“Hi there. I need some help for ripping DVD movies. I used to rip DVD movies to AVI files with bitRipper for my Microsoft devices since bitRipper is totally free to use. It works great. However, now I would like to rip my DVD movies to MOV file for my iPad. This bitRipper doesn’t support MP4 or MOV file output for my iPad. I need an alternative to bitRipper but have no idea what to use. What is the best bitRipper alternatives? Please help me with this.”

bitRipper is FREE DVD to AVI converter software tool that allows you to convert your DVDs as AVI files on the hard drive. It can be used for one-click ripping as good as for advanced modes. You are free to choose whether to use default configuration values or to set them manually. You could also adjust the output video and audio codecs, video resolution and aspect ratio, select audio tracks, and even includes 3rd-party decryption module for CSS protected DVDs.

However, bitRipper only supports AVI file output, which makes it not popular for Mac users since Mac computers accepts no AVI video files. Some people are wondering if there are any bitRipper alternatives to work as bitRipper does but offer more features. Well, if you also have the same question, this guide would be what you are looking for. You will get quite practical alternatives to bitRipper here.

Part 1: How to Rip DVD with BitRipper

As mentioned above, bitRipper is a free DVD to AVI video converter that could help you directly rip and convert DVD movies to AVI files. Similar to HandBrake that adopts CSS or other decryption plugins, bitRipper could even handle copy-protected DVD discs. biRipper could be considered as the easiest and simplest DVD to AVI video converter tool to help you get AVI videos off DVD discs. Do you know how to rip and convert DVD to AVI video with bitRipper?

Ripping DVD to AVI video with bitRipper is quite easy. You could simply follow the below steps to get detailed operation:

  1. Download and install bitRipper on your computer. You could directly download and install this program from its official website.
  2. During installation, you will be asked to install CSS decryption plugin. Check the option.
  3. Insert source DVD disc into the DVD disc recorder drive.
  4. Launch bitRipper from the installation folder.
  5. You could then see the bitRipper main terface.
  6. Select the DVD drive as source in the “Drive” box.
  7. Select audio track in the “Track” box from source DVD movies.
  8. In the “Output” box, set an output directory to save output AVI files and give output AVI file a name here.
  9. You could click the “Settings” button to adjust output video and audio parameters like codecs, resolution, etc.
  10. Then, click the “Start ripping” button to start converting DVD movies to AVI files.

You don’t need to set the output format since bitRipper will automatically rip and convert DVD to AVI files by default. When the conversion completes, you could then get AVI video file off DVD discs.

Part 2. Deficiencies of BitRipper

Even though bitRipper is the easiest DVD to AVI converter tool, it still has its deficiencies that make people look for alternative to bitRipper. Actually, these deficiencies are quite obvious. We have summarized the disadvantages of bitRipper below for you:

  1. Since bitRipper was designed for DVD to AVI video conversion exclusively, obviously it won’t support to output video files in other formats such as MP4, MOV, MKV, WMV, FLV, etc. Now with the fast development of media industry, AVI has been gradually replaced by MP4, MOV, FLV, etc. and is fading away from the main stream of digital entertainment. Thus, people would like to get a bitRipper alternative. This is the biggest deficiency of bitRipper and main reason people are looking for an alternative to bitRipper.
  2. Even though people would like to convert DVD movies to AVI files, birRipper offers quite few parameter settings for people to adjust. This might result in the output AVI files are not compatible with AVI players since the video codec of AVI player required might differ from the AVI file ripped and converted from source DVD movies through bitRipper.
  3. Nowadays, most DVD discs released in the market by different movie studios are copy protected for copyright protection. That means you have to get a DVD converter that comes with the feature of disc decryption. bitRipper requires 3rd-party CSS decryption plugin to be installed for handling copy protected DVD discs, while there are quite a lot of DVD converters that don’t require extra DVD disc decryption plugin for decrypting DVD movies.
  4. You could only rip and convert the full source DVD disc. This is awesome when we would like to convert the full source DVD movies. However, when we want to rip and convert the main movie only, or certain DVD titles, bitRipper won’t do this.
  5. You could only select one audio track from source DVD discs, while sometimes we might need multi-track output.
  6. Sometimes we might need to edit DVD movies before ripping and converting them, like trimming/cutting DVD length, cropping DVD video size, adding watermark or signature, or even applying 3D movie effect. All these features are not available on bitRipper, but bitRipper alternatives might do.

