In the world of digital media, DVDs still possess a special charm, since they represent a tangible memory and serve as a wonderful way to share your favorite home movies or video files with friends and family. The top 8 free DVD burners for Mac that make it simple to burn your ISO files or videos onto DVDs will be covered in this post.

Best Free DVD Burners for Mac

Comparison Table Between the Best Free DVD Burners for Mac

Whether you need to backup your data, create a DVD movie collection, or simply have a physical copy of your favorite video clips, a competent Mac DVD burner can make your task easier. Considering your different preferences and needs, we have select the following 8 best free DVD burners for Mac based on their features, reliability, ease of use and user ratings from softpedia.com and softonic.com. Now, let's have a quick overview of these programs:

  • DVDFab DVD Creator - Versatile, high-quality output, advanced customization options.
  • Finder - Free, built-in, simple, ideal for basic burning tasks.
  • Burn - Free, lightweight, open-source, great for casual users.
  • Express Burn - Fast, easy to use, supports direct audio recording and disc copying.
  • Disco - Elegant interface, one-click burning, disc labeling, automatic file splitting.
  • Roxio Toast Titanium - Feature-rich, supports 4K, advanced video editing, menu creation.
  • iSkysoft - User-friendly, all-in-one functionality, supports video editing and menu creation.
  • LiquidCD - Simple, lightweight, drag-and-drop functionality, minimalist design.
Mac DVD Burners OS Input Output Menu Creation User Rating Latest Update
DVDFab DVD Creator   macOS 10.10 - 15.x & Windows 200+ video video DVD disc, ISO, Folder, Blu-ray stylish templates & customization 4.0/5 2024
Finder All macOS versions video, picture data DVD NO / 2024
Burn Mac OS X 10.9 and up video, music DVD video/audio disc, CD basic theme 3.2/5 /
Express Burn Mac OS X 10.5 and later video, audio, file CD, video DVD, Blu-ray few templates 3.5/5 2022
Disco Mac OS X 10.4.3 and later video, audio CD, video DVD NO 3.4/5 2011
Roxio Toast Titanium Mac OS X 10.11 and later video, music, data CD, video DVD preset templates & customization 2.9/5 2021
iSkysoft Mac OS X 10.5 and later 150+ video video DVD disc, ISO, Folder preset templates & customization 3.1/5 2024
LiquidCD Mac OS X 10.5 and later video, audio, photo, data CD, video DVD NO 3.6/5 2010

8 Best Free DVD Burning Software for Mac: In-depth Review

No.1 DVDFab DVD Creator

Work on: macOS 10.10 - 15.x & Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

DVDFab DVD Creator is an awesome DVD burner software for Mac system to burn all kinds of videos downloaded from video websites or recorded by professional devices to standard studio-level DVD discs that can be played on any DVD player.

Actually, it also can convert video in various formats to DVD folder/ISO file that can be stored on your hard drive. One of its salient features is that it allows you to customize your DVD menu by using the built-in template and setting the font, frame, layout, background, etc. in the template.

I tested DVDFab on my macOS Ventura. After I enabled hardware acceleration on my iMac, memory usage stayed low, and I could even stay on a video call without any lag. The menu and subtitle options are comprehensive, which is more than enough for everyday users. I made my wedding DVD, picked a themed menu, and set my own photo as the background. What impressed me most is the efficiency: it doesn't have to output an ISO first. It can burn a disc directly from an MP4, and the success rate is very high. The built-in video editing tool updated in version 13.0.4.5 is also very easy to use. I can trim out unwanted segments and adjust brightness and color for scenes that are too dark.

  • Create DVD/ISO/Folder from 200+ video formats
  • Provide various free and stylish menu templates
  • Select audio tracks, subtitles, or add external subtitle
  • Create high-quality DVD discs at GPU Hardware-accelerated speed 
  • Need to pay for its Blu-ray Creator for Mac if you want to rip Blu-ray.

How to Use the Best DVDFab DVD Burner for Mac?

Step 1: Launch DVDFab DVD Creator for Mac and load your source video.

