How to rip copy-protected DVDs on Linux in 2024
I feel this is kind of a dumb question but I can't find a solution that's working for me:
every now and then I have the need to rip copy protected dvds. In the past I have used Handbrake with libdvdcss. But now there only seems to be flatpak versions of Handbrake for linux and these versions can't access the libdvdcss library.
VLC should be able to do the job but for a specific dvd I wnt to rip now, I produces out-of-sync video/audio tracks and I haven't been able to succeed.
I can't believe ripping dvd's can be that hard. Do I miss something obvious? Any tips are appreciated, aside from just download it - I can't find the respective media anywhere...
I use makemkv. Works every time. Once in a while you have to open the disk “manually” and select the right track but ya, makemkv does it all.
Free if you want to update the beta trial key every few months. After years of use I bought a lifetime license for like $20. Probably the best value I’ve ever gotten.
I just tried using this last night for the first time on some indie movie from the early 2000’s. Surely no type of hard DRM to crack.
But when I finished, the movie was very pixelated.
I converted DVD to ISO file and then the app converted the ISO to mkv file all using default settings. Is that okay or should I have changed some of the settings?
DVD -> ISO -> MKV should be fine, what happens when you play the iso directly in VLC?
Thanks for the reply!
Strangely enough, ISO is fine. Same with the generated mkv file. It seems the issue was when I uploaded to Plex. I didn’t think to check the file that was created, now this is making me wonder where I went wrong.
Ah, it's probably Plex not supporting the video's codec. When you use MakeMKV to generate a video file, it's basically just grabbing the source file directly from the disc / iso. It's fine in modern players but for maximum compatibility you'll have to remux it.
EDIT: Forgot DVDs use a different folder structure than BDs so that guide won't work, you can use this one from thewiki.moe instead (although it's very technical, and the wiki is moreso focused on anime.) You can maybe try using ffmpeg to convert to an mp4, that might just make it work on Plex.
Where is HEVC crew? 😂
Strangely, playing was working fine. Just when I try to convert it has sync issues... I'm probably just too simpleminded to make it work that way, but VLC doesn't make it easy to do it right either, I guess...
Does makemkv work well in wine?
There’s a native Linux version! No need for wine :)
True, but you need to build that yourself, and as I am but a smol helpless Linux newblet, I do not have the knowledge to do that.
Pretty sure there is an unofficial flatpak for makemkv
https://flathub.org/apps/com.makemkv.MakeMKV
Right! I use the flatpak myself - works great.
Oh great! I came accross MakeMKV before, but couldn't find a recent version. Didn't think of Flathub...
Oh nice, I didnt know that! Thanks, that'll make it a lot easier!
Hi, I actually wrote a guide on how to do this on my blog: https://nullish.cat/blog/disc-rip/ The gist of it is just MakeMKV (and ImgBurn if you like ISOs.)
Good ol' ImgBurn. Still use it to back up really important things to Blu-ray to this day.
Haven't tried it on Linux recently, but MakeMKV still supports Linux apparently. You have to build it yourself though.
https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=224&sid=1674d5df36b036b50d6fabdfb380e72c
Why the hassle? It is available to install as flatpak for any distro: https://flathub.org/apps/com.makemkv.MakeMKV
That's exactly what I was looking for - I came across MakeMKV before, but couldn't find a recent Linux version - didn't think of Flathub, though. None of the guides that come up if you look for dvd ripping on linux mention it, though... Thanks mate!
Ah, I missed that since it's an unofficial flatpak so it wasn't listed on their site or forums.
I've been using this script to install MakeMKV on Ubuntu for years now without issues.
It works great on Linux for DVDs and regular blurays.
If this is true, it's no wonder Linux sadly doesn't have mainstream appeal. As a current windows user (who is looking to jump out once 11 is forced) I do not see myself doing that.
They make you compile it because it's non-free software and you're beta testing it in order to use it for free.
It has nothing to do with linux. They do the same for the windows beta.
You don't have to, just get it from flathub as a flatpak.
Oh that makes more sense That I can do
Is it not in your distro's repo? I am pretty sure I've used handbrake from Arch repo just fine.
Building MakeMKV seems to require a binary, which is unfree. I assume this is the reason it's not in official distribution repos (except Nix and FreeBSD).
It's in the AUR and Nixpkgs, both automate building it from "source" (+binary). MakeMKV is in FreeBSDs official repos, according to pkgs.org.
I was referring to Hanbrake which is mentioned in the post.
Well, it seems my reading skill deteriorated to a surprising extent. You've even mentioned handbrake in your post...
You should be able to use FlatSeal to override the Flatpak's sandbox and grant access to VLC's library files, which should include
libdvdcss.@ryan_harg makemkv
Handbrake will probably still work if you compile it from source, but it seems like upstream isn't paying much attention to libdvdcss support.
The version in Debian's repo still works for me, anyway.
What happened to libdvdcss? Is that not a thing anymore?
From what I remember - it's been a minute - there were many encryption keys that the publishing houses used to encrypt the DVDs released to the wild and they were packaged up in this codec, when they were found.
DVD readers often don't let you read from DVDs until opened by a valid program.... But stay unlocked after that.
What I've done is open in VLC, close immediately, then use
ddto copy the contents of the disc to an ISO