[2020 Latest] The Ultimate Guide to Copy a DVD

Got a New DVD and want to create a backup for yourself or for sharing it within your family? While it is easy to do so if the DVD is not protected, but more often than not, original DVDs come with copy protection. These protections are present to prevent the illegal copying of copyrighted works. But, this also prevents you from creating a backup of your own purchased content. There are many DVD Copy software available in the market to remove such protections. Using them takes a few minutes and helps you make a copy of your DVDs easily.

1. Top DVD Copy Tool for Windows and Mac: DVDFab

DVDFab is a premium quality DVD utility that can rip, copy, or burn a DVD. It can copy DVDs on Windows 10, Windows 7 as well as on Mac. It is the best DVD Copy software to get high-quality video at fast speed along with features for editing. You can customize your DVD multimedia files before you burn them on another disk. The best thing about using DVDFab is that you get a complete toolbox to copy, edit, rip, convert, and create videos.

Let's see together below at how to copy a DVD to blank DVD disc:

Step 1: Download and install DVDFab on your computer.

This DVD Copy software is available for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

Step 2: Insert your disk in the DVD drive.

DVDFab will automatically detect the DVD and will start reading it. In case this doesn't happen, you can start the DVDFab application and wait for it to read the disk.

Step 3: Once your disk is visible in the DVDFab windows, select the Copy option.

As you can see in the image above, DVDFab is showing all the details about the copy DVD process we are doing. It shows all the titles and chapters that will be copied along with the audio and subtitle tracks. You can change the tracks you want in the copied DVD. Similarly, you can change the audio track and subtitle to the ones you desire.

By default, only the main movie title is auto detected and selected for copying. This helps in making sure that the least space is occupied on the output DVD. To add more titles or to copy another title, click on the Choose Other Titles button to do the modifications.

Step 4: Create an NFO file!! (Optional)

An NFO file is basically all the metadata of the DVD stored in a file in a particular format. This format is recognized by Plex, Kodi, Emby, and DVDFab Movie Server. It means, whenever you load this disk in any of these, the user will get to see all such detailed information. This will make the playback smooth and quick for the user. For instance, you can add season and episode numbers on the tracks in a title.

Step 5: Click on the start button to start copy of DVD to DVD.

The process will start with reading the content of the original DVD and then asking you to insert a blank DVD. This is how to copy a DVD with DVDFab.

You also have the option of saving the output in an ISO format or as a movie folder on the computer. To do so, use the buttons present in the lower section near to the Save to destination path. The first button is to copy DVDs in an ISO format and the second button is to copy DVDs in Movie folder format.

2.Copy DVD to DVD with 4 Other Free DVD Copy Software

If you need DVD copy software once in a while and it doesn't make sense to invest in a paid tool, you can make use of free tools.

#1 Handbrake

The first open-source tool to copy DVDs for free on Mac or Windows is Handbrake. Download and install Handbrake from here https://handbrake.fr. You need Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 10 or Mac to be able to use it.

Step 1: Start Handbrake software and click on Source. Select the DVD option.

Step 2: Browse the file and select it to load it in the application. It will take a few minutes to read the file. If there is a format or any other problem, it will show you on the screen.

Step 3: Click on the Browse button at the bottom of the screen where it says Destination. Select the path where you want to save the output file and give a filename.

Step 4: Click on Start Encode to start the process to copy DVD. It might take a long time depending on the size of the media files.

Step 5: Eject the DVD from the drive and insert a blank DVD. As soon as you insert a blank DVD, your operating system will ask you if you want to burn the DVD. Select the option and add the media file you ripped earlier using Handbrake to copy DVD to this empty disc. You can also make use of another open-source tool like DVDStyler to burn the data ripped by Handbrake

While handbrake is quite an efficient tool, it is not so user friendly for everyone. It is not easy to remove useless chapters, subtitles, and audio from the DVD with Handbrake.

#2 AWS Free Disk Creator

This is a free copy DVD software that helps you create DVDs on Windows OS. It is a no frills free DVD copy utility that is ideal to create a direct clone of DVDs. It supports copying DVDs to ISO or movie format folder. But, there is no support for copying protected DVDs or for doing any modifications to the output DVD.

The good thing about this tool is the plethora of features it offers like creating DVD with your own files, burning ISO, creating a cover for your DVD, etc.

#3 BurnAware Free

For personal use, this tool is completely free for use. The drawbacks of this tool you have to first copy DVD to ISO and then burn ISO to DVD. The good thing is that unlike Handbrake, you can do both the steps with a single tool. There are no options to change anything on the output DVD. You can only clone your DVD exactly. There are a lot of extra tools it asks you to download when you are installing this software. If you don't think they are useful, you can decide to decline those installations.

#4 IQmango

This is another free tool that is lightweight and can copy DVD for free in a few steps. In the first windows, you get 4 options - Clone DVD Disk, Burn DVD from Folder, Copy DVD to Folder and Save DVD to video files. If you want to do a 1 on 1 copy DVD to DVD, select the Clone DVD option.

If you already have movie folder on your computer, select the Burn DVD from Folder option. If you want to copy DVD to computer, select Copy DVD to Folder option and if you want to rip the main media file, select the Save DVD to video files. The tool seems to be slow in its processing speed compared to the other tools above. It took a lot of time in analyzing the DVD disk. After that though, the DVD burning process was smooth and quick.

Here we only selected the 4 proven DVD copy software, for more, check out this article for the top 10 DVD Copy software.

3. Frequently Asked Questions

3.1How to copy a DVD to my computer?

You can copy DVD to your computer in 2 formats. You can create an ISO or a movie folder. Either of these is possible by using DVDFab Copy DVD or any of the other free tools listed above. You can use an ISO for burning another disk or by mounting it when required to get the same experience as playing a DVD. Copying DVD to a Movie folder gives the advantage of having individual components of the DVD. You can copy the main track of a movie without needing the whole DVD content.

3.2How to copy protected DVD?

Not all copy DVD applications can copy copy-protected DVDs. This feature is offered by a handful of applications like DVDFab and Handbrake.

3.3How to convert DVD to digital copy free?

To get a free digital copy of DVD, DVD protections need to be removed. Use applications like DVDFab and Handbrake to create a protection free DVD copy.

3.4How to copy DVD to flash drive?

Copying DVD to a flash drive is the easiest way to share your DVD. The best way to copy DVDs to flash drive is by creating a Movie folder. Use DVDFab Copy DVD, Handbrake or AWS Free Disk Creator to create a protection free Movie folder on a USB disk.

4. Conclusion

If you want to get creative and produce professional quality DVDs, it is important to have a professional DVD copy application. DVDFab DVD Copy provides you easy to use tools that give you control over the most minute customizations in DVD copying. The performance of DVDFab Copy DVD is far ahead against its competitors. With DVDFab DVD Copy, you get the best quality of audio and video. You get a host of extra features like selecting chapters, titles, subtitles and audio. The best thing about this DVD copy tool is that with all these features, it is super easy to use for a new user.