How to Install HandBrake libdvdcss on Windows, Mac, and Linux?

"I'm trying to back up or convert my DVD movies using HandBrake, but my HandBrake cannot read the disc content."

This is a common dilemma that frustrates many HandBrake users. To solve this problem, all you need is a key called libdvdcss. While HandBrake is a top-tier open-source transcoding tool, that doesn't mean you can rip any DVD just by downloading it. HandBrake itself does not have decryption capabilities, and the vast majority of commercial DVDs are protected by encryption technologies like CSS (Content Scramble System). Therefore, installing libdvdcss is very necessary.

The steps to install libdvdcss vary across different operating systems. This article will detail the installation steps for HandBrake libdvdcss on Windows, Mac, and Linux, making it easy to understand for both beginners and experienced users.

Disclaimer: DO NOT use HandBrake libdvdcss to rip copy-protected DVDs for commercial purpose, such as distribution and sale of DVDs. Before using libdvdcss, ensure that your actions do not infringe upon the copyrights of others. 

Introduction to Libdvdcss

Libdvdcss (short for library + DVD + Content Scrambling System) is an essential open-source component of the VideoLAN project. It enables software like VLC and HandBrake to decrypt CSS-encrypted DVDs, allowing playback across various regions. By generating possible decryption keys, libdvdcss has avoided legal issues and is mainly used by free software for personal DVD decryption. The latest version is libdvdcss 1.4.3, which continues to support DVD ripping and viewing in media applications that rely on CSS bypassing.

How to Download Install Libdvdcss for HandBrake

HandBrake removed its built-in libdvdcss library back in the 0.9.3 version, released in November 2008. Therefore, you must now download and install libdvdcss separately to perform decryption. Do not attempt to download and use the old 0.9.3 version, as the official HandBrake team has explicitly stated that older versions are no longer functional. If you want to know how to rip copy-protected DVD with HandBrake, follow the following steps to install libdvdcss.

Download and Install Libdvdcss for HandBrake on Windows (11/10)

Installing the libdvdcss library grants HandBrake the ability to decrypt and process copy-protected DVDs on your Windows computer. Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1: Download libdvdcss. There are both 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Windows 10/11/7; download the version that matches your system. The downloaded file will be named libdvdcss-2.dll. Remember, do not rename this file.

• 💻32-bit: https://github.com/allienx/libdvdcss-dll/blob/main/1.4.3/32-bit/libdvdcss-2.dll
• 💻64-bit: https://github.com/allienx/libdvdcss-dll/blob/main/1.4.3/64-bit/libdvdcss-2.dll

Step 2: Move libdvdcss-2.dll into your HandBrake program folder. If you are unsure of your HandBrake installation path, you can check whether it is in the default directory C:\Program Files\HandBrake. Alternatively, on the desktop right-click your HandBrake icon > Properties > Open File Location. The system will automatically open the HandBrake program folder. Simply copy or cut the libdvdcss-2.dll file and paste it into this folder. 

Note: When pasting the file, a window may pop up prompting you: "You'll need to provide administrator permission to copy to this folder." Click Continue.

Step 3: Close File Explorer. Now you've installed libdvdcss for HandBrake successfully. Remerber, there will not be a separate decryption button appearing in HandBrake, as libdvdcss automatically performs the CSS decryption process when you open the disc within the application. Therefore, you do not need any special steps; you can proceed to rip your DVD in the usual way.

Download and Install Libdvdcss for HandBrake on Mac

Unlike downloading and installing libdvdcss for Windows, the process for Mac is a bit different due to stricter operating system security. You can get the library using the manual installation method or the Homebrew method.

Option 1: Install the HandBrake libdvdcss Mac Manually

Step 1: Download libdvdcss for HandBrake on your Mac computer. After downloading, you will get a file called libdvdcss.pkg.

• 💻https://download.videolan.org/pub/libdvdcss/1.4.2/macosx/libdvdcss-1.4.2.pkg

Step 2: Install libdvdcss on your MacBook Pro and iMac.

Double-click the downloaded installer package to install libdvdcss on your Mac. 

For OS X Yosemite (10.10) and earlier: double-click the downloaded installer package to install libdvdcss on your Mac.

For macOS El Capitan (10.11) and later (macOS Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, etc.): These Mac systems introduced System Integrity Protection (SIP), which prevents users from arbitrarily modifying key system files, causing the libdvdcss you install to be automatically removed. Below are two solutions to help you install libdvdcss for HandBrake on these newer Mac systems.

