DVD is so fragile that even a small scratch or slight bending will damage the disk itself and the inner values. Luckily, there’s an ultimate method to avoid the loss of the DVD content which is to rip the DVD to digital format files.

Hypothetically speaking, after the ripping, you’re available to store the file on a computer and mobile hard drive or burn to another disk, maybe upload the duplication to some cloud like Google Drive. Better yet, you can transfer the DVD movie to your cellphone or tablet to watch it flexibly.

Take into account that different formats will lead to different video quality, file size, and compatibility of the target format, in today’s tutorial, I will introduce you to the best formats you may use to rip your DVD. Besides, if you have no idea how to rip a DVD, steps will be provided.

1. About the DVD format

DVD is a digital optical disc data storage method that is used to store multiple digital data including videos, audios, packages of software, etc. Among all these, the default format for commercial DVD movies is the MPEG-2 which is released in 1994 as the standard for DVD video compression.

Over time, this format is pretty out of date since a MPEG-2 formatted video has lower quality and a larger file size compared to modern digital video formats like MKV, WMV, MP4.

2. The best format to rip DVDs

The video format is also named the video compression format. Every video format is equipped with different transcoding and compression technology.

It’s impossible to simply name the best format without considering your purpose of the ripping. So, in the following parts, we will discuss the best formats to rip DVD for 3 major purposes:

Best format for mobile viewing:

Assume that you plan to watch the DVD movie on your smartphone or tablet, a video format that is compatible with your cellphone’s playback feature will contribute a lot.

Here, 2 best formats are optional, the MKV and MP4.

MKV

Full name as Matroska Video File, this format wins the heart of most movie publishers with free and open-source container features, not compression.

The MKV format can hold an unlimited amount of videos, audios, pictures, or subtitles in one file without compressing any one of the source media, which means you may rip all the DVD media contents into a single MKV file losslessly.

Relatively, the file size will be almost the same as the source DVD content due to the absence of compression.

Summary: Lossless frame and audio quality. Can stores all subtitle tracks and audio channel of the source DVD, but large file size.

MP4

Superior to the MPEG-2 format, the MP4 is encoded under the standard of MPEG-4, the premium successor of MPEG-2.

Having advanced compressing technology, the MP4 format is no doubt the most compatible video format due to its incredible stability and frame quality. An MP4 video, even its frames switch too faster than the preset bit rate, will never have stutters, gaps, or pixelated images, which other formats won’t be able to handle.

Besides, the MPEG-4 standard is endowed with multiple compression methods which give the MP4 format the capability of compressing source video precisely with the right method. Handling by the correct method, the output MP4 video will have the maximized quality and a much smaller file size.

To warp up: Successor of MPEG-2, compress the source DVD movie without quality loss in a smaller size. Compatible with all phones and player software.

Best format for online sharing:

If you plan to upload the DVD movie to some video sharing sites like YouTube, the WMV format is exactly what you’re looking for.

WMV

Designed by Microsoft, the WMV format (Windows Media Video) is part of the Windows Media framework as the standard of video codecs and coding. It’s considered as the duality of lightweightness and quality. Apart from those even smaller-file formats but downgrading video quality, most video sharing and downloading sites will adopt it as the standard of the video playback and uploading.

But this nice format has one significant flaw. When you try to edit and re-convert the ripped WMV file, situations like fuzzy image, drops of frame/resolution will occur since the highly compressed video does not support deep optimization.

To sum up: Much smaller file size, fast uploading speed, and lossless frame/audio quality. Not suitable for video re-creation.

Best format for DVD backup:

If you’re afraid of the DVD content loss related to disk damage and want to back up the DVD movie to your computer, 3 formats will be perfect.

Note: Ripping a DVD in one of the following 3 formats will not shrink the file size at all. So when your computer hard drive is not having enough space, MP4 or WMV will be your best shots.

ISO

An ISO file(also named as ISO image) will contain all the content of the DVD, titles, subtitles, audios, videos, menus, etc. If you play the ISO file on your computer, you will find out that it feels like you’re playing the DVD directly since the whole process is the same as the DVD playback.

The reason for this is that the ISO format will not compress the DVD content but to copy it bit-by-bit into one single file. So, nothing of the original movie is changed.

Tip:

  • As for the ISO playback, it takes some skills though, if you want to play the ISO file on your computer, read this: How to Play An ISO file on Computer.
  • Also, you may burn the ISO file to a blank disk with lossless quality.

MPEG-2

As mentioned before, the video inside of a DVD is compressed and coded under the MPEG-2 format. So, you can choose to rip the DVD in the MPEG-2 format, which is similar to make a copy of the movie itself.

But a MPEG-2 video can only store one single subtitle track as well as one audio channel, which will be fine if you just want to enjoy the movie in your native tongue.

Video_TS

Every film DVD has 2 folders inside, one is the Video_TS to store videos, audios, titles, subtitles, the other is the Audio_TS which is empty and will only load with music when the disk is a music DVD.

Anyway, one of the easiest ways to rip your DVD is to directly extract the Video_TS folder from the disk and export it to your computer.

But make sure that you won’t accidentally delete or change the IFO, BUP, and VOB files inside the folder which are the information files or directions of the DVD.

How to rip a DVD

To rip a DVD, you will need a capable application. Here, you may use the Tipard DVD Converter, one of the leading icons in the DVD ripping industry.

With the program installed, you can easily rip your DVD to all the above formats in lossless quality. Also, depending on the screen that is used to watch the movie, you can decide the resolution and ratio of the output.

Tipard Blu-ray DVD Ripper Interface

Follow these to rip your DVD to a digital format file.

Step 1 Insert the DVD into your computer

Download the program on your computer, launch it afterward. Pop in your DVD to the disk drive.

Step 2 Set the profile parameters

Click the Load DVD button on the interface to load up the disk to the program.

To rip the DVD as an ISO file or Video_TS folder:

Hit the Rip to Video/Audio tab and then choose the target output format from the drop-down list.

Rip DVD as ISO DVD Folder

Next, click the Rip All button to start the ripping.

To rip the DVD as digital video format:

Hit the Rip All to option and choose the format that you prefer.

Decide Output Format

Tip: For mobile viewing, go to the Devices tab and choose the model of your phone, Tipard DVD Converter will automatically decide the format, ratio, and quality of the output.

Next, decide the audio channel and subtitle for the video file, click Rip All to proceed.

Convert DVD to MP4 with Tipard

Step 3 Locate the output

When the process is complete, hit Open Output Folder to preview the ripped video.

Conclusion:

The best format to rip DVD is a complex question. Depending on the factors like storage, video quality, later re-creation, everyone may have a different understanding of the best format. So, you may narrow down your need and choose one format listed above to start your ripping.