So you've got a giant collection of DVD movies you'd like to back up for any number of reasons: so you don't have to scratch the discs, so you can take them on the road with your laptop, iPod or iPhone, or maybe you want to play them in your home media center without having to insert the disc each time. In any case, each scenario requires the same process: DVD ripping. We're going to explain what DVD ripping is, how to do it, and dig into some of the complexity involved in the legality of the matter. 

What is DVD ripping?

Like CD ripping, DVD ripping is the act of extracting the contents of a DVD into a playable form, typically as a file on a hard drive. A DVD doesn't have files on the disc that normal computers can play, much less portable gadgets like an iPod or Zune. Instead, the files are streams of video in a format called MPEG2.

The rational-minded person would say, "So all I've got to do is convert the file from MPEG2 to something my iPod can play, right?" Well, that's partially correct, though still a bit off. The trick with DVDs is that the files can't be decrypted by normal means. DVDs have a layer of copy protection that prevents them from being copied. This scheme is called the Content Scrambling System, or CSS for short.

Back in the earlier part of the decade, a Sweedish hacker going by the name "DVD Jon" figured out a way to crack through CSS, allowing the DVDs to be copied to hard drives. This act violates some of the provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998, which stipulates that it is illegal to circumvent measures to prevent copying. However, in a bit of counter logic, the Fair Use doctrine says that it's legal to make copies of your owned media for backup purposes.

The legality of the situation is confusing, and since we're not lawyers, we're instead going to focus on exactly how to go about copying a disc and leave the legal questions to you, your lawyer, and the MPAA.

Handbrake

One of the most classic DVD ripping applications is known by the name Handbrake. Mac users have known the ease of ripping using this amazing software for a few years, but the latest version doesn't work in the same manner as the prior versions. Before version 0.9.3, Handbrake's main focus was simple DVD ripping. Users could expect to simply select the disc, then click "encode" and have a video magically be whisked to the hard drive. Now, Handbrake's focus is instead on video encoding, not specifically DVD ripping. That means any video file can be converted using Handbrake's trademark speed. Simply select a source, pick one of the many included presets, and