Want to back up or permanently keep your homemade movie projects from iMovie and share them with your family? Why not burn those movies to a DVD? Mac with optical drive makes it possible for you to create DVD on Mac through iDVD. But iDVD was dead since OS X 10.7 Lion, and can’t be found on the Mac App Store with all of the other iLife apps. If you have a new Mac with the latest OS version, I advise you to purchase a more professional third-party DVD burner.
- How To Burn A Dvd On A Mac For Free
- How To Burn Dvd In Windows 10
- How To Burn A Dvd On A Mac For Free Online
- How To Burn Dvd On Mac For Free
- How To Burn A Dvd On A Mac For Free Downloads
Movie (video) DVDs. Similarly, if you want to burn a DVD that can be played by a commercial DVD player, you'll need to use a different piece of software. IDVD used to be the main option for Mac. Burn (macOS): Burn is another free app for macOS that you can use to burn your DVDs. This can convert your videos to the proper format, create a simple menu, and burn it to disc all in one handy package. Download the app now and then scroll down to the Mac section for instructions on how to use it.
As one of the best free burning programs, Windows X DVD Author can allow you to burn a variety of video files to DVD, including MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV, VOB and so on. It supports different disc types, such as DVD +/- R, DVD +/- RW, DVD DL +/- RW which could be compatible with Windows 7, 8, and 10. Rather than choosing the inbuilt software which has a little bit complex process to burn data disc on Mac or choosing the iTunes which can only burn audio files, you can select the Wondershare DVD Creator. It is the most popular software that allows the users to burn all kind of data to the DVD discs.
Well, this article will introduce how to create a DVD on Mac with or without iDVD, together with the knowledge of creating a data DVD.
- >> How to Create a DVD on Mac with iDVD?
Best Tool to Make DVD on Mac
Use the simple yet robust DVD creator for Mac- Cisdem DVD Burner to:
- Create DVD on Mac from 300+ video formats
- Burn MP4, MOV, 3GP, VOB, DAT, TS, MPEG, M2TS, etc. videos
- Burn downloaded movies from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc.
- Make a DVD disc, DVD folder, and ISO image
- Create interactive menus with plenty of free and stylish templates
- Edit videos by cropping, rotating, adding effects/watermarks/subtitles
- Personalize DVD settings with Aspect Ratio, TV Standard, or others
- Change background image/audio, title thumbnail, etc.
- Preview the created disc before making a DVD on Mac
How to Create a DVD on Mac with iDVD?
Although Apple no longer supplies iDVD with the new Mac version, you still can go to buy the copy of the iLife that is in the sale on Amazon ($40) or eBay ($10).
Create DVD on Mac from iMovie
Works on iMovie ’11/’09/’08 or earlier
You are capable of sharing iMovie project to iDVD within the iMovie software and burn the project directly. Check out the guide: Burn iMovie to DVD with iDVD.
But iDVD was not supported since iMovie 10. All references to iDVD to creating DVD are removed. If you are using iMovie 10 or later, you have to export iMovie video at first, and then load the video to iDVD for burning:
- Launch iDVD program, and click on “Create a New Project” button.
- Enter a name for the project, and save it to a location.
- Drag the videos created earlier to iDVD. Or navigate to File > Import > Video to choose files.
- Insert a blank DVD and select “Burn DVD” from the File menu.
Create DVD on Mac from iPhoto
Works on iPhoto 8, 9
- Create a slideshow on the iPhone.
- Click on File > Export > Slideshow, and choose one of the formats.
- Hit the Export button, give a name to the file, and select a destination.
- Start iDVD and import iPhone slideshow.
- Insert a blank disc and burn slideshow to DVD on Mac with iDVD.
However, you’re not sure how long iDVD will continue to work. Since Apple has been phased out the iDVD, thinking it was not useful for its customers. Plus, its design and features are out of date and won’t be updated anymore. If you insist on purchasing the boxed copy of iLife ’9 until iLife ’11, it’s probably not worth the money. Thus, we need an iDVD alternative for assistance.
How To Burn A Dvd On A Mac For Free
How to Create a DVD on Mac without iDVD?
