Ultimate Guide to DVD to MKV Conversion Tools for Perfect, Uncompromised Quality Transfer

Best DVD to MKV Converters for Mac/Windows to Rip DVD to MKV Losslessly

By Bella Brown ｜Last updated on April 18, 2023

Many DVD owners would like to convert their DVDs to MKV format to keep an exact DVD copy with the original video quality. Which is the best DVD to MKV converter to rip DVDs to MKV lossless with intact subtitles, audio tracks, video streams, DVD menu, chapters, etc.? In this post, we list 2024 best DVD to MKV rippers for Mac and Windows that will work for you.

Download Best DVD to MKV Converter for Mac

MacX DVD Ripper Pro can easily rip DVDs to MKV lossless with all original DVD menus, chapters, subtitles, video/audio tracks. Also convert DVDs to MP4, MOV, HEVC, AVI, WMV, 3GP, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, QuickTime, and 350+ formats. Make MKV copies of DVDs protected by Region Code 1-6, RCE, CSS, UOPs, Sony ARccOS, Disney X-project protection, etc. without the aid of any third party software. Rip DVDs to MKV 5x faster than others with GPU acceleration.

Download for Mac Download for PC

2024 best DVD to MKV Converters for Mac/Windows

Name	Best for	Operating System
MacX DVD Ripper Pro	Convert DVDs to MKV lossless and 350+ other formats. Protected DVDs supported.	Windows, Mac
MakeMKV	Copy protected DVDs/Blu-ray discs to MKV without quality loss.	Windows, Mac, Linux
Handbrake	Copy DVDs to MKV lossless or convert DVDs to MKV for free.	Windows, Mac, Linux, other
VLC	Convert several homemade DVDs to MKV without installing extra software.	Windows, Mac, Linux, other
FFmpeg	Convert DVDs to MKV with flexible settings.	Windows, Mac, Linux
Movavi Video Converter	Rip homemade DVDs to MKV with fast speed.	Windows, Mac

Why do You Need to Convert DVDs to MKV?

MKV is a video container that can hold cahpters, DVD menus, audio, video and subtitle streams, allowing users to store a complete DVD movie in a single file. So many people would like to rip DVD to MKV lossless for flexible editing and watching.

MKV Holds All Audio, Video and Subtitles: MKV holds unlimited number of video, audio, subtitle tracks and metadata. By ripping DVD movies to MKV, you can get the entire movie with sound, subtitle tracks, thumbmail, along with menus and chapter structure, into one single MKV file.
MKV Keeps Original DVD Video Quality: MKV supports virtually any codec, including MPEG1, MPEG2, H263, MPEG4, H264, WMV, FLAC, Ogg, etc. Converting DVDs to MKV will contain all the original DVD data without re-encoding, so the lossless video quality is retained.
Easily Play MKV on PC and Media Player: MKV is open source and free, it is widely supported by media players, like VLC and MPlayer. By ripping DVD to MKV format, you can play the movie on any media player or mobile devices as long as it contains the codec pack.
Ripping DVD to MKV can remove DVD protections: By making a MKV copy of DVDs on computer, the converter will remove any copy protection on the DVD, like region code, CSS, RCE, Sony ARccOS or Disney X-project, etc.

Part 1. Rip DVDs to MKV using Best DVD to MKV Converter for Mac

MacX DVD Ripper Pro offers an easy solution to convert any DVD to MKV on MacBook, iMac, Mac mini, and Windows PCs.

Convert DVDs, ISO images, and DVD Video_TS folders to MKV, MP4, MOV, WMV, HEVC, AVI, and more.
Rip DVDs to MKV lossless with all original subtitles, chapters, audio/video streams, extras, without losing quality.
All protected DVDs with region codecs, CSS encryption, bad sectors, 99 titles, fake titles, etc., old and damaged DVDs, workout DVDs, etc. are supported.
Convert a full DVD to MKV within 5 minutes as it supports Nividia, AMD, and Intel GPU acceleration.
There are extra editing features to add/adjust subtitles, trim, crop, rotate, flip, and more.

Download for Mac Download for PC

How to Convert DVDs to MKV Files in Clicks?

Step 1. Free download the DVD to MKV ripper on your Mac or Windows PC. Install it as the prompts and open it. Then insert your source DVD into the computer’s optical drive.

Free download the DVD to MKV converter on your Mac (Ventura/Monterey/Big Sur/earlier)
Free download the DVD to MKV converter on your Windows (11/10/7/earlier)

Step 2. On the main interface, click “DVD Disc” button to import the DVD. You can also load and convert DVD ISO image and Video_TS folder to MKV. It will then start to remove the DVD copyright protection, analyze the DVD main title, and automatically detect the right title of the disc. You don’t have to download or use any other tools to do the DVD decryption stuff.

convert video_TS file to MKV

Step 3. Once the DVD is loaded, it will pop up an output format window. To convert DVDs to MKV lossless, choose DVD B ackup mode from the category list on the left > then choose Backup full title to MKV. This will back up the full DVD title to MKV format with all the chapters, audio tracks and subtitles, and 5.1 channels Dolby AC3/DTS audio.

