What is the best way to copy a DVD? How to copy a DVD in Windows 10 and Mac and upload to YouTube? Do you know how many copy protections you need to deal with? So many questions push us forward in this digital world. Now find the best answer in this post. 

1. What is DVD?

DVD, digital versatile disc or digital video disc, is an optical disc which is compact and used to store movies or other data. DVD movie discs can be single-layered and double-layered. The former features a 4.7 GB storage capacity which is the reason we call it DVD-5, and the latter is capable of storing between 8.5-8.7 GB from which we name it as DVD-9.

2. DVD Types and Forms

There are different types of DVDs. You may have heard of DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM. DVD+R/RW are formats supported by Philips, Sony, Dell, Yamaha and others while DVD-R/RW/RAM are supported by Panasonic, Toshiba, Apple, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp as well as DVD Forum.

DVD+R and DVD-R: they are a recordable DVD format that can record data only once and then the data will be permanently saved on the disc.

DVD+RW and DVD-RW: they are a re-recordable format and the data on them can be erased and recorded for many times without damaging the discs.

DVD-RAM: it is a kind of disc that can be overwritten many times but it is only supported by a small proportion of DVD drives.

Besides the above DVDtypes, there are also DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL that are Dual Layer writeable DVD+R and DVD-R which can hold more data than those single-layered discs. All of these together with the last paragraph talk about the physical formats of DVDs.

Also, there are two digital formats of DVDs - ISO files and DVD folders, both of which can be attained by copying DVD discs. A DVD ISO file is an image file that contains all of the data found on a DVD disc. A DVD folder is a folder that contains DVD movie content and the video streams of a DVD are stored in the folder named as VIDEO_TS.

:2. DVD Types and Forms

3. What do you need to copy DVDs?

(1)Keep DVDs survive longer

Though manufacturers claim that the life spans of DVDs ranges from 30 to 100 years, it is almost impossible under the recommended storage conditions to avoid degradation.

(2) Enjoy DVDs for free

Sometimes when you rent DVDs from DVD providers like Netflix you may want to keep a copy of the rented movie for later watching.

(3) Watch DVDs anywhere

Sometimes you may want to have several DVD copies for watching in different places. For example, you may need one disc to be played on the cumbersome DVD player in living room and also need a copied DVD folder/ISO file for playback on the computer in your bedroom upstairs.

(4) Protect DVDs from damage

The plastic and shining disc is fragile and easy to be disrupted. To avoid repurchasing your favorite DVD movies, you had better back up them in advance. when saved in a computer or iphone in the format of folder or ISO image, they will stay permanent.

(5) save space

If you have collected a pile of DVD movie discs and they are taking up too much space of your room, and then it would be the best time to back up the DVDs to DVD folders or ISO files to sort out and be stored on a compact hard drive. After organizing tDVDs to your portable devices, you cannot just find them easily and play back them more conveniently. 

:3. What do you need to copy DVDs?

4. DVD copy protections – CSS, APS, UOP, RC, Cinavia

For homemade DVDs, you can copy as many as you can easily and freely, but that is not the case for commercial DVDs. Commercial DVDs always come with some protection schemes to protect their copyrights. Here are some of the main DVD copy protection schemes.

(1) APS

APS, short for Analog Protection System, is a DVD protection scheme designed to distort the color and brightness of the unauthorized DVD copying. The process works by adding pulses to analog video signals to negatively impact the AGC circuit of a recording device.

(2) UOP

UOP means User Operation Prohibitions. Most DVD players prohibit viewers from performing lots of actions during sections of a DVD, and display no symbol or a message. It is used mainly for copyright notices or warnings, such as an FBI warning.

(3) Cinavia

Though Cinavia is one of the major protections used on Blu-rays, it is founded on increasing commercial DVD discs. Cinavia is a protection scheme that embedded in the audio tracks of DVDs and can mute the audio tracks of an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted DVD. 

(4) RC

RC, known as Region Code, is a digital rights management technique to protect copyright and the rights and profits of rights holders. With it, movie studios can control the international distribution of a DVD release, including its content, release date, and price.

DVD copy protections are more than these, you can remove them with the best DVD Copy software and copy DVDs on Windows 10/Mac easily. But before we begin, you may want to know whether it is legal to copy a commercial DVD.

:(4) RC

5. Is it legal to copy DVDs?

For the question “Is it legal to copy DVDs”, please first refer to your country’s laws and then think about your purpose to make copies. In some countries it is illegal to bypass the CSS, APS or other protections on DVDs, so the behavior of copying DVD may be at risk of violating the Digital Copyright Act.

But in some countries, the law says that people have all the rights to deal with the things they purchased only you don’t infringe the copy right. That defines that you can decrypt and copy DVDs for personal use, but you cannot make copies of these copyrighted DVDs for distribution or any commercial use. Any actions of spreading these copyrighted contents should be illegal. 

6. Free DVD decrypters vs. paid ones


Of all the free DVD decrypters, DVDFab HD Decrypter should be ranked as No.1 without any doubts. DVDFab HD Decrypter is a 100% free DVD decrypter that surpasses other free tools in many ways.

First 

DVDFab HD Decrypter allows you to decrypt and copy both commercial DVDs and protected Blu-rays released prior to 2018 and all the DVDs except for the adult DVDs and those containing multiple VTS protections.

Second

DVDFab HD Decrypter can ccopy DVDs/Blu-rays to DVD/Blu-ray folders/ISO files that can be stored on hard drives but also burn DVDs/Blu-rays to blank discs with the help of ImgBurn or Nero Burning ROM.

Third

DVDFab HD Decrypter provides two copy modes – Full Disc and Main Movie, enabling you  to specify your preferred output audio track and subtitles, choose the chapters, preview your movie source and more.