Free download and run DVDFab 13 on your Mac system. Open the software and select the "Creator" module. Load your video with the Add button on the main page or by simply dragging and dropping the file onto the main page. 

best free dvd burner for mac

Step 2: Customize your DVD and create a DVD menu.

After loading the source video, you can select audio tracks, output size, subtitles, or add external subtitles.

best free dvd burner for mac

Click Advanced Settings and choose the output size and quality you prefer. 

best free dvd burner for mac

You can also click Menu Settings to make a DVD menu from the free DVD menu templates. You are free to personalize the background art, thumbnails, text font, color, and size, as well as playback buttons like Play/Pause and Previous/Next.

best free dvd burner for mac

Step 3: Start burning your DVD on Mac free and fast.

Select the output directory in Save to Part, and click the Start button to begin creating your DVD. DVDFab will provide detailed progress information throughout the process.

best free dvd burner for mac

No.2: Finder

Work on: All macOS versions

Finder is a default file manager used on all Macintosh operating systems. It serves as free DVD authoring software, so you can burn discs without downloading an additional program. It enables you to browse your apps, disks, files, and folders in a number of ways and assists you in navigating all of the files and folders on your Mac.

To use this Macbook Pro DVD burner, you just need to insert the disc into the SuperDrive and select Open Finder from the pop-up screen. And then, open the disc window and drag files that you want to burn.

When I use this tool to burn DVD on mac, I don't have to worry about security risks, since it's a built-in macOS tool. I only use it for data disc backups, though. I also tried burning an ISO that already had a DVD-Video structure, but the resulting disc still wouldn't play in any DVD player. If you want a disc that plays like a movie, it's better to use one of the professional and safe third-party tools we've recommended.

  • No need to download any other apps
  • Easy to use for beginners
  • Only support data DVD burning
  • No video editing and menu creation functions

best free dvd burner for mac

No.3: Burn

Work on: Mac OS X 10.9 and up

As an open source DVD burner for Mac, Burn is one of your top choices to create DVDs for data, audio, and video on Mac due to its simplicity, powerful feature set, and availability at no cost. It is lightweight and can be installed on Mac easily. It has 4 modules for you to create data, audio, video DVD discs, and copy discs.

In addition, to support DVD and DVD disc images, this free DVD burner for Mac is full-featured to handle various discs and images like CD, VCD, SVCD, cue/bin image, and more. In the copy module, you can perform a simple copy of a data disc, but you cannot use it to deal with an encrypted commercial video DVD disc, for it doesn't contain a decrypter in it.

In my test, I can tell Burn is a professional disc burning tool with excellent compatibility on macOS. It even runs on older Macs, so it's very suitable for small home projects. It's simple to use. I use Burn to generate a VIDEO_TS folder, check the menus and chapters, then decide whether to burn directly or create an ISO as a backup first. The downside is speed. When I burned a two-hour wedding video, the process took about 43 minutes.

  • Freely available and open-source
  • Able to share filesystems across different operating systems
  • Support creating standard Audio-CDs
  • No advanced customized options
  • Lack instruction and technical support
  • No updates for a long time

best free dvd burner for mac

No.4: Express Burn

Work on: Mac OS X 10.5 and later

Express Burn is one of the speediest DVD burning software for Macintosh that can burn audio, video or files to CD/DVD/Blu-ray and duplicate homemade DVDs. For video burning, it supports all video formats with a DirectShow-based codec, and it also contains template menu screens and buttons for users to create a DVD menus.

Its copy function is a thing that deserved to be mentioned. It features a fast copy/burning speed. It can copy and burn MP4 to DVD and compress DVD9 to DVD5, but it lacks the ability to decrypt commercial DVD, which means the DVD movies in the market cannot be copied for legally personal use.

Express Burn is faster than other free Mac burning tools in my use. Another advantage is that it handles both DVD copying and burning in a single app, although it can't copy discs with copy protection. The free trial is limited, allowing you to only burn three DVDs. Also note that the version tiers are overly complicated. If you buy a lower-tier edition, you may find it doesn't include Blu-ray support and you'll need to pay extra to upgrade.