Best DVD to MKV converter

Optional: Back on the main interface, click the Edit button and you can cut, crop, rotate, adjust volume, add/adjust subtitles, trim, crop, rotate, flip, and more.

Step 4. Click the “Browse” button to specify output folder on your computer to save the converted DVD MKV files. Thecn click the “RUN” button to start converting DVD to MKV on Mac/PC. Several minutes later, you will get a MKV video of the DVD in the detination folder.

Note: If it fails to rip a protected DVD to MKV, enable the Safe Mode on the right lower part of the interface and try again. It will avoid possible ripping errors when converting a DVD with tough protection measures.

convert DVDs to MKV

Part 2. How to Copy DVD to MKV with MakeMKV

MakeMKV is the most popular free DVD to MKV converter for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It’s easy and designed for one job - converting DVDs/Blu-ray discs to MKV format. It’s able to rip DVDs to MKV files lossless with all subtitles, video and audio tracks, DVD menus, chapters, etc. without quality loss.

Don’t worry if your DVDs and Blu-ray discs is protected by various measures. MakeMKV is able to make MKV files from encrypted DVDs and Blu-ray discs without using additional software. As it won’t make any changes to the converted MKV videos, so DVD to MKV conversion speed is very fast, depending on the reading speed of your DVD drive.

How to Rip DVD/Blu-rays to MKV with MakeMKV?

Step 1. Download MakeMKV DVD to MKV converter on your Mac or Windows PC. Install it by following the installation instructions. Insert the Blu-ray disc or DVD that you want to rip into your computer’s DVD drive.

Step 2. Launch MakeMKV on your Mac/PC. The program should automatically detect the DVD in your drive. If it doesn’t, click the “Open Disc” button at the top of the MakeMKV window and select the DVD from the list. It will then load the basic DVD information in the converter.

Use MakeMKV to convert DVD to MKV

Step 3. Click on the DVD drive button and it will load all the titles. Choose the titles you want to convert into the MKV file. By default, MakeMKV will select all titles, but you can uncheck any titles you don’t want to rip.

Step 4. Click on the “Output folder” button of the MakeMKV window and select a folder on your Mac/PC to save the converted MKV DVD video. Then click the “Make MKV” button to start the DVD to MKV ripping process. The time it takes will depend on the length of the DVD and the speed of your Mac/PC’s DVD drive. Once the ripping process is complete, you should have a lossless MKV file in the folder you select.

MakeMKV DVD to MKV lossless

Part 3. How to Convert DVD to MKV with Handbrake

Handbrake is a famous DVD transcoder that users can use to convert videos, DVD ISO image, Video_TS folders, and DVDs to MKV, MP4, and WebM on Mac, Windows, and Linux. The converted DVD MKV files can be in H.264, H.265, MPEG-4, MPEG-2 video and VP3 (Vorbis), with audio saved in AAC, MP3, Vorbis or FLAC formats. It can also pass through the Dolby Digital 5.1 (AC3) and Digital Theater Systems (DTS) surround sound in DVDs. DVD chapters and subtitles are also supported in MKV.

In addition, Handbrake offers a wide range of filters and settings to adjust the output MKV files. However, Handbrake can’t rip a protected DVD to MKV on its own. It requires libdvdcss to remove the copy protection. Therefore, many DVD owners will choose MakeMKV and Handbrake together to rip protected DVDs/Blu-ray discs.

How to Convert DVDs to MKV using Handbrake on Windows/Mac?

Step 1. Download and install Handbrake on your Mac/PC. Insert the DVD/Blu-ray disc you want to rip into your computer’s DVD drive.

Note: If you need to rip a protected DVD, there is an extra step to install libdvdcss for Handbrake. Here are the detailed steps toinstall libdvdcss for Handbrake on Windows/Mac.

Step 2. Open Handbrake and select the DVD as the source. Handbrake will automatically detect the DVD and start scanning it. If it’s a protected DVD, Handbrake will automatically use libdvdcss to remove the copy protection and find the correct movie title.

Step 3. Once the scan is complete, select a preset from the Preset drop-down menu. Choose a 576p25 or 480p30 for it. Then go to Summary > Format, and choose MKV container format from the list.

Handbrake DVD to MKV converter

Step 4. Click on the Video tab and you can further adjust the video codec for the MKV file. Choose a video encoder such as H.264, H.265, or MPEG4 (there will be quality loss in the re-encoding). If you want to copy DVDs to MKV lossless without quality loss, choose codec MPEG-2. You can also select a hardware encoder like H.264 (VideoToolbox) to speed up the DVD to MKV conversion.

Step 5. Set the desired video and audio settings. You can choose the video codec, resolution, frame rate, and other options. You can also leave them as default if you don’t know what they mean.