#1. Cisdem DVD Burner (Editor’s Choice)
Works on macOS 10.12 or later, Big Sur included
Cisdem DVD Burner is a reputed and effective application to make DVD on Mac. It comes packed with an attractive interface and all needed and advanced functions. You can edit and beautify the videos, set aspect ratio, edit thumbnails, and customize the DVD menu for better playing navigation. In addition, Cisdem DVD Burner supports any popular SD and HD video formats you import.
It helps you create DVD on Mac with a 16x faster speed than other competitors. If you have one such stable DVD maker for Mac you can get rid of iDVD totally.
Download Cisdem DVD Burner for Mac and Launch it.
Click '+ Add videos' to import the source files. Alternatively, directly drag multiple videos to the first panel.
Click under the video thumbnails to bring out a DVD editing interface.
Beautify the video according to your preference: crop video borders, create visual effects, add watermarks, rotate video, etc.
Switch to the 'Menu' tab, a list of free menu templates with different themes are on the left side.
Click to pull out hidden tools. Adjust the template's elements by backgrounds, frames, and play buttons. Alter the DVD name and its fonts/color.
Plus, you can import an image/music from your Mac as background as well.
Click to check out a preview of the DVD.
Plug a blank DVD 5 (Single Layer DVD) or 9 (Double Layer DVD) into your disc drive.
Head to the fourth interface, where you can configure the output settings. Set up the TV standards, folder path, copies number, etc. After everything is done, click 'Burn'.
Check the video tutorial:
#2. Express Burn
Works on Mac OS X 10.5 or above
Express Burn is specially designed for burning audio, MP3, Data to CDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray on Mac and Windows, and you can also take advantage of is its ability to burn ISO images. It has intuitive interface and supports most of the formats, once you open it on Mac, you can easily know how to use it.
However, NCH Express Burn is a bit pricey and slow to make DVD on Mac. Moreover, the installer tries to get you to install a lot of other irrelevant things such as toolbars.
- Download and Launch Express Burn, a window appears for you to choose what to burn.
- Add video files in batch to this DVD video creator.
- Double-click the loaded videos for preview.
- Output parameter setting is limited, but you can still set some video bitrate and standard TV.
- Put a blank disc into your computer, and click 'Burn Video DVD'.
#3. Finder
Works on Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan or higher (to replace Disk Utility)
You may never expect that Finder can create CDs and DVDs on Mac. The Finder is the default file manager and graphical user interface shell used on all Macintosh operating systems. Besides, it is also an easy and free DVD creator for Mac users, lets you create DVD on Mac without iDVD. I would like to make the burning steps as simplest and possible as following.
- Create a new folder on desktop and name it.
- Drag-and-drop videos you wish to burn to the new folder.
- Click the folder, and navigate to the top menu bar.
- Click “File”, and from the dropdown menu, click “Burn xxxxx (the name of your folder) to Disc…”.
- A “Burn Disc” window pops up. At this time, insert the blank DVD disc into the drive
- Mark the disc to burn, select the burning speed, and then click 'Burn' to make DVD on Mac.
#4. iTunes
Works on macOS 10.14 Mojave or before
As Apple Music streaming service, iTunes is an all-in-one home for music and video files. It enables you to download music, TV shows, movies, and more, manage your iOS devices as well as download content from the iTunes store and use Apple Music. It has another exciting feature that it can be regarded as a free DVD burning software, helping to create DVD/CD on Mac out of those iTunes videos downloaded without iDVD.
- Run iTunes app on your Mac system
- Right-click the videos you would like to burn, and select the “Add to Burn List” option.
- Go to “File” > “Burn Playlist to Disc”, and you’ll be presented with a “Burn Settings” dialog.
- Choose your preferred burning speed.
- Select the disc format as “Data CD or DVD”.
- Click “Burn” to create DVD on Mac.
FAQs about Making a DVD on Mac without iDVD
Q: Why can't I play DVDs created by Finder and iTunes in DVD player?
A: Both Finder and iTunes can only create a data DVD on Mac, which works in your computer or an external SuperDrive. Most DVD players have no capability to read data DVD discs, unless the player supports the data format of the DVD. People usually make data DVD on Mac for further editing the created DVDs.
Q: Can I burn DRM-ed iTunes to DVD?
A: No, you can’t!
