How to Convert DVD to MP4 with VLC on Windows 10/11/Mac

Summary: Here we provide comprehensive instructions on how to rip DVD to MP4 using VLC on Windows and Mac, along with solutions to help you fix the common VLC DVD ripping errors.

There are many programs out there that can help convert your DVD collections to MP4 format, but if you're looking for an easy and free option, VLC may be the most straightforward option. While many guides offer basic instructions for ripping DVDs to MP4 with VLC, there is no mention about how to troubleshoot common VLC DVD ripping errors like "libdvdcss won't read all discs", "VLC DVD ripping freezes", "MP4 rip crashes", etc. The steps appear to intuitive, but may not yield efficient DVD ripping results.

Don't be panic, in this article we not only provide provide comprehensive instructions on how to convert DVD to MP4 using VLC on Windows and Mac, but also we will the possible solutions to fix the common VLC DVD ripping errors.

Part 1. How to Convert DVD to MP4 with VLC on Windows

Preparation:

• ● Make sure your computer has an optical drive in order to rip DVDs to MP4 with VLC. If your computer or laptop ditches internal DVD drive, you need to get a reliable external DVD drive for your laptop/computer.
• ● Most users may have VLC on their computer. Those who haven't installed VLC, click here to download VLC on your Windows PC. Then follow the instruction to install VLC.

Step 1: Open VLC and insert the disc you want to rip into the optical DVD drive. Click Media tab and select the Convert/Save option from the drop-down menu.

Step 2: In the Open Media window, click Disc from the top tab. Under "Disc Selection", enable DVD option and check the "No Disc Menus" box. Then select the DVD to rip in Disc device. As you see, you can also add a Blu-ray, Audio CD, SVCD/VCD, or click "File" button to add an IFO file or ISO image file of DVD.

Important Notes: After you select a DVD from the Disc device, VLC just won't load the DVD. Sometimes, it goes with an error message saying MRL 'dvd:///D:/' (though this error happens more often when VLC plays DVDs or videos) or "There is no disk in Drive D." while there is a DVD in Drive D. This error happens when libdvdcss in VLC won't support the encryption of a DVD. You need to:

• 1. Update your VLC to the latest version.
• 2. To rip DVD with VLC in Ubuntu, you should know that the libdvd applications are not installed by default. Open a terminal window: sudo apt install libdvdcss2 libdvdread4 libdvdnav4 ubuntu-restricted-extras.
• 3. Remove DVD protection with other software.

Step 3: (Optional) You can adjust the VLC DVD ripping settings like Starting Position, Audio and Subtitles options after the DVD is successfully loaded.

Starting Position: If you wish to extract a specific portion of a DVD or rip multiple episodes using VLC, you can specify the title and chapter you want to rip. Since VLC cannot rip protected DVDs automatically, you can manually identify the correct DVD title in VLC. To do this, play the source DVD in a standard DVD player, make note of the movie title, and then enter the corresponding title/chapter number in VLC. VLC will then rip the chosen DVD title into the final video. However, it's important to note that this method may not be 100% effective for all DVD copy protections.

Audio and Subtitles: Want to rip DVD to MP4 on VLC with subtitles? You need to do it by selecting the Audio/Subtitle track value, you can choose the audio and subtitle in the language you need.

Notes: VLC doesn't natively hardcode subtitles into a video during DVD ripping. It can only rip video and external subtitle tracks separately or display them during playback. DVD subtitles are usually stored as VobSub (bitmap images), not text. VLC can't hardcode these directly into your ripped MP4. You'll need to extract subtitles separately using tools like Subtitle Edit and convert them to .srt for embedding.

Step 4: Click the Convert/Save button to enter the Convert window. From the "Profile" drop-down menu, find and select Video - H.264 + MP3 (MP4) as the output format. Besides ripping DVD to MP4 with VLC, you can also rip DVD to H.265, WMV, MPEG-4, iPod, Android, YouTube and a few others.

In the "Destination" section, click Browse and select a folder on your Windows PC for the VLC ripped DVD video and give the output file a name.

Step 5: Once everything is complete, click Start and VLC should start ripping the DVD to MP4 on Windows. You can see the Streaming progress bar at the bottom. Simply wait for VLC to finish the rip.

Part 2. How to Convert DVD to MP4 with VLC on Mac

For your Mac computer, VLC works as a decent disc ripping tool as it facilitates converting DVD contents into for MP4 format. Once converted, the files can be played on a wide range of devices and players without any need for a DVD player.

