MakeMKV Alternative for Windows/Mac: Rip DVD to MKV, MP4, etc.
Mike Rule
Updated on
"I'm looking for best alternative to MakeMKV to rip commercial DVD to not only MKV, but also to other popular video formats like MP4, MOV, etc. so that I can watch my favorite DVD movie on my iPhone. Any suggestions?"
MakeMKV is a decent program which allows users to convert DVD to MKV file without quality loss, but its output video format is limited to MKV and the output MKV video file is very large, which is somewhat frustrated for those who want to play the DVD movie video on iPhone iPad Android or other mobiles on the move. So, some people wonder if there is any excellent MakeMKV alternative that supports more popular output video formats with smaller file size and original video quality of DVD.
To make things easier, here you'll find top 3 MakeMKV alternatives for Windows and Mac to help convert DVD to MKV, MP4, MOV, and more.
Top MakeMKV Alternative to Rip DVDs to MKV MP4
WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is a professional DVD ripping software that you can use to rip and backup a DVD disc or ISO Image to MKV, MP4 (HEVC/H.264), MOB, etc. in 5 minutes, shrink DVD up to 80%, decrypt popular copy protections, and so on.
- Do what MakeMKV can do and what Makemkv can't do: rip CSS, UOPS, region code DVDs, as well as Disney 99-title, Sony bad sector DVDs (MakeMKV is unable to decrypt those DVDs).
- More output formats than MakeMKV: MKV, MP4, MOV, HEVC/H264, and iPhone iPad, TV, game consoles, etc.
- GPU hardware acceleration tech to improve DVD to MKV/MP4 ripping up to 5X faster than MakeMKV!
Free Download
Free DownloadBefore finding the best MakeMKV alternative for your certain needs, you should know all important features of MakeMKV for DVD ripping.
MakeMKV features:
- Rip encrypted DVD movie and Blu-ray to MKV, yet it can only convert them to MKV format.
- Keep all video and audio tracks (inclu. HD audio), chapter information, meta data, etc.
- Read Blu-ray discs protected with latest versions of AACS and BD+.
Besides the features, you should be informed some disadvantages of MakeMKV. For example, it can only convert DVD to MKV; the output MKV file is large in size (up to 6GB); there is no preview window and no basic editing feature, the conversion speed is not very fast, DVD audio can't be ripped separately, it sometimes gets crashed, etc.
Accordingly, your alternative to MakeMKV should have these features. Also, it should make up for the disadvantages of MakeMKV. And blow 3 options are the most ideal choices that you can use on both Windows and Mac computer.
Hot reading: Latest MakeMKV Beta Key/Lifetime Key
Part 1. Top 3 MakeMKV Alternatives for Windows and Mac
1. MakeMKV Alternative – WinX DVD Ripper Platinum
WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is the first recommended alternative to MakeMKV for the following reasons.
- A stellar DVD ripper for Windows 10/11 and Mac enables users to rip DVD to MKV (available on Mac version only), MP4, MPEG, WMV, MOV, FLV, MP3, ISO, iPhone, Apple TV, Android, 350+ output profiles in total.
- Remove CSS, region code, Sony ARccOS, UOPs, RCE, Disney X-project DRM, 99-title on its own!
- Hardware Acceleration, Hyper-Threading, and High Quality Engine techs accelerate the DVD ripping speed to save your time and provide you with best output quality.
- Flexible video/audio settings enable users change video resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio, sample rate, adjust volume, choose subtitles, etc., according to own needs.
How to Rip DVD to Popular Formats or Devices with WinX DVD Ripper Platinum?
Step 1. Get WinX DVD Ripper Platinum.
Free download, install and launc h this MakeMKV alternative on your Windows or Mac computer.
Step 2. Import the DVD disc.
Launch WinX DVD Ripper, and click "DVD Disc" icon. This smart DVD ripping program will auto load the DVD movie info including DVD movie title, subtitle, video, audio, duration, etc., and it will auto detect the right main DVD movie title for you. If need, you can also choose to import ISO Image to convert to video format.
Step 3: Choose output and set parameters.
Choose output video or device file for the ripping DVD. Users can choose to rip DVD to MP4, MPEG, WMV, FLV, MOV, MP3, iPhone, Apple TV, Samsung, HTC, etc.
Also, this MakeMKV alternative allows users to customize the video/audio/image settings according to own needs, and rip DVD with original quality by setting the video resolution with "keep origin".
Step 4: Start ripping DVD.
Optionally click "Browse" to set an output folder to store the ripped digital file of DVD. Hit "RUN" button to begin ripping any protected DVDs on Windows (10) or Mac with WinX DVD Ripper.
Attention: we only advocate ripping own DVD for personal use, and please consult DVD copyright laws in your country carefully before doing so.
