Can Wii Play DVDs? Absolutely! | Updated 2023

Before answering the question “can the Wii play DVDs”, we’d like to take you through the basic knowledge about it.

Brief Introduction to Wii

Released by Nintendo, Wii, as a home video gaming console, has been staying popular among gaming lovers since 2006 which is largely due to its family-friendly appeal and relatively low price. This video gaming console comes with many amazing features, such as the Wii Remote controller, WiiConnect24, and others.

However, for some reason, Nintendo decided not to include the DVD playback feature in the Wii by encoding their games on disk in a way that is rather different from the way DVDs are read. So the answer to the question of “can Will play DVDs” is No. But does this mean that you can ever play DVDs on a Wii? Of course not! Because thanks to the advancement of technology, you can play DVDs on Wii, not in a direct way though. Below we have prepared two methods for you to play DVDs on Wii.

Methods to Help You Play DVDs on Wii

There are two methods provided for you to play DVDs on Wii. Choose either of them based on your preference.

[Recommended] Play Any DVD on Wii via DVDFab DVD Ripper

We know that Wii is a video console which means it can play videos, no question. So if Wii can not play DVDs directly, then we can rip your DVDs into a friendly video format supported by Wii. In this way, "does Wii play DVD?" can be solved easily, and you can play your liked DVDs on Wii safely and more efficiently without downloading extra hardware.

Though this method is much safe and easy, here is one rule that you’d better bear in mind. That is only AVI format files encoded as motion JPEG or MOV files encoded as motion JPEG are supported by the Photo Channel on Wii, which means you can only convert your DVDs to AVI format. And also your video resolution should be up to 848X480.

From this point, we highly recommend the DVDFab DVD Ripper.

What can this DVD ripper do?

• Remove any DVD protection to make DVD to digital possible
• Rip and convert your DVDs to Wii supported formats of lossless quality
• Rip DVDs to a number of video formats, including MP4/MOV/MKV/AVI/WMV, etc
• Burn your DVDs into other devices, such as Amazon, App, BlackBerry, etc.
• Edit videos with trimming, cropping, adding text, and other effects
• Support batch conversions and fast ripping speed
• Upscale video from 480p to 1080p with DVDFab's AI video upscaler
• Compatible with both Win and Mac computer systems
• A simple and intuitive interface for both beginners and professionals

Comparison between the free version and paid version

Steps to make Wii play DVDs with the DVDFab DVD Ripper

Step 1: Download and install this professional DVD ripper
Before exploring “can the Wii play DVDs”, you might need to download and install this DVD ripper on your computer or Mac, and then run the software to open its main interface via a double-click.

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Step 2: Load your DVD
To make the Wii play your DVDs, you need to locate the “Ripper” module, and then select the AVI format, after which you can load your to-be-played DVD. Insert your DVD disc if you have an optical drive on your computer. If you don’t, you can upload your DVD source by directly dragging and dropping it.

Step 3: Convert DVD to the Wii supported video
As soon as the DVD is loaded, you can see some buttons presented in front of you. Among them, the most two essential buttons are the “Advanced Settings” and the “Video Edit” button.

If you select the “Advanced Settings” option, then a new panel pops up from which you can set some parameters, such as codec, frame rate, resolution, etc. In the output format part, you could choose your wanted file according to different demands.

And if you click on the “Video Edit” button, you can customize your video per your liking. For example, you can add text, images, and even subtitles to it.

Step 4: Export the video
The last step is to export the video so that you can let Wii play the DVD you want to watch. The last thing that should be reminded is to head toward the bottom of the interface to choose a save location before you hit that “Start” button.

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Up to now, you have grasped the best and most efficient method to play DVDs on Wii. The next method is also available but less safe and efficient than the former one. If you are interested, just keep reading.

Play DVDs on a Wii by Using the Wii as a DVD Player

This is a free yet risky method. Yet it is reasonable that some risks come along when you are installing some unofficial and third-party software. So can you play DVDs on a Wii without ripping your DVDs? Yes. And you need the Homebrew Channel here to help you. During this whole process, your DVD menus may be hit, or will encounter a situation where some DVDs can not be played.

If you show no care and still want to try this method to use Wii as a DVD player, here are some certain things needed to fulfill what you want.

Requirements:

• A Wii with system version 3.2
• A FAT/FAT32 formatted SD card that is no bigger than 2GB
• An SD card reader/writer
• Zelda: Twilight Princess for Wii
• The Twilight Hack
• The Homebrew Channel Installer
• Media Player which is compatible with playing commercial DVDs (MPlayer)
• DVDX app which allows Wii to read the inserted DVDs

Steps to play DVDs on a Wii via Homebrew Channel

Step 1: Install the Homebrew Channel

This is one of the most main tasks for fulling DVD playing.

First, connect your SD card to your computer and copy the “private” directory of the Twilight Hack on the hard drive onto it. Don’t forget to copy the Homebrew Channel “boot. dol” file.

Second, disconnect your SD card and then insert it into your Wii. Delete your Zelda save the file in the Wii File Manager if there are any games on your console. If you care about your saved game, you can first copy it to your SD card and then paste it back after you’ve installed HBC.

Third, there are two Zelda versions available: RVL-RZDE-0A-0” or “RVL-RZDE-0A-2”. Though both versions work, you’d better make sure you apply the right version.

Fourth, insert your Zelda game disc and start the game. You should see that Twilight Hack will save the game. Select it to start the game. Once you control Link, walk backward until the Homebrew Channel starts installing. A very short time later, the HBC will be installed and can be accessed just like any other Channel on your Wii.  

Step 2: Install the DVD player

Here comes the other main task to play a DVD by using the Wii as a DVD player after you have successfully finished the first step.

First, Pop the SD card out of the Wii and connect it to your computer. Then, you can delete the copied files in the first step and create a folder named apps. Copy the DVDX and DVD player directories into the apps folder.

Second, Eject your card and insert it back into your Wii. Turn on your video game console and launch up the Homebrew Channel. Run the DVDX installer app. When that starts up, select “Normal Installation” and wait for it to finish.

Step 3: Play DVD on Wii

Put a video DVD into your Wii, then go back to the Homebrew Channel, and start the DVD player. To play your DVDs, you can opt for the “DVD-Video” from the MPlayer menu, and then hit the start button. After a few moments, your movie will load and you will be enjoying a feature that should have worked out of the box, to begin with.

Conclusion

Based on the information in this article, you must have learned how to let the Wii play DVDs you like even though Wii can not be used to play DVDs officially. The only thing left to do is to pick up a method to try so that you can play DVDs on Wii and enjoy them better.

Note: Given that Xbox One is also a popular home video game console, chances are that you are using Xbox One instead of the Wii game console. If you are still searching for a method to play your DVDs on Xbox One, you can click here to find out the method that teaches you how to play DVDs on Xbox One. If you want to play Blu-ray on Xbox One, just click here it will tell you anything about how to play Blu rays on Xbox One.