  • User-friendly interface
  • Support creating and organizing chapter
  • Able to record CDs or DVDs and burn Blu-ray
  • Comes with pre-designed menu buttons and screens
  • Able to generate images from system data or a CD
  • Unable to remove DVD copy protection 
  • Compression process results in lower-quality output
  • Only burn 3 DVDs in free trial version

best free dvd burner for mac

No.5: Disco

Work on: Mac OS X 10.4.3 and later

Disco is a free Mac CD/DVD burner. You can burn your files to single or dual-layer DVDs based on the file systems like Hybrid, HFS+, UDF, PC Joliet, and ISO 9660. It also supports DVD-ReWritable disc burning and erasing.

This DVD writers for Macs also has the ability to create ISO and DMG images from files and discs. Its "Discography" option lets you instantly search previously created disc information like the file name, disc name, file path and more. Its disc-spanning feature can detect the files you are burning and divide the big files into multiple discs.

This one really has that "old Mac" vibe. I actually enjoy using it to write data discs on an old machine—the smoke animation is charmingly retro and great for nostalgic users. But it stopped getting updates back in 2011, and the official site even released free serial numbers at the time. So I only use it on older systems for simple backups. Its compatibility with newer systems is poor, and it won't run on my mac 13. If I need to make a DVD-Video that plays on the set-top box in the living room, I switch to DVDFab DVD Creator instead. This continuously updated Mac DVD burner supports common video formats and is more stable.

  • Be free for users to use
  • Enable you to browse all previously burnt files
  • Hasn't been updated since 2011
  • No advanced menu creation functions

best free dvd burner for mac

No.6: Roxio Toast Titanium

Work on: Mac OS X 10.11 and later

Roxio Toast Titanium is a versatile and full-featured Mac DVD maker that can burn CD/DVD, author DVD, and convert video. It can burn music, data, create DVD movies and copy unprotected DVD discs. When burning video to DVD, this Mac DVD burner software allows you to customize your menus and music with themed templates.

Moreover, it also able to record a screen, edit and convert video. So if you are looking for a burner containing video editing/converting features, you can consider Toast Titanium. But you also need to take its high price tag into consideration.

Roxio Toast Titanium is a paid product, and it's now up to Roxio Toast 20 Titanium. The burned results are solid, with no audio-video sync issues, but the software has fairly strict installation environment requirements. If you run into problems, check your Mac's setup and consider temporarily disabling security settings and the firewall. One more thing to note: performance can be somewhat unstable when converting large files, so it's not ideal for long sessions or batch burning.

  • More bonus function like editing and converting videos
  • Able to create DVD menu and chapter
  • Less cost-effective compared to other software
  • Often require frequent restarts for disc burning
  • Menu link testing can be frustrating
  • Occasionally suffers from performance issues

No.7: iSkysoft DVD Creator for Mac

Work on: Mac OS X 10.5 and later

iSkysoft DVD Creator for Mac comes with decent DVD-burning features. With this DVD burning software for Macintosh, you can convert videos with various formats, such as MP4, VOB, MPEG, etc., to DVD.

In addition to this, you can also burn home videos or videos that are downloaded from YouTube or other social websites to disc. It should be noted that this software is developed with a built-in editor, which means you can rotate, flip, trim, and add watermark to your video, etc.

iSkysoft DVD Creator for Mac was an older Wondershare product and has now been replaced by Wondershare DVD Creator for Mac. In addition to burning video DVDs, I also tried creating photo DVDs, and you can even combine videos and photos into one complete DVD project, which makes the final disc more engaging. But you have to buy the paid version to access the full feature set, and compared with the Windows version, the Mac perpetual license is even 4 dollars more expensive, yet it doesn't support Blu-ray. That's not very friendly for Mac users.