There are also other deficiencies of bitRipper, like it can’t play back loaded DVD movies and merge multiple DVD files into one. All these deficiencies have led to the need of bitRipper alternatives.

Part 3. 5 Best BitRipper Alternatives

Now, we would like to recommend you 5 best bitRipper alternatives to help you rip and convert DVD movies to videos in more file formats with more practical and easy-to-use bonus features.

No.1 best bitRipper alternative – Leawo DVD Ripper

Leawo DVD Ripper could convert DVD to video and extract audio off DVD movies to save in 180+ formats like MP4, MPEG, WMV, MOV, MKV, FLV, RMVB, AAC, AC3, AMR, M4A, MP3, etc. for multiple media players and portable devices. Why is Leawo DVD Ripper the best No. 1 bitRipper alternative? It’s mainly because of its advanced disc decrypting feature. Leawo DVD Ripper could decrypt, rip and convert both homemade and encrypted DVD discs, and get rid of disc region restrictions. This has been its most advantageous feature that might not be included by other DVD converter tools. Of course, it still comes with other wonderful features, like editing DVD movies, applying 3D effect, playing back DVD movies, adjust output video and audio parameters, merging DVD files into one, etc. It offers you the best DVD ripping experience.

No. 2 best bitRipper alternative – MakeMKV

MakeMKV is your one-click solution to convert video that you own into free and patents-unencumbered format that can be played everywhere. It converts the video clips from proprietary (and usually encrypted) disc into a set of MKV files, preserving most information but not changing it in any way. The MKV format can store multiple video/audio tracks with all meta-information and preserve chapters. There are many players that can play MKV files nearly on all platforms, and there are tools to convert MKV files to many formats, including DVD and Blu-ray discs. Additionally, MakeMKV can instantly stream decrypted video without intermediate conversion to wide range of players, so you may watch Blu-ray and DVD discs with your favorite player on your favorite OS or on your favorite device.

No. 3 best bitRipper alternative – HandBrake

HandBrake is a wonderful alternative to bitRipper for ripping and converting DVD movies and video files to MP4/MKV files for totally free on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. You could freely select DVD titles and chapters for converting.

No. 4 best bitRipper alternative – Format Factory

FormatFactory is an ad-supported freeware multimedia converter that can convert video, audio, and picture files. It is also capable of ripping DVDs and CDs to other file formats, as well as creating .iso images. It can also join multiple video files together into one.

No. 5 best bitRipper alternative – Freemake Video Converter

Freemake Video Converter is video converter that lets convert videos to avi, wmv, mp4 (iPhone, iPod, iPad, PSP, xBox), 3gp, rip dvd, extract mp3, burn DVD and Bluray, create photo slideshow and audio visualization, cut, join, rotate and upload videos, photos and music to YouTube. Freemake is the only free video converter that rips online videos via URL copypaste from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and 50+ sites. Download YouTube to iTunes. Convert YouTube to MP3, MP4, AVI, etc. Convert online FLV to MP3 or any format.

Part 4. Comparison and Conclusion

With all these 5 best bitRipper alternatives listed above, you might need to know more details and differences between them. Check the below table.

 

Leawo DVD Ripper

MakeMKV

HandBrake

Format Factory

FreeMake

Convert DVD to video

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Supported output video formats

MKV, MP4, WMV, MOV, and other 200+

MKV

MKV, MP4

MP4, AVI, MKV, and others

MP4, AVI, MKV, and more

Convert DVD to audio

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

Convert encrypted DVD

Yes

Yes

Yes, with the help of plugins like libdvdcss

No

No

Play back DVD movies

Yes

No

No

No

No

Merge DVD titles into one

Yes

No

No

No

No

Edit DVD movies

Yes

No

No

No

No

Select subtitles and audio tracks

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

2D to 3D conversion

Yes

No

No

No

No

Image quality

High

Normal

Normal

Normal

normal

Audio quality

Support “Audio Copy” audio output support, to retain 5.1/7.1 audio channel output.

Normal

Normal

NA

normal

Availability

Windows and Mac

Windows, Mac, Linux

Windows, Mac, Linux

Windows

Windows

Among all these 5 best bitRipper alternatives, Leawo DVD Ripper is a paid tool while the other 4 are free to use. But you could see that Leawo DVD Ripper provides both professional DVD to video conversion capability and practical bonus features. You will get more fun from this tool.