Step 6. Choose the output directory and file name for the ripped DVD MKV video in the Save As section. Then start the ripping process by clicking the “Start” button.

Convert DVD to MKV with Handbrake

Part 4. How to Convert DVD to MKV with VLC

VLC is a popular free media player, but it also features the ability to rip a DVD to MKV, MP4, MOV, AVI, and variuos other formats. It’s not a professional DVD to MKV converter, but it may work if you only need to rip a couple of DVDs and don’t want to install extra software. You need to know that VLC don’t work with protected DVDs.

Converting a DVD to MKV with VLC on Windows is easier than on Mac. Therefore, below we will show the detailed steps on how to VLC to rip a DVD on Mac .

How to free rip DVDs to MKV using VLC on Mac?

Step 1. Download and install VLC if you don’t have it. Insert the DVD you want to convert into your computer’s DVD drive.Then open VLC on your computer. Click on File in the menu bar and select Open Disc.

Step 2. In the “Open Source” window, click on Disc and select your DVD drive. Make sure you’ve disable the DVD menus to avoid possible ripping errors. Then select the checkbox next to “Stream output” and click on the “Settings” button next to it.

Load DVD to VLC

Step 3. In the “Destination Setup” section, choose a filename and location on your Mac/PC to save the converted MKV file. You need to make sure the “File extension” is set to “.mkv.” Then click “Save” to continue. To convert DVDs to MKV lossless without quality loss, leave the Transcoding options as default and click OK to start.

VLC will start playing the DVD and you need to select Record.The recording process will begin. Use VLC to rip a DVD to MKV will take quite a long time as it is recording the DVD movie and save it in MKV. So VLC is not the best option to copy a large DVD collection to MKV.

VLC convert DVD to MKV

Part 5. How to Convert DVDs to MKV with FFmpeg

FFmpeg is a very powerful tool once you get hang of it. It’s a free and open-source software that contains a suite of libraries and programs for handling video, audio, and other multimedia files. So it’s very easy to use FFmpeg to convert a DVD to MKV, MP4, AVI, WebM, or other formats. There are many different commands so you can adjust the MKV file flexibily.

FFmpeg can’t make MKV files from a protected DVD. But like Handbrake, you can install the DVD decryption library libdvdcss for it to handle the copy protections.

How to Free Convert DVDs to MKV using FFmpeg?

Step 1. Go to the official site of FFmpeg and download the correct version on your Mac or Windows PC. Install it as the prompts. On Mac, you can use the command “brew install ffmpeg“ in Homebrew to install FFmpeg. Then insert the DVD into your computer’s DVD drive.

FFmpeg DVD to MKV converter

Step 2. Open a Terminal window and navigate to the directory where you want to save the MKV file. Run the following command to copy DVD to MKV lossless with subtitles, audio/video tracks, and other data:

ffmpeg -i /dev/disk2 -map 0 -c copy output.mkv

Note: /dev/disk2 is the name of your DVD drive, check the device name of your DVD drive and change it accordingly.

If you want to convert DVD to MKV in H.264, H.265, or other codec, you can use the following command:

ffmpeg -i VIDEO_TS/ -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 22 -c:a copy output.mkv

Step 3. Wait for the rip to complete. This may take some time, depending on the length and complexity of the DVD. Once the rip is complete, you can find the resulting MKV file in the directory where you ran the command.

Part 6. How to Rip DVDs to MKV with Movavi Video Converter

Movavi Video Converter is a popular video converter that can convert DVD and videos to MKV, MP4, AVI, MOV, H.264, and 180+ other video formats. As an overall video converter, it has many advantages over dedicated DVD rippers. For example, there are a wide range of features and settings to compress, rotate, trim, adjust the subtitles, edit the videos, customize the output effects, and more. The DVD to MKV converting speed is also very fast with its support to GPU acceleration. And it features an AI upscaling to enhance the DVD ripped video…

The biggest drawback, however, is that this DVD to MKV converter doesn’t support DVDs that contain DRM. Namely, you can only use it to rip your homemade DVDs to MKV or other formats.

How to Convert DVDs to MKV using Movavi Video Converter?

Step 1. Download and install the DVD-to-MKV converter on your Mac/PC computer. Then insert the DVD into your computer’s DVD drive.

Step 2. Open the program and click the Add Media button in the upper left corner. Select Open DVD and choose your DVD drive.

Step 3. Open the Video tab. In the MKV group, choose the appropriate preset.Click Convert and wait for the process to finish.

Movavi DVD to MKV converter

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bella Brown

Bella has been working with DVD digitization for over 12 years. She writes articles about everything related to DVD, from disc drive, DVD copyright protection, physical structure, burning and backup tips. The unceasing passion of DVD movies helps her build a rich DVD library and ensure a practical solution to address almost all possible DVD issues. Bella is also a crazy fan for Apple products.

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Ultimate Guide to DVD to MKV Conversion Tools for Perfect, Uncompromised Quality Transfer