifice minimal quality for file size. MP4 is popular for streaming over the internet and playable on Mac, Windows and almost all media players, say VLC, 5KPlayer, QT, etc. But P-frames or B-frames in MP4 makes it difficult to edit.

* MOV - As MOV is originally developed by Apple for its QuickTime player, it's much friendlier in Apple ecosystem. MOV contains one or more tracks, meant to store each type of data including audio, video, subtitle, etc in a hierarchical structure, which is good for editing. So for Mac computers, to convert DVD to digital MOV for Mac QuickTime is more preferred than MP4.

Q5. Is it Prossible to Rip Scratched DVD on Mac?

DVDs are too fragile, that's why we need to backup the DVD collection. If your discs are already damaged or scratched, there are measures to remedy.

• For a bit of stretches on the surface, polish the surface with cotton balls and abrasive white toothpaste or Brasso plolish. You need to polish across the grain and do not in circular direction. This need patience.
• For deep scratches and servere damages, you can take the damaged disk to a local DVD store with a polishing machine or other places like Phoenix to resurface the badly scuffed disc. This will cost for a couple of dollars. Or if the standalone DVD player with error-recovery scheme can ignore the errors and play the DVD, you can capture the movie with a DV. But this will lost the selectable audio, subtitles streams and original menus.

Note: if the program refuses to rip a well-conditioned DVD with an error stating that there is a bad sector, it's because the DVD is protected by a copy protection scheme from Sony named ARccOS. The system deliberately mixes corrupted sectors with the correct one to mislead DVD copying software.

September 06, 2019 9:28 PM / Posted by Janet Richard
Follow @Janet Richard

Though that DVD burning (e.g. burn MP4 to DVD on Mac) gradually becomes outdated, it’s still a necessary function for certain people.

If you just need to save some space on your Mac, you can put the MP4 video into a folder > right-click it > choose the option to burn your folder to disk. However, the built-in “Burn to Disc” feature will result in a data disc (no standard-conform video-DVD), which will play on Mac but not in a DVD or Blu-Ray player.

To burn MP4 to playable DVD on Mac, you should convert MP4 to DVD (the QuickTime video format for Mac) at first and then burn DVD with iDVD, iMovie or other similar applications.

But iDVD has stopped developed since Mac Lion, and as for iMovie, you must take time to learn how to use this complicated application. Luckily, this is not the end to create DVD from MP4 on macOS Catalina, (High) Sierra, El Capitan, etc. Below, I will show you how to burn MP4 to DVD on Mac, with all the things you desire to know provided.

Benefits to Burn MP4 to DVD on Mac

1. Burn the MP4 files to DVD discs as a holiday gift.

2. DVDs are easier to store than digital file, so you won’t have to worry the computer crash or disk damage.

3. Most digital files especially videos recorded by camcorder are very large, and require big memory. That burning MP4 to DVD Mac will greatly reduce the burden of your hard drive.

4. DVD is a very good way to send and preserve your favorite video clips forever.

Burn MP4 to DVD with the Best DVD Authoring Software for Mac

We have taken a look at a range of different MP4 to DVD burners for Mac, along with those bundled with your machine already. Some of them are thine in their simplicity, others stand out with a huge feature set.

When hunting for the best software to burn MP4 to DVD Mac, it’s important to find one that’s reliable and able to retain the quality of the original video. To offer an all-in-one solution, we’d suggest you to use iFunia DVD burner (also named Video Converter) for the entire MP4 to DVD Mac process, attributing to its powerful features:

• Super-fast DVD burning speed.
• Burn any types of videos to DVD smoothly and without losing quality.
• Edit and personalize videos by trimming, cropping, merging, adding watermark, subtitles, menu, etc.
• Make DVDs taken by iPhone, iPad, Samsung, camcorders, etc.
• Comes with a variety of DVD menu templates, which comes in handy if you're creating DVDs as a holiday gift.
• Download 1080P & 4K videos from YouTube, Vimeo, dailymotion, and 1000+ video sharing sites.
• Convert videos to virtually any format.
• Highly compatible with macOS

How to Burn MP4 to DVD on Mac with the Best DVD Burner:

Step 1. Install the software on Mac

1) Download iFunia DVD Burner and install it.

2) Go grab that stack of blank discs you have, insert it to the DVD drive and pull up a chair. (If your Mac doesn't have a DVD drive, connect an USB DVD drive to the Mac)

Step 2. Load multiple MP4 files

1) Launch the software, and click the icon- the second tab to switch to the burning interface.

2) Drag and drop your MP4 files to it. This MP4 to DVD burner for Mac supports burn video files in batch, so you can add as many files as you need.

Step 3. Edit the MP4 videos and choose a menu if necessary

1) Click the icon, and go to edit your MP4 videos by trimming, cropping, rotating or adding sorts of effects.

2) Choose a menu template that is suitable for your DVD, and you can also choose as no menu.

Step 4. Preview your project

Click the icon to preview if the videos meet your needs.

Free Dvd Burner For Mac Os X

Step 5. Create DVD from MP4 Mac

1) Click the button > select the output format from DVD Disc, DVD Folder, and ISO File > adjust the DVD settings.

2) Start the MP4 to DVD burning process. The amount of time depends on computer hardware and the size of the MP4 videos.

Once it finished, you will have a DVD, which you can use for gift sending or playing on your home DVD player.

6 Alternative Methods to Burn MP4 to DVD on Mac

Method 1. iMovie

Developed by Apple Inc., iMovie is a video editing software app available for Mac and iOS devices. In addition to using iMovie to edit your videos, you can also use it to burn videos in MP4 or any other supported format to DVD.