  • Offer DVD menu templates
  • Come with a built-in video editor
  • Less customized options for menu
  • Fail to burn DVDs from multiple video files occasionally
  • The output DVD is watermarked in free trial verison

best free dvd burner for mac

No.8: LiquidCD

Work on: Mac OS X 10.5 and later

LiquidCD is a DVD and Blu-ray burning software for Mac that is simple to follow and use and also allows you to burn data, audio, photos, and video files to a DVD. This software supports many special file formats, such as MDF, MDS, DAA, and GBI. The key feature of this DVD burning software for Mac is that it helps you to burn custom hybrid discs or Cue/Bin files.

You can tell from the interface that this Mac DVD burner hasn't been updated in a long time. It is mainly aimed at older systems and even has compatibility issues with macOS Snow Leopard. When I tested it on macOS Ventura, it kept crashing. Some users have also reported that its integration with iTunes is poor and that it is extremely slow when processing images. For general data, the program is fairly reliable; however, for very specialized disc types, it is better to use another program.

  • Capable of creating discs in various formats at no cost
  • Provide a discussion platform to resolve user queries
  • May encounter operational glitches that disrupt use
  • Occasional software instability can hinder your burning task
  • No advanced features

best free dvd burner for mac

FAQs 

How to choose the best DVD burner software for mac?

If you want to find a DVD burner that fits your workflow on macOS, consider the following:

What are you burning? Decide whether you're making a data disc or a video DVD. For the former, Finder is usually enough, so you don't need to make a decision. But if you want a video DVD that plays on set-top DVD players, the following factors matter:

  1. Compatibility: There are many free DVD burners for Mac, but I recommend prioritizing software that explicitly supports M1/M2/M3 chips and the latest macOS.
  2. Authoring ability: If you're turning digital video like MP4 into a DVD-Video, your burner must include authoring features — in other words, it has to structure the video into proper disc folders so players can recognize and play it normally.
  3. Speed: Burn speed matters. Too fast can increase failure rates; too slow wastes time. Look for a Mac DVD burner that lets you adjust write speed or supports GPU/hardware acceleration — both tend to improve reliability.

Does Mac have a built-in DVD burning software?

Yes, Mac computers come with a DVD burning software known as "iDVD". You can create a burn folder, add files to it, and then burn the files to a CD or DVD.

However, iDVD was discontinued in 2011 when Apple shifted its focus from physical media to digital content distribution channels like the iTunes Store and the App Store. If you need to burn DVDs on a modern Mac, you will need the third-party DVD burning software for Mac we mentioned before or use Finder's limited built-in disc burning capabilities.

Are there any external DVD burners for Macs?

Yes, there are several external DVD burners available for Macs you can use to burn DVDs. Some of the top rated ones include ASUS ZenDrive Ultra Slim USB 2.0 External DVD Optical Drive, VersionTECH USB C Type-c Ultra Slim External DVD Drive, LG Electronics 8X USB 2.0 Super Multi Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer Drive, etc. Remember to check for your Mac compatibility before purchasing.

Does Adobe have a DVD Burner for Mac?

Adobe Encore is a DVD burner for Mac that was bundled with Adobe Premiere Pro. You could use it to create DVDs and design menus from Photoshop documents. It was available up until Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. However, since Adobe discontinued Creative Suite 6 in 2015, Adobe Encore was discontinued as well. 

How to Burn a DVD on a Mac for Playback on a DVD player?

In order to burn a DVD on a Mac so that you can play it on a DVD player, you'll need to choose a reliable DVD burning software for Mac, like DVDFab DVD Creator, Finder, Express Burn, Toast Titanium. Just load your video file to your burner and choose different menu styles or other customization options, then you will get a standard DVD that is playable on any DVD player.

Conclusion

Your multimedia experience can be greatly improved by choosing the best DVD burning software for Windows 10 and Mac. Through hands-on tests, we concluded that DVDFab DVD Creator is one of the nine free DVD burners for Mac that are discussed in this post, since it offers a wide range of features and capabilities to accommodate different DVD burning demands. Now, discover how to easily burn video footage into DVDs for replay on your favorite devices by using these free DVD burning options on your Mac.