Workaround 1: Disable SIP for installing libdvdcss on Mac

1. Restart your computer. Press down the ⌘ + R until the Apple logo displays on your screen. 
2. Navigate to Utilities > Terminal. In the Terminal, enter the command csrutil disable and press Return. 
3. Exit Terminal and restart your Mac.

After completing the steps above to disable SIP, you can install libdvdcss for HandBrake without encountering issues on macOS. But note that disabling SIP might put your computer security at risk. It is recommended that you restore SIP after installing libdvdcss for HandBrake.

Workaround 2: Advanced Installation Method (Recommended)

macOS often places files installed through unofficial channels into a temporary quarantine area called QuarantineRoot. We manually extract the libdvdcss.2.dylib file, then move it to HandBrake's loading system path, thereby bypassing macOS's automatic blocking mechanism.

1. To start, open a window in Finder. Click on Go in the top menu bar, and then select Go to Folder...
2. In the new dialogue, paste the path /Library/SystemMigration/History/, and then click Go. 
3. In that directory, open the folder named starting with Migration-, followed by random characters (e.g., Migration-123456). 
4. Open the QuarantineRoot subfolder. Inside QuarantineRoot, you should find the necessary decryption file libdvdcss.2.dylib. Copy the libdvdcss.2.dylib file and put it into the /usr/local/lib folder. You might be asked to punch in your administrator password and hit enter to finish the procedure. Once done, libdvdcss will be successfully installed on your MacBook.

It is harder to install HandBrake libdvdcss on a Mac than on a Windows PC. However, using Homebrew, you may download and install libdvdcss.pkg for HandBrake on numerous Mac versions. Let's see how.  

Option 2: Install the HandBrake libdvdcss Mac Using Homebrew 

Homebrew is an excellent and reliable method for installing the libdvdcss library, especially on Apple Silicon Macs. It is not only fast and easy to use but also works seamlessly on most macOS versions, including Sonoma, Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur, and earlier releases.

Step 1: Install Homebrew (First-Time Only)

Open the Terminal. Paste and run the latest official Homebrew command, then press the Return key to begin the installation: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Note: You will likely be prompted to enter your administrator password during the process. The entire installation may take a few minutes to complete.

Step 2: Install libdvdcss via Homebrew

Once Homebrew is successfully installed, run the following all-lowercase command in the Terminal to download and install the libdvdcss library: brew install libdvdcss

The system will confirm the successful installation of the libdvdcss.2.dylib file.

Extra Step for Apple Silicon Macs (M1/M2/M3 Users Only):

Homebrew automatically installs files to the /opt/homebrew/ directory on Apple Silicon Macs. However, HandBrake typically searches for libdvdcss in the traditional /usr/local/lib folder. So, to ensure HandBrake can find the file, you must create a Symbolic Link in the Terminal: sudo ln -s /opt/homebrew/opt/libdvdcss/lib/libdvdcss.2.dylib /usr/local/lib/libdvdcss.2.dylib

Downland and Install Libdvdcss for HandBrake on Linux

The libdvd-pkg package (previously libdvdcss or libdvdread4) enables DVD playback on Debian and Ubuntu by providing necessary libraries. Here are detailed steps on how to install libdvdcss HandBrake Linux. 

Step 1: Launch a terminal app and use the apt-get command or apt command to update the repos. 

• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get upgrade

Step 2: Debian Linux users must have the "contrib repo" enabled. Or else, they can try the following. 

• sudo apt install software-properties-common
• sudo apt-add-repository contrib

Subsequently, install the libdvd-pkg (libdvdcss package) for HandBrake. Run the command:

• sudo apt-get install libdvd-pkg

Step 3: After performing all the above commands, proceed to download, compile, and install libdvdcss. Type the command:

• sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg

Step 4: Subsequently, install the regionset command by typing the following command: 

• sudo apt-get install regionset

Step 5: Debian and Ubuntu offer a variety of codecs in their official repositories, including support for MP3, H264, and AAC formats. These codecs are provided by libraries like libav and FFmpeg, which media players such as VLC and MPlayer utilize for seamless playback of diverse multimedia files.

Additionally, install the libavcodec-extra package:

• sudo apt-get install libavcodec-extra

How to Use HandBrake Libdvdcss to Rip Protected DVDs

After setting up libdvdcss on your Windows, Mac, or Linux OS, you can then rip DVD with HandBrake with ease, even for CSS-protected discs. Below are the detailed steps.

Step 1: Run HandBrake on your computer and insert the source DVD into the optical drive. 

Step 2: Click Open Source and select your DVD drive as the source. HandBrake will start scanning using libdvdcss-2.dll for Windows or libdvdcss.pkg for Mac to detect the correct titles that have the longest playback time and also bypass encryption methods such as region codes and CSS.

