If you are looking to make digital backups of your favorite Blu-ray or DVD movies, you can find few better tools than MakeMKV, a quick and easy to use freeware video transcoder which uses its built-in decryption tools to circumvent digital rights management from commercial Blu-ray or VD DVD disc. You can then freely convert the video clips from the encrypted disc into a set of MKV files with all your wanted subtitle languages, audio tracks, chapter information, etc well preserved. Although MakeMKV has many obvious advantages, however, its has also the following unbearable limitations that force people to find MakeMKV alternatives.
Limitations of MakeMKV
– Output format limitation
Only output Blu-ray/DVD to MKV file format, but not other popular file formats, if you wish to play converted Blu-ray or DVD movies on smartphone, tablets, game consoles, TVs, etc, you will need the help of a third-party video conversion app such as Handbrake to perform the digital format conversion process. If you are looking for a one-stop solution to done to Blu-ray/DVD to digital format conversion job, MakeMKV is absolutely not a good choice.
– Output large MKV file
The resulted MKV file is as large as original Blu-ray or DVD media content, people who had one test with MakeMKV shows that they rip a standard DVD, the output MKV movie size was up to 6GB. But the program does not give you an option to compress MKV files such as adjusting output file resolution, bit rate, frame rate, or trim/crop video for better and convenient further usage.
– Blu-ray/DVD Content Selection
The second step for Blu-ray/DVD ripping in MakeMKV is selecting the Blu-ray/DVD content. In the software interface, once the video source is opened you will see its contents as a tree structure. Normally, disc contains different titles (main movie and video clips). You need to select which titles you want to save and what audio tracks to keep in each title. For each item you will also see detailed information such as item type, size, length, codec, language and so on. This job presents many difficulties to the new recruit. Because beginners may not understand what these items mean and what are the consequences of their choices.
Related article: Solve MakeMKV No Disc Issue | ByteCopy VS MakeMKV VS DVDFab | Rip DVD without MakeMKV
Best 5 Alternatives to MakeMKV
Based on above listed limitations, to get better Blu-ray or DVD movie entertainment on any devices or applications as you like, we highly recommend you to find MakeMKV alternatives with more output format support, advanced output file quality control and flexible movie content selection option. To save your time and energy, the following article has listed 5 best MakeMKV alternatives for you.
Top 1: Pavtube ByteCopy
Pavtube ByteCopy (get Mac version) is the a combo function of Blu-ray/DVD disc decrypter and Blu-ray/DVD disc to digital format conversion. With the program, you can not only make a lossless multi-track MKV copy from Blu-ray/DVD movies with all your wanted subtitles languages, audio tracks well preserved but also make a 1:1 full disc copy with original Blu-ray/DVD structure, main movie copy without unwanted comments, ads, trailers, etc. In addition, you also gets the chance to directly convert Blu-ray/DVD to many popular HD/SD file formats or hot devices such as iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Windows Phone, game consoles, TVs, etc or editing applications like Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas, Davinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer, etc preset profile formats with the optimal playing and editing settings.
To get better output file quality, you can flexibly adjust output video and audio profile parameters such as video codec, resolution, bit rate, frame rate, audio codec, bit rate, sample rate, channels, etc as. Unlike MakeMKV, Pavtube ByteCopy can automatically detect and select the main Blu-ray/DVD title for you. The view preview function also helps you to better understand the detailed information of your Blu-ray/DVD movie.
To better understand the Blu-ray/DVD movie, the program offers beneficial subtitle function during the disc ripping process, you can select your desired subtitle language or audio tracks from internal Blu-ray/DVD movie, enable forced subtitles options to disable the traditional subtitles while still preserving the subtitles that translate foreign language speaking parts periodically throughout the film or add external subtitle to Blu-ray/DVD movies If the foreign language Blu-ray/DVD movie does not contain any language subtitles you understand.
Top 2: Handbrake
HandBrake is an open source and most famous free MakeMKV alternative with multiple output formats on multiplatform. Strictly speaking, HandBrake is not a DVD ripper, it does not support removal of copy protection. But it is still well preferred for supporting DVD source which is NOT copy-protected as input.
Top 3: RipIt
RipIt is a DVD ripper for Mac OS X that enables the users to watch their movies anywhere. Use RipIt and transfer DVDs to Mac with ease and speed then carry these movies without the need to carry around discs. Easily transfer a DVD in one of two ways either ripping copies or compressing. Ripping is for subtitles, extras and alternatuive tracks. Compressing is for making the track capable in playing on iPhone, iPad, iPod and Apple TV.
Top 4: Avidemux
Avidemux is a free video editor and convertor for cutting, filtering, and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF using a variety of codecs. It is available for Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, and Windows operating system. Binaries available here are freely redistribute for covering mounting CD/DVD and download site. It is one of the best alternatives to Handbrake. Avidemux can be also used in place of MakeMKV.
Top 5：MacX DVD Ripper
MacX DVD Ripper is a DVD ripper that backs up and rips DVD movies to MOV, MP4, MPEG, FLV, iTunes video, minus all the copy protections that are vastly utilized in DVD movies. It has the ability to rip homemade disc and encrypted DVD movies for viewing on iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Android HTC, Samsung, XOOM, Galaxy Tab, PSP, etc. MacX DVD Ripper is one of the best alternatives to MakeMKV for DVD ripping and converting.
Conclusion:
From above review, we highly recommend Pavtube ByteCopy as the best MakeMKV alternatives. The program is quite simple to use, it helps to copy/backup, rip/convert Blu-ray/DVD to various different formats to satisfy your different entertainment needs. It can automatically select the main movie title for you to eliminate your trouble to judge the title by your own. What’s more, the useful subtitle, output profile parameters adjusting functions also helps to enhance your Blu-ray/DVD movie entertainment to another high level.