Free DVD decrypters

When it comes to a free DVD decrypter, remember to check its safety and reliability. Some decrypters claimed to be free maybe fraudlent malware without providing any free services unless paid. 

 For instance, DVDShrink is a free Windows decrypter to back up encrypted DVDs to DVD discs with the help of Nero. But same with DVD Shrink, it cannot handle all the types of protections, such as the some new structure protections like ARccOS(Tm) and RipGuard.

DVDSmith Movie Backup is a totally free but old DVD decrypter which can only remove “DVD Region + CSS Free” protections, which means that it is unable to manage those new protection schemes and is limited to some old commercial DVD movies. Also, it only allows you to back up DVDs to hard drive.Actually, though these real free decrypters can decrypt DVDs, they are limited in many ways

Paid DVD decrypters

DVD decrypters like DVDFab DVD Copy and DVD Ripper are powerful enough to remove all known DVD protections, including CSS, RC, RCE, APS, UOP, ARccOS, RipGuard and more. With DVDFab DVD Cinavia Removal, DVDFab DVD Copy even can remove the stubborn Cinavia watermark. 

For example, DVDFab DVD Copy also provides users some advanced options to choose: 6 copy modes, several output sizes and 3 different output forms, etc. So basically it is not only a decrypter but also a complete and professional DVD copy software for Windows/Mac. 

You can click HD Decrypter vs. DVDFab DVD Copy to learn the differences between the free tool and the paid tool.

7. How to choose a powerful DVD copy tool?

The first and foremost feature for a powerful DVD copy is that it should come with a decrypter that can bypass the protections on commercial DVDs. But a top DVD copy software possesses more than such ability. Subsequently, let's see what other factors may influence the quality of a powerful DVD copy tool.

 i  Free Download     i  Free Download   

Copy Mode

A good DVD backup software program should not only copy DVDs in 1:1 ratio without compression but also have the ability to compress DVD-10 to a smaller size.

Quality

Quality is important if you want to get a perfect copy of your favorite DVD movies. A good DVD copy software program should output exact copies which are indistinguishable from the original under 1:1 copy, and should give a copy with minimal quality loss when users choose to compress their DVDs.

Copy Speed

Copy speed: though a DVD is not as large as a Blu-ray movie, you still need take some time to copy the nearly 5 G or 10 G contents from a disc. You won’t want to spend more than one or two hours copying a DVD disc.

Input Format

A powerful DVD copy program should not be limited to disc sources. What if you want to make a copy of a DVD ISO of DVD folder?

Output formats

DVD-5 or DVD-9 should be the basic output formats. But if a DVD copy program has the ability to output ISO files or DVD folders for digital storage we believe it will bring great convenience to you.

Customization Tools

A DVD copy expert will give you some customization tools to copy your DVDs in your way. You should have the choices to copy the exact part you want or to get rid of the protections or not.

Ease of Use

A great DVD copier should be modern, clean and intuitive, saving time and efforts.

8. The Best DVD Copy Software

DVDFab DVD Copy - Easy, fast and versatile

It comes with 6 copy modes: Full Disc, Main Movie, Customize, Split, Merge, and Clone/Burn. Just as their names imply, every mode has a different purpose:

Full Disc is to copy the whole DVD disc;

Main Movie is for copying the main movie title;

Customize allows you to copy DVDs in your way;

Split is to split one DVD into two, Merge is to merge two or more DVDs into one

Clone/Burn is for lossless copy;

The first 5 modes can be used to compress the contents on DVD-10 to fit for DVD-5 and the Clone mode is for 1:1 copy only.

:8. The Best DVD Copy Software

Cons of DVDFab DVD Copy

Copy Speed: DVDFab DVD Copy software is supported by the latest hardware acceleration technology, so the copying process can be completed in only a few minutes.

Quality: lossless on DVDFab burned 1:1 copy. And for the compressed output, only minimal quality loss can be seen.

Import: DVD discs/folder/ISO files

Output: Hard drive/ISO/DVD folder

Edit Tool:  provied to copy the exact parts of a DVD by choosing the titles, chapters, audio tracks, subtitles you want. You can also go to the “Common Settings” of the software to choose the DVD protections you want to get rid of.

Ease to Use: user-friendly.

9. How to use DVD copy tools?

  • Step 1: Download and install DVDFab 12
  • Step 2: Load DVD (commercial disc, ISO file or DVD folder)
  • Step 3: Choose wanted titles, chapter, audio tracks, subtitles
  • Step 4: Select DVD-9 or DVD-5 by clicking the "wrench" icon
  • Step 5: Do more customization via "down-triangle"(optional)
  • Step 6: Select output destination and click "Start"
  • Step 7: Output as a DVD disc, ISO file or DVD folder

:9. How to use DVD copy tools?

10. Recommended: Digitalizing DVD discs to folders/ISO files

Compared with "back up DVDs by burning them to blank DVD-5/9 discs,  "copy your DVDs to hard drive" is highly recommended. If your DVD movies are stored in digital formats, they will be not only limited to the physical players but some DVD player software programs available for Windows or Mac. That means, you can also watch DVDs on your computer without a connection to a physical DVD player. If you choose the output as an ISO or folder, you can even copy DVDs to a USB stick so that you can carry your DVDs easily to share with your friends and to watch anywhere only if you have a computer.

Conclusion

Now in the article, we have introduced you all the things about DVD copy we think you need to know. How to copy dvd to computer? We hope you do learn some useful knowledge here and know how to make your decision to choose a good DVD copy tool and to make your own DVD copies. Now get moving to back up your DVDs in your way!