Steps for DVD to MP4 Conversion on Mac:

Step 1: Insert the DVD into your Mac drive and then open VLC on your Mac. From the drop-down menu at the File tab, choose the Open Disc option.

Step 2: A window with your disc information will open. Click the box for Disable DVD menus. At the bottom left corner, check the box for Stream output.

Step 3: Hit the Settings button that will allow you to a new window. Here check the File option to get the ripped disc as a file on your Mac. Hit Browse to select the location where you want to save the converted disc. A pop-up window, choose file name and location at Save As and Where tabs respectively. Click the Save button to confirm.

Step 4: Next, Open the drop-down menu at the Encapsulation Method and choose MPEG 4. Make the needed video and audio settings. Click OK to confirm all the settings.

Step 5: Finally, click Open to start to convert DVD with VLC Mac.

Part 3. Fixes to Common VLC DVD to MP4 Ripping Errors

While VLC can help rip some CSS-protected movies, users may find it less intuitive and may have to spend more time waiting for the rip. And the finish of the DVD conversion is not the end of the story. In fact, converting DVDs to MP4 using VLC Media Player can often result in undesirable outcomes. Many users have complained online that using VLC is not as easy as expected, instead they have encountered a variety of errors. Here we collect the common problems encountered by users and make targeted suggestions.

VLC crashes during the ripping

• ● Seek for other free DVD rippers for ripping copy-protected DVDs. In most cases, VLC crashes when converting a DVD is caused by protection. Though VLC media player has libdvdcss to let it access DVDs with some of the encryptions, copy protection strategy changes with practically every new high profile release.
• ● Disable hardware decoding.
• ● Try the nightly build.

DVD rip video but no audio

No audio problems come in different forms. Sometimes, you will find all the options under the Audio toolbar are grayed out, the audio is corrupted or stutters or there is audio in VLC but not on any other platforms. get the audio, you can try:

• ● When selecting the output codec under the output profile option, click the setting button and try MP3 instead of AAC.
• ● In the audio settings, try to change the audio sample rate to 48000HZ and select the MPEG 4 audio (AAC) audio codec.
• ● Try an older version or the nightly build.

VLC DVD rip audio out of sync

• ● Check the frame rate and set the ripper to use the same frame rate.
• ● Try using a different audio codec or format during the ripping process.
• ● Use standard profiles/settings, or try ripping at a lower resolution or bitrate.

VLC DVD conversion too slow

• ● Literally, VLC is streaming the video from the DVD during the rip. Therefore, it will take as long as the movie length to finish the rip.
• ● VLC supports GPU decoding only. Namely, it will be faster for decoding H.264, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WMV3, VC-1 (Windows) and H.264 (macOS). Make sure you have enabled GPU decoding for DVD MPEG-2 (Tools > Preferences > Input & Codecs > Set Hardware-accelerated decoding to Automatic).
• ● If you want a faster DVD rip, use a ripper that supports GPU encoding & decoding. Or try a more poweful PC or Mac to rip DVDs to MP4 in VLC.

VLC won't rip full DVD

• ● Check if there are any fingertips or scratches on the DVD.
• ● If it's a store bought DVD, Disney X-project, and other newer DVD protections that prevent VLC to access the DVD. VLC is a player, not a ripper after all and can't defeat new DRMs. You will need a DVD decrypter to rip protected DVDs.

VLC DVD rip loop

• ● Check if you have left the playback on repeat by turning the loop button for playback on. Set it to no loop.
• ● Downgrade VLC back to the previous version.

Cannot enable subtitles

• ● Make sure that the subtitle options are selected. You can find these in the "Preferences" or "Input/Codecs" settings.
• ● If the DVD doesn't have embedded subtitles, consider looking for subtitles in external files.

Ultimate Fix - Convert Any Protected DVDs to MP4 Easily without Errors with the Best VLC Alternative

If those troubleshooting steps all fail to work, then you may have to look for a professional DVD to MP4 ripper to avoid these problems. DumboFab DVD Ripper is one of the best VLC alternative DVD ripping tools that can rip any copy-protected DVD to MP4, MKV, MOV, and any other video and audio formats. It's not only compatible with Windows, but also has a Mac version.

Why DumboFab DVD Ripper is the best alternative to VLC for DVD to MP4?