If you are confronted with a "No valid title found" error, you should check that libdvdcss is correctly installed. If the problem persists, then the DVD has some sophisticated encryption or DRM protection that is beyond the capability of libdvdcss and must be handled by other advanced tools such as DVDFab DVD Ripper. 

Step 3: Open up HandBrake, click the Title dropdown, and select the title to rip. Oftentimes, the main movie title will be what you want to rip. 

For movie DVDs, the longest duration title is generally the main film, unless it's one of those DVDs with 99 titles. For TV series, each title usually represents an episode. To rip all episodes, simply add multiple titles to the queue.

To rip multiple titles, select a title and click Choose a preset. Then, open the Add to Queue dropdown box and select one option from the following:

• Add Current: Add selected title. 
• Add All: Add all DVD titles. 
• Add Selection: Manually choose the titles to add.

Step 4: Choose the output format. HandBrake can rip DVDs into 3 formats: MP4, MKV, and WebM. It also provides various presets categorized under General, Web, Devices, Matroska, and Production. 

For best results, choose the resolution that matches the DVD format: 720 x 576 (576p) for PAL DVDs and 720 x 480 (480p) for NTSC DVDs. Avoid 1080p presets, as upscaling won't increase quality and may increase file size unnecessarily.

Step 5: To choose the destination for your ripped file, move to the Save As section and click Browse. You can save these file either on your computer's hard drive or an external storage device. 

Step 6: After adjusting all settings to your preference, click the Start Encode button in the top menu bar to begin the ripping process in HandBrake. 

How to Rip Protected DVDs without Libdvdcss Installed

Libdvdcss is a popular tool mainly used with free DVD rippers, such as HandBrake, to bypass CSS encryption on DVDs. But HandBrake Libdvdcss has limitations. Evidently, the installation of the libdvdcss libraries, such as libdvdcss-2.dll for Windows or libdvdcss.pkg for macOS, is somewhat complicated. Furthermore, while it can decrypt most DVDs protected with CSS, it cannot bypass more complex protections like AACS 2.0, Region Codes, Sony ArccOS, UOPs, or Disney X-project DRM. For example, if you're attempting to rip Disney DVDs using HandBrake and libdvdcss, you may encounter issues where HandBrake fails to process the disk. In that case, you might consider alternatives, such as DVDFab DVD Ripper, that offer a more streamlined experience.

DVDFab DVD Ripper is excellent ripping software that doesn't require a third-party tool, such as libdvdcss download, to recognize and remove copy protection from DVDs. Its advanced ripping feature can detect any encryption mechanism, old or new, and bypass it easily from DVDs, ISO, and folders. Within 5 minutes, your ripped content will be ready for playback on any device. 

Supported OS:

Key Features:

• Rips DVDs to 1000+ video/audio formats and 260+ presets
• Supports newly-released and old copy-protected DVDs
• Converts multiple files simultaneously at 50x faster blazing ripping speed 
• Inbuilt video editor to manage the video clips 
• Sync metadata info and create a .nfo file compatible with the media server
• Compress video size while preserving quality for any device 

DVDFab DVD Ripper also offers a lifetime-free but simplified version - DVDFab HD Decrypter - that can rip most encrypted DVD and Blu-rays to MP4&MKV format only. Both versions are installed in one DVDFab package for your easy use.

How to Rip Any Protected DVDs with DVDFab DVD Ripper

Step 1: Install and launch DVDFab 13. Switch to the Ripper tab and use the Add button to select the encrypted DVD content to rip. 

Step 2: Once your source DVD is loaded, DVDFab will auto-recognize and remove all the copy-protection from the DVD. Tap the Info button to learn about all the protections. 

Step 3: Customize your profile's default settings. Use several available options to set preferences for output file format, audio track(s), and subtitles (whether to add or extract).

Step 4: Move to Advanced Settings and set advanced audio and video parameters. Likewise, Video Edit lets you adjust the video sections by cropping or trimming and performing other features to match your requirements. 

Ensure you select the Save To location before ripping the DVD for your output content. 

Step 5: After confirming your save location, click Start to rip the DVD. You can see the progress right on the screen. Once the ripping task is complete, you can choose to hibernate, exit the program, shut down the system, or cancel it. 

The Bottom Line

The article focuses on explaining how to install and use HandBrake with libdvdcss on Windows, Mac, and Linux for beginners. Clearly, installing HandBrake with libdvdcss is complicated, especially on macOS,and the tool's capability is restricted to basic CSS encryption. When facing more sophisticated, stubborn copy protections, we strongly recommend the best HandBrake alternative, DVDFab DVD Ripper.