All movies and music purchased from iTunes are locked down by Fairplay (Apple's DRM scheme). If you want to create DVD on Mac within iTunes, you need to download a third-party tool - Requiem or MyFairTunes to remove the DRM copy-protection first before making a DVD on Mac.
Q: How to burn slideshow to DVD on Mac?
A: Toast Titanium is such a powerful program to get the task done and also create DVDs with chapters on Mac. But the software is too expensive to over the budget of most regular users. So if you don’t burn slideshow very often, I recommend you to record the slideshow to a video using QuickTime Player and then burn the recorded video to DVD with a DVD creator.
Conclusion
This article has discussed how to make a DVD on a Mac with or without iDVD. In spite of free and no install requirement, Finder and iTunes have some limitations to create DVD on Mac. For example, you can’t do some polish on the video before burning and they merely support data DVD. In order to make a more handsome DVD video, I highly recommend you download the free version of Cisdem DVD Burner for a try, it can cover all of the mentioned iDVD alternatives' shortcomings, like make DVD menu, edit DVD video, etc.
Many people have a large collection of old DVDs, and some are still renting movie DVDs online from Amazon or Netflix from time to time. To copy DVDs to your computer is a good way to archive the video files according to years, genres and actors. After digitizing to your PC, you can search and playback the media content easily.
To rip a DVD to a computer is not difficult. But things will be different if, for example, you are trying to back up the latest movie DVDs, exercise DVDs, or some other commercial DVDs. Which tools can do the job well? Here we recommend four of the best ways using free DVD copy software. Please read on.
How to Copy a DVD to Your Computer with VideoProc Converter
VideoProc Converter is all-in-one video software that contains an excellent DVD copy module. This module can be considered as the iteration of WinX DVD Ripper Platinum.
Best for: rip ANY DVDs to computer Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7 or macOS
VideoProc Converter lets you rip virtually any types of DVDs, including Disney DVDs, 99-title DVDs, DRM-protected DVDs, new movies, workout DVDs, NTSC or PAL standards, as well as discs produced in different countries. You can convert a DVD to MP4, AVI, WMV, FLV, MPEG, MKV, MOV, ISO and so on.
Speed is one of the edges of VideoProc Converter. It only needs 5 minutes or so to rip a whole movie DVD by making use of software and hardware accelerations. (But note that the conversion speed is also related to your computer conditions.)
Now follow the instructions to copy a video from DVD to computer.
Step 1. Download VideoProc Converter on your Windows or Mac by clicking on either of the green buttons above.
Step 2. Install and open the program. Tap DVD button and go to the VideoProc Converter – DVD interface.
Step 3. Insert your source DVD in your DVD-ROM of your computer, and tap DVD Disc to load it. You can also add a DVD folder or a DVD ISO image file.
Step 4. Choose a target format listed in Popular, Video, Device, Backup or Music.
- If you want a 100% original duplicate, choose 'Backup', and you can clone the DVD to an ISO, VIDEO_TS, MKV, H264 MKV, or copy the full content of the main title, or only copy the selected video/audio/subtitle track without losing quality.
- If you need a better compatibility or smaller file size, choose a profile in Video or Device, for example, MP4 H264, MP4 HEVC, MKV H264, WEBM VP8, 4K, iPhone, iPad, HUAWEI, Samsung, PS4, Xbox.
Step 5 (optional). If necessary, you can adjust the parameters in Codec & Format, customize the Name & Tag, and set media cover on the best DVD ripper.
Step 6. Run and save the DVD video to your computer.
Disadvantages of the Method:
- It does not copy Blu-rays and CDs.
- It does not support DVD burning.
How to Rip a DVD to a Computer with HandBrake
How To Burn Dvd In Windows 10
Everyone likes freebies! HandBrake is a well-known free DVD and video transcoding software application developed in 2003.
Best for: rip homemade DVDs to a Mac for free
The interface is old, but it does not hamper the common DVD copy work. If you plan to rip your homemade DVDs, HandBrake would be the best free option. But if you have a lot of movie DVDs to backup, I recommend you to turn to other options. Besides, HandBrake is friendlier to Mac users.
Steps on how to rip a non-copy protected DVD on Mac:
Step 1. Go to the homepage of HandBrake and get the software and launch it.
