VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper 2.1.6 — Mac version

If you've used MakeMKV to pull an uncompressed copy off a disc, you'll know the next job is often shrinking it or getting it into a phone-friendly shape. VideoByte BD-DVD Ripper steps in at that point. It's a straight-ahead Mac app for converting Blu-ray and DVD discs, ISO files, and folder rips into common video and audio containers.

One-click format swaps with audio and subtitle passthrough

• One-click format changes — pick MP4, MKV, MOV, WMV, MP3 or AAC and it handles the rest.
• Keeping original audio and subtitles — the app can preserve these tracks so you don't lose commentary or foreign-language options.
• Quick tidy-ups — built-in trimming, rotation, cropping, watermark and basic effect tools mean you can top-and-tail a clip without opening another program.
• Older Macs — runs on OS X 10.10 Yosemite and up, Intel only.

BD-DVD edition, not the DVD-only app

• This is the BD-DVD edition. VideoByte also makes a DVD-only ripper, so don't grab the wrong one if you just need DVD support.
• Interface is available in English, German, French and Japanese.
• It's a converter, not a decrypter — copy-protected discs need a helper or a prior rip.

Discs need AACS and BD+ stripped before converting

The biggest one is expecting VideoByte to open a commercial Blu-ray straight from the disc tray. It won't. Those discs carry AACS and BD+ locks that need stripping beforehand — MakeMKV or a similar tool has to do that dance first. Feed VideoByte the resulting MKV or folder rip and it'll hum along fine. Skipping that step means a progress bar that goes nowhere.

Another common slip: choosing a preset without checking the resolution. The Apple and Samsung profiles are handy, but a few default to 720p even when the source is 1080p. Glance at the output settings before you queue up six films overnight.

People also overlook the audio track selector. By default the app grabs the first English track it finds, which might be a director's commentary rather than the main mix. Tap the audio dropdown and pick the right one — takes seconds, saves a re-rip.

Crop setting persists across your queue

• The cropping tool remembers. If you're working through a TV series with the same black bars on every episode, set the crop once. VideoByte keeps it for the next file in the queue — no need to re-measure.
• Hardware acceleration isn't always faster. On older Intel Macs with integrated graphics, the NVIDIA/Intel/AMD acceleration can actually slow things down on short clips. For anything under ten minutes, try a run with it switched off and compare.
• You can stack jobs while one is running. Drag more files into the queue mid-rip. The app doesn't make you wait.
• Subtitle handling. Soft subs from a Blu-ray rip stay soft in MKV output. If you choose MP4, they get burned into the picture. Neither is wrong — just know which you're getting before you start.

In the wild

A stand-up comic I know keeps a folder of her own sets, ripped from DVD-R recordings of club nights. She needed those discs turned into short clips for an agent's reel, with a watermark in the corner and the dead air trimmed off the start of each one. VideoByte's trim handles and the text-watermark tool did the lot inside one app. She ran through eight discs in an afternoon, cropping to 16:9 and exporting as MP4 for her phone. The queue feature meant she could set up a disc, hit start, and prep the next one while the first ripped. By evening she had a reel ready to send and the original discs back on the shelf.

• OS X 10.10 or later
• Intel Mac
• Optical drive or disc image for source material