2. MakeMKV Alternative – HandBrake
HandBrake would be the most used open-source video transcoder to rip DVDs and BluRay sources that do not contain any kind of copy protection.
- Rip DVD to MKV, MP4 ( H.264 and H.265), iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Android, etc.
- Rip DVD VIDEO_TS folder and ISO file to mainstreaming format.
- Choose a title automatically.
- Support batch conversion and chapter markers.
- By installing libdvdcss, HandBrake can rip DVDs encrypted with CSS. But other DVD copy protections are excluded like Region Code, AACS 2.0, Sony ArccOS, UOPs, and Disney X-project DRM.
How to Rip a DVD with HandBrake?
Step 1. Get HandBrake.
Take the Windows version as an example, you can download this MakeMKV alternative Windows version, install and launch it on your computer.
Step 2. Load your DVD in HandBrake.
Insert your DVD disc into the DVD drive of your computer, then open HandBrake and choose Source Selection to choose your DVD. BTW, you can also insert DVD VIDEO_TS folder and ISO file into HandBrake to rip to MKV or MP4.
Step 3. Choose the DVD title and chapter.
After scanning, HandBrake will select a title for you, but you can pick the desired one manually from the Title drop-down menu. And all chapters of the selected title will be covered.
Step 4. Choose an output format.
With HandBrake, you can easily convert DVD to MP4 or MKV. Besides, dozens of output presets allow you to convert DVD to any resolution (576p or 480p for DVD videos), Web (Gmail, YouTube, Vimeo, Discord), Devices (Android, Apple, Chromecast, Playstation, Amazon Fire, Roku, Xbox), Matroska (H.264, H.265, VP8, VP9), etc. Alternatively, you can add your personalized preset by clicking the Save New Preset.
Step 5. Choose a destination folder.
In the "Save As" section, simply click the "Browse" button to choose a location to save the converted DVD file.
Step 6. Start ripping DVD with HandBrake.
When everything is done, simply hit the Start Encode button to start ripping DVD.
3. MakeMKV Alternative – Wondershare Uniconverter
Here comes the well-known software developing brand - Wondershare, and Uniconverter from it is a proper alternative to MakeMKV when there are limitations of MakeMKV regarding DVD ripping.
- Convert DVDs to an array of formats (MP4, MKV, MOV, M4V, etc.) at a fast speed and with high quality.
- Convert DVD to ISO files.
- Burn and customize your DVD with free DVD menu templates.
- Bonus: Basic editing including trimming, cropping, cutting, adding effects, etc.
How to convert DVD to video formats with Uniconverter?
Step 1. Get this MakeMKV alternative.
Simply go to Wondershare Uniconverter official website, download and install it on your computer.
Step 2. Load your DVD.
Insert your DVD into the DVD drive of your computer. If there is no one, simply use as external DVD drive. Then, launch Wondershare Uniconverter and choose "+Load DVD" icon on the main UI of "Converter". Just choose the title of the inserted disc from the available options.
Step 3. Select the target format.
Go to the Settings tab and choose the desired video format and video resolution from the Video tab.
Step 4. Choose a destination folder.
Simply go to the File Location section and then choose a destination folder to save the converted DVD file.
Step 5. Start converting.
When everything is ready, hit the Convert button to start the process.
To Sum up:
If you use MakeMKV to backup DVD to MKV, you will get a very large MKV file which occupies much space of your computer. For exactly the same content, the ripped MKV files are about 10% smaller than DVD files. To be specific, ripping a standard DVD movie, the size of the output MKV file is over than 6GB. Playing MKV files is not that easy. You can play MKV on computer with some professional MKV player like the popular free 5KPlayer. But if you want to play the DVD movie video on iPhone iPad Android, etc. you need a third-party efficient video converter to convert MKV to MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, etc.
For the above reasons, many of you may need a more easy-to-use and powerful MakeMKV alternative to rip DVD to hard drive as MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, etc. for easier playback on PC, Mac or mobiles. Among all the programs like MakeMKV, WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is the best choice.
Part 2. Frequently Asked Questions
After comparison, many DVD rippers are better than MakeMKV including HandBrake, WinX DVD Ripper, Wondershare Uniconverter, and so on. The reasons are that the output format of MakeMKV is only in MKV, MakeMKV can't customize the parameters, MakeMKV can't extract DVD audio only, MakeMKV can't preview video, etc.
Yes. HandBrake is better when ripping DVDs to different video formats and many devices like iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Android, YouTube, etc.
Yes. MakeMKV is free while it's in beta, but you need to update the MakeMKV beta key every month.
About 30 minutes.
Yes. MakeMKV can rip most region code DVDs but not all kinds of DVDs. And it can read Blu-ray discs protected with latest versions of AACS and BD+. As for other popular DVD copy protection schemes like Sony ARccOS, UOPs, RCE, and Disney X-project DRM, you need a MakeMKV alternative.
