Best Mac OS X DVD Ripper

Question

I want to rip a DVD on OS X, but don't know what software to use. Is there free open source software? What is the best software for ripping on OS X?

Answer 1

Handbrake is brilliant and idiot-proof to use. It's really powerful but the defaults are good. It'll also rip to e.g. format for your iPod or whatever you want.

Answer 2

I use MacTheRipper (still downloadable, but no longer in development) to rip DVDs to my hard drive, then I use Handbrake (awe. some.) to convert it to whatever I need. Even though this two-stage process seems unnecessary since Handbrake can read directly off of DVDs, I find that I get more consistent results from it when it's reading a file off of the hard drive.

Another advantage of using Mac the Ripper (or any non-Handbrake DVD ripper) is that it can be ripping DVDs to the hard drive while Handbrake is working on converting already-ripped VIDEO_TS files to mp4's (or whatever). I set up a queue of videos to convert in Handbrake, and it merrily chugs along while I rip additional DVDs. When the DVDs are done ripping, I add them to the queue. This way, Handbrake can process multiple DVDs without my having to sit there and babysit it.

Answer 3

VLC is described as 'easy peasy' in this post to a similar question. how could you go wrong with that?

Answer 4

Fairmount is a relatively new, but brilliant ripper. You simple run the program and it decodes the dvd and mounts the disk as a readable drive. Now you can just drag-and-drop the VIDEO_ST folder to your disk or any backup disk and play directly from there. Great for archiving the complete DVD with extras and menus.

And it's freeware...

Answer 5

Handbrake is pretty great. You have to install VLC alongside it (it uses VLC's DVD playback capabilities to rip DVDs), but it works very well.

For the stuff that Handbrake can't rip (rare enough in my uses) MacTheRipper can help - rip the DVD to disc, then convert the VIDEO_TS dump to whatever format you want with HandBrake.