Step 2. Insert a disc in your optical drive of computer, and wait until HandBrake reads the DVD and scan the titles. :
Step 3. Select a DVD title in the Title menu to copy and Add to Queue.
Step 4. Choose an option in the Presets. If you don't know which one to choose, we suggest you choose MP4 (H264) that has a good compatibility and 480p that would be enough for the output DVD video quality.
Step 5 (optional). Set Dimensions, Filters, tweak parameters like codec, FPS and Bitrate, specify audio track, customize subtitles and more.
Step 6. Click Start and let HandBrake copy your selected DVD titles to the computer.
Disadvantages of the Method:
- It does not have a direct option to make an exact copy of your original DVD. It is more like a DVD ripping (that would compress the video), not a copying tool.
- You need to install libdvdcss.dll to deal with encrypted DVDs.
- Mac computer has schemes (System Integrity Protection) to make your installing of libdvdcss harder.
- It takes time for a beginner to understand.
How to Copy DVD to Computer with VLC
VLC media player provides you with a straightforward way to copy and transfer a DVD to computer.
Best for: convert and copy a DVD in Windows 10 easily
VLC is nothing difficult, and you don't have to fiddle with codecs and video parameters, so let's head to the steps directly:
Step 1. Make sure you have downloaded and installed VLC on your computer, and also make sure that your computer has a DVD drive or external DVD drive.
Step 2. Open the software. Insert the DVD and load it.
Step 3. Tap the Media tab on the leftmost, and click Open Disc on the drop-down menu.
Step 4. On the pop-up window, check the 'No disc menus' box.
- You can choose Disc device if your computer has several DVD layers.
- You can also set the Starting Position (the number of Title), the Chapter, Audio track and Subtitle track.
Step 5. Click the drop-down menu of Play button and choose Convert.
Step 6. On the pop-up window, you can choose an output format in Profile, browse to set the Destination file, and make some other settings.
Step 7. After all your settings, hit Start. After the DVD copy completes, you can double-click the file to play back it directly with the same software.
Disadvantages of the Method:
How To Burn A Dvd On A Mac For Free Online
- It is too limited to have advanced features.
- It does not offer more detailed settings for quality, format, file size, editing, etc.
- Not always smooth.
How to Save DVD to Computer with WinX DVD Ripper Platinum
Like VideoProc Converter, WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is another brilliant way (although not a free way) to save even the copy-protected DVDs to computer without hassle.
Best for: deal with copy-protected DVDs on a PC
It has 350+ profiles, so it can 1:1 copy a DVD to ISO or MPEG2, and convert a DVD to AVI, WMV, MP4, as well as iPhone, iPad, Android, Xbox, PSP, YouTube formats.
Step 1. Head to the official site of WinX DVD Ripper Platinum to download and install it.
How To Burn Dvd On Mac For Free
Step 2. Insert your DVD, click DVD Disc button on the interface of WinX and load the DVD content.
Step 3. Choose a main title to proceed. You can also choose more titles and tick Merge titles.
Step 4. Click the profile icon that is next to the gear icon, and select an output format in the Output Profile Category.
Step 5 (Optional): Tap the gear icon and set the video options or audio options to customize the output quality and file size. Click Edit button to adjust the audio volume, choose a specific subtitle track, crop the image to change the aspect ratio, or trim the video clip. Click Browse on the lower left to change the Destination Folder to save the output video file.
Step 6. Click the RUN button on the bottom right.
Disadvantages of the Method:
- Does not support CDs and Blu-rays as the inputs.
- Does not allow burning a video to DVD.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How Do I Rip a DVD to My Computer for Free?
There are many ways you can rip a DVD for free. For example, you can use HandBrake, which is completely free; and you can also get the free giveaway versions of some commercial software like VideoProc Converter and WinX DVD Ripper from occasionally.
Can I Rip a DVD to Computer Using Windows Media Player?
How To Burn A Dvd On A Mac For Free Downloads
No, you can't rip a DVD with Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player is a default Windows app developed by Microsoft. It can play audio CDs, rip music from CD, rip audio CDs, and burn CDs or data DVDs, but it does not allow you to rip a DVD on Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10.
Disclaimer: We do not advocate copying authorized or protected DVDs for commercial use.