• 1. It's a 100% clean, powerful yet efficient DVD ripping tool, no malware, no virus.
• 2. It bypasses region codes and DVD copy protections such as CSS, RCE, Sony ArccOS, UOPs protections, and more.
• 3. It can help convert DVD to nearly all mainstream video/audio formats and portable devices, be it MP4 HEVC/H264, AVI, M4V, FLV, or iPhone, iPad, Andorid, PSP, Xbox, Chromecast.
• 4. It supports Intel® (QSV), NVIDIA® (CUDA/NVENC) & AMD GPU accelerated DVD ripping, ensuring superfast speed. It runs 5x faster than VLC to rip a DVD to MP4, taking 5 minutes only to 120-minute DVD movie.
• 5. It allows users to make 1:1 DVD copy to ISO image, back up full title, main title, rip and convert as you need.
• 6. It also provide some advanced features to select audio/subtitle tracks, add subtitles, cut, crop, etc.

3 Simple Steps to Rip DVD to MP4 with the Best VLC alternative:

Step 1. Add the Source DVD Disc/Folder.

Insert the DVD disc into optical DVD drive. Launch DumboFab DVD Ripper and click the Load DVD button to locate and select the source disc. DVD Folder and ISO image are also well accepted. The VLC alternative DVD ripper supports advanced encryptions, like navigation algorithms used in multiple titles. It will easily detect the correct title hidden in DVDs from Disney, Sony, Paramount, etc.

Optional: Under the movie title lists on the main interface, select one your desired subtitle from Subtitle drop-down list. You can also choose a desired audio track track from the Audio drop-down list.

Step 2. Choose MP4 as the Output Format.

From Fomrat drop-down list, choose H.264 encoded MP4 from Common Video category as the output format. You can choose to rip DVD to H.265 MP4 to get a smaller size.

Tips: Before converting DVD to MP4, you can click the Settings icon to adjust the video/audio settings, for instance,bit rate, aspect ratio, frame rate, sample rate, etc. You can also click "Edit" to add subtitles, adjust the volume, trim the video to get the favorite clips, crop & expand the video to remove black bars.

Step 3. Start Ripping DVD to MP4

Click "Browse" to set a folder to store the digital MP4 file extracted from your DVD. Then Hit the Convert button to start the DVD to MP4 conversion with the best VLC alternative. The conversion process may take a few minutes, depending on the length of the DVD, the output format you choose, the settings you use (enable hardware accelerator or not), and your computer configuration.

In my test digitizing the Disney movie Frozen 2 to MP4 format, it took approximately 10 minutes to process the 1 hour and 46-minute video using default settings on my computer. My system specs are an Intel Core i5-4460 CPU at 3.20 GHz and 12.0GB of RAM. The frame rate during conversion averaged around 270 FPS.

Part 4. FAQs about Ripping DVD to MP4 with VLC

1. Is it possible to rip DVD to MP4 with subtitles using VLC?

How to convert DVDs in VLC while keeping the built-in subtitles that the movie files already have? First, choose the subtitle track on the window when you load your disc. If the ripped DVD video still gets no subtitle track, you need to go to the VLC DVD ripping settings, select the Subtitles tab, check both the Subtitles check box and the Overlay subtitles on the video check box. Then press Save. Then your DVD will be converted to desired format and the subtitles will be embedded in the output video file.

2. Why VLC won't rip my DVDs?

All in all, VLC is a media player not a DVD ripper. You cannot equal it as a dedicated DVD ripper program. It may fail to rip a DVD due to different reasons such as "DRM and copy protections", "Non-standard DVD format", "Wrong settings or hardware decoding" or "Older versions". You can find solutions to the VLC DVD ripping errors that we have listed above.

3. Why does VLC rip a DVD so slow?

This is because VLC doesn't make efficient use of your system's resources. That's not a huge surprise, given that it's primarily designed to be a media player. Not a media encoder/transcoder. VLC does reveal a hardware acceleration page in preferences, but it's really meant for video playback acceleration.

That means VLC will rely on the computer CPU for the DVD ripping. In other words, the DVD ripping speed will depend on the performance of your computer system, the DVD size, DVD-ROM reading speed, output format, and etc.

4. Is HandBrake better than VLC for ripping DVD?

When it comes to ripping a DVD, Handbrake is a better choice than VLC. Handbrake or VLC are two top free programs designed for different tasks. And Handbrake is the one dedicated to transcoding videos and DVDs. However, HandBrake requires VLC (or the libdvdcss built in VLC) to read and then transcode encrypted DVDs.