Burn iMovie to DVD using iDVD:

1. Import your MP4 video to iMovie.

2. Click the Share button.

3. Launch the iDVD software.

4. Insert a black DVD into your Mac.

5. Finally click the Burn button.

During the process, you can also edit your MP4 video and choose a DVD theme that you like.

Burn iMovie to DVD with iTunes:

If iDVD is not available on your Mac

1. Add a MP4 file to iMovie and edit it.

2. Click the Share button and export it to iTunes.

3. Insert a blank DVD, and a message will pop up.

4. Choose the action “Open iTunes”, follow the instruction and start the process to Burn MP4 to DVD Mac effortlessly.

Pros

• Allows users to edit the video before burning it
• iMovie app was free for all Mac computers since 2003
• Works smoothly and efficiently, just like other Mac apps

Cd Dvd Burner For Mac

Cons

• On Mac where iDVD is no longer offered, users have to choose the second option mentioned above. In this case, DVD theme and other features are not available.

Method 2. iDVD

You can use iDVD to burn movies, videos, music as well as photos to DVD and to create DVD menus. It only takes a few steps.

1. Launch the app.

2. Select a menu theme which you can customize by adding music and pictures.

3. Drag and drop the MP4 video that you want to burn into the app. Of course, you shouldn’t forget the essential part of inserting a blank DVD into your computer.

4. Simply click the Burn button to convert MP4 to DVD on Mac for free, and just wait for the process to finish.

Please note that from Mac OS X 10.7 Lion onward iDVD is no longer pre-installed.

Pros

• Easy to use with helpful instructions
• Burn MP4 to DVD Mac with decent quality
• Come with various DVD themes that can be customized

Cons

• Was discontinued a long time ago

Method 3. Burn

Burn software for Mac can burn videos, songs as well as data to DVD. While coming with limited features and a rather simple user interface, the app is ease to use with decent performance. You can use the app to convert MP4 to DVD Mac or recreate previously created DVD.

1. Get the software from burn-osx.sourceforge.io, and open the software.

2. Choose the “Video” tab. (There are 4 tabs: Data, Audio, Video, Copy.)

3. Drag your MP4 video file to the main interface. Or click the “+” button in the bottom left hand corner to navigate the file.

4. Choose the output as “DVD-Video”.

5. Plug in a DVD disc and begin to burn MP4 to DVD on Mac right now.

Pros

• Lightweight with small file size
• Delightfully straightforward user interface

Cons

• Supports limited file formats
• Crash occasionally

Method 4. Disco

Disco is another compact and easy-to-operate app to convert MP4 to DVD on Mac. It features a user-friendly interface allowing you to find each function quickly. For convenience’s sake, Disco offers a feature that enables you to search file name and DVD name within an archive of previously burned DVDs.

1. Drop the MP4 file to the app.

2. Insert a disc.

3. Click the “Burn” button. (Note: leaving will remove custom disc layout.)

When creating DVD from MP4, the software emits virtual “smoke”, and reacts to you blowing into the microphone.

Pros

• Very simple to use
• Works fast when used to burn MP4 to DVD Mac
• Allows users to search burned DVDs by name

Cons

• No update or support available since it’s been officially discontinued

Method 5. Roxio Toast

If you want to burn family videos, holiday videos, wedding videos, etc. to home DVDs, Roxio Toast is a good choice. Just like some apps listed above, in addition to videos in MP4 or other formats, it can also burn photos and data to DVD. One great feature is that it supports burning HD DVDs. You can import MP4 files that you are going to burn by dragging and dropping or via the Media Browser window. There is a “Best” option which, if chosen, the app will automatically create DVD with the highest quality possible.

1. Drag the video (or drag from the Media Browser window) you would like to burn into the specified area.

2. Choose the project type- “DVD-Video”.

3. Customize the “Option” panel: select the menu style and quality. There is a “Best” option which, if chosen, the app will automatically create DVD with the highest quality possible.

4. Grab a blank disk and burn video into it.

Pros

• Versatile with powerful performance, allowing users to burn MP4 to DVD Mac like a pro
• Supports burning HD DVDs
• Various customization options

Cons

• New users may feel overwhelmed by some features

Method 6. Express Burn

Express Burn, a paid program, supports to burn files to CD, DVD, Blu-ray on Mac and Windows. It contains a series of menu templates and buttons for DVD authoring.

1. Run the software, and it will pop up the screen for you to choose disc type, just choose “Video DVD”.

2. Add your MP4 video into the program.

3. Make sure you have your blank DVD-R or DVD-RW inserted.

4. Start the burning process.

Pros

• The Pro version is good at burning CD and Blu-ray discs, which other general MP4 to DVD burners can’t do.
• Fully compatible with both Mac and Windows

Cons

• Unable to burn commercial DVDs

Extended: Copy a DVD VS Burn a DVD, What’s the Difference?

As the name implies, 'copying DVD' means copy the contents of a DVD. You should use a third-party tool to remove the copying protections (CSS, UOP, RC, APS, Cinavia) and make a copy of the DVD on a brand new disc. But you can’t distribute copyrighted DVDs or use them for business purpose.

'Burning DVD', a colloquial term, refers to the process of writing content to a video DVD or a data DVD. To make DVD video playable on DVD player, we have to burn MP4 to video DVD on Mac.

Poll: Vote for Your Favorite DVD Burning Software

Above are the methods to convert MP4 to DVD Mac by using different software tools. Which one do you think is the best to use?