How to Rip Blu-rays with HandBrake on Windows 11/10 and Mac

If you want to rip your DVD collection for easy playback on your phone, tablet, or computer, you can try HandBrake. With the help of third-party tools like libdvdcss, you can even use HandBrake to remove DRM and bypass copy protections on DVDs. Based on this, many folks are wondering if they can rip Blu-ray discs using HandBrake, just like they do with DVDs.

Then can HandBrake rip Blu-ray discs? The answer depends. Since the update release of HandBrake 0.9.5 on Jan 3, 2011, it has added some support for reading Blu-Ray folder structures. However, it's important to note that this is only possible if your Blu-ray discs are not copy-protected. Definitely, if your Blu-Rays are homemade or unprotected, the process of ripping Blu-ray with HandBrake can be quite easy since HandBrake recognizes the Blu-Ray disc structure. For the Blu-ray discs with copy protection, neither HandBrake 1.10.2 version (the latest version) nor any other versions can decrypt and rip them.

In this guide, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of ripping Blu-ray with HandBrake on PC and Mac. Additionally, we'll share you top 2 HandBrake alternatives to solve HandBrake won't decrypt Blu-ray disc on its own.

Part 1. The Fact of Handbrake Blu-ray Ripping Feature

HandBrake makes it clear in its supported sources list - "Any DVD or Bluray -like source: VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image, real DVD or bluray (unencrypted removal of copy protection is not supported), and some .VOB, .TS and M2TS files." That means HandBrake converts neither encrypted physical Blu-ray Disc nor decrypted commercial Blu-ray movies in BDMV file structure.

Therefore, the fact is that Handbrake can't handle any Blu-ray copy protection schemes on its own. And there is no libdvdcss-like project which can help Handbrake to read CSS-encrypted DVDs to help Handbrake rip commercially copy-protected Blu-rays.

Part 2. How to Rip Unprotected Blu-ray with HandBrake

Before the process of ripping Blu-ray using HandBrake, make sure to hook a Blu-ray drive to your computer. You can either connect the drive over USB or install an internal one into your desktop. Note that HandBrake can only convert Blu-rays that can be played in your Blu-ray player. So if you've got a BD filled with video files, such as AVI, MPG, WMV, MOV, etc, Handbrake won't convert them.

HandBrake is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can download and install the latest version or an old one based on the operating system you use and your preferences.

Step 1. Load source Blu-ray.

Insert the unprotected Blu-ray disc into the BD drive. Launch HandBrake and select your Blu-Ray drive as the source under the Source Selection section. The GUI of HandBrake Windows edition has been improved to support Drag / Drop Video onto Main Window to scan. But you can't do this with Blu-Ray disc.

Note: If you get the error "No valid source or titles found" after scanning, your source may be copy protected, badly mastered or in a format which HandBrake does not support. At this moment, you may need to make use of a third-party program such as EaseFab LosslessCopy to decrypt the Blu-Ray disc.

Step 2. Choose the Blu-ray title and chapter you want to rip.

HandBrake will select a title for you automatically, but you can click the Title drop-down menu to choose a different Blu-ray title. All chapters of the selected title will be covered, but you can also specify it as needed. Generally speaking, if it is a movie Blu-ray, main movie part should be the one with the longest duration.

Step 3. Configure output.

HandBrake Blu-ray ripper empowers you to convert Blu-ray to MP4, MKV, and WebM format. In addition, it offers dozens of output presets, grouped under General (1080p, 720p, 576p, 480p), Web (Gmail, YouTube, Vimeo, Discord), Devices (Android, Apple, Chromecast, Playstation, Amazon Fire, Roku, Xbox), Matroska (H.264, H.265, VP8, VP9), and Production. You can choose any one at will, or add personalized preset by clicking Save New Preset.

Basically, Fast 1080p30 is selected by default. While super HD 1080p30 Surround gives you a higher quality result than fast 720p30, but results in bigger size and slower encoding speed. 720p30 profiles are also available, which can reduce the Blu-ray file size dramatically and therefore save a ton of space, but come at the cost of great quality loss. Just choose the one you like. If you are converting 4K bluray copy to MKV using Handbrake, you can also choose Matroska > H.265 or VP9 2160p60 to keep as much detail as possible while still compressing the video file to a large extent.

Step 4. Specify the destination to save your Blu-ray rip file.

Navigate to Save As section and then click Browse to choose the location for storing the resulting file. HandBrake allows you to rip Blu-ray to computer hard drive or external storage devices.

Step 5. Ask HandBrake to rip Blu-ray in no time.

If you have nothing to modify, simply click Start Encode button at the top menu bar to start ripping video/audio from Blu-ray with HandBrake.

Then you will see a display bar and can estimate the time remaining to complete. This may take some time. Ripping Bluray to MKV or MP4 format is a hardcore process, because Handbrake needs to decode Blu-ray M2TS video and encodes to the format you choose, which is also in HD quality. Therefore the Blu-ray conversion could be a half day's journey.

Part 3. Part 3. Top 2 HandBrake Alternatives to Rip Protected Blu-ray Discs

As a matter of fact, Handbrake can't handle any encryption on its own while most commercial Blu-ray discs are protected with AACS, BD+, or other sophisticated protection methods. Therefore, you may have to get a Blu-ray decrypter to rip your Blu-rays into unprotected files first. Luckily, there are a few programs on the market can help decrypt the Blu-ray. Here we mainly introduce the top 2 reliable options for your reference.

1. EaseFab LosslessCopy

EaseFab LosslessCopy is a dedicated Blu-ray Decrypter worth trying. It not only decrypts any existing Blu-ray protections but also keeps updating to support newly released Blu-ray protections. During the process, it can decrypt automatically and rip copy-protected Blu-ray to any digital video or audio format with no quality loss.

Key Features:

• Keeps updating to decrypt any Blu-ray protection, including AACS, BD+, BD-J, RC, CPRM and Cinavia
• Rip Blu-ray discs (2D, 3D & UHD 4K discs), Blu-ray folders, and ISO image files with ease
• Provides 500+ video & audio formats, and a variety of preset devices as output options
• Enjoy lossless 4K and 1080p quality identical to the original Blu-ray
• Supports hardware-accelerated batch conversion for ultra-fast performance
• Crop and merge videos, adjust playback speed, import external subtitles, etc. with the video editor

[Tutorial] How to use LosslessCopy to copy & rip protected Blu-ray discs?

Step 1: Insert the target Blu-ray into the BD drive that hooked to your PC or Mac, run EaseFab LosslessCopy, and then click "Load Disc" button to load the movie Blu-ray. This software will automatically bypass Blu-ray region codes, remove any Blu-ray copy protections and auto check the right movie title even the tricky Disney Blu-rays. Of course, you can select title manually.

Besides Blu-ray discs, you can also import BD/DVD folders, DVD discs, ISO image files and IFO image to this Blu-ray to digital converter.

Step 2: In the pop-up output profile window, you can see all popular formats devices divided into various categories. You can choose Blu-ray to any digital video format based on your own needs.

The most commonly-used format for digitizing Blu-ray is MP4, owing to its wide compatibility, good compression and excellent quality. So here we take Blu-ray to MP4 as an example. Click under the directory: Format - Common Video - H.264 Baseline Profile Video(*.mp4).

Step 3: Click "Browse" to set a folder to store the digital copy extracted from your Blu-ray, and click "Convert" to begin converting Blu-ray to digital copy. The hardware acceleration will speed up the digitizing and finish the task in minutes (its fast speed is the ideal choice for digitizing a large Blu-ray library).

2. MakeMKV

MakeMKV is a renowned and free Blu-ray decrypter tool that can convert Blu-ray and DVD discs into MKV files without re-encoding. It can decrypt AACS/BD+ protected discs and preserves the original video, audio, chapters, and metadata for a true 1:1 copy.

The software runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and is free to use while in beta (with a license key that requires periodic renewal). However, it supports only MKV output, lacks Blu-ray menu support and post-conversion editing features, and does not offer GPU acceleration. Due to its decryption capability, the legality of using MakeMKV may vary by country or region.

How to rip protected Blu-ray free with MakeMKV?

Step 1: Download and install MakeMKV compatible with your OS. Then launch the program and insert your Blu-ray disc into the BD drive.

If you're ripping a protected commercial disc, MakeMKV requires decryption keys. These can be added via the key database file.

Step 2: Click the Blu-ray drive icon to import the disc. MakeMKV will analyze it and list all available titles. This process may take two minutes depending on the disc's encryption.

Step 3: Select the titles, audios, and subtitles you want to preserve. At the bottom of the window, specify an output folder for the MKV file.

Step 4: Click the Make MKV button to start ripping the Blu-ray. The progress bar will show the status and estimated time.

Part 4. FAQs about Ripping Blu-ray with HandBrake

1. Can HandBrake rip protected Blu-ray?

No. Handbrake can't handle encrypted Blu-ray discs. You can still use it to compress or change the format of movies or shows you've ripped with another app.

2. How to rip unprotected Blu-rays with Handbrake?

Simply follow our detailed guide above to rip a Blu-ray using HandBrake on PC.

3. What's the best Handbrake alternative to rip encrypted Blu-ray discs?

There are many handbrake alternative programs out there that allow you to make copies of your Blu-rays and let you watch them the way you want to view them. But if you're interested in backing up and converting your Blu-ray collection to digital files and don't want to be held back by time restrictions or slow processing, EaseFab LosslessCopy will be your best choice.

Conclusion

Definitely, if your Blu-Rays are homemade or unprotected, the process of ripping them with HandBrake can be quite easy since HandBrake recognizes the Blu-Ray disc structure. However, most Blu-ray discs are protected with different protection methods, it's hardly a seamless experience to rip Blu-ray using Handbrake only. You need application like EaseFab LosslessCopy or MakeMKV to rip your Blu-rays into unprotected files and then compress the Blu-ray copies into smaller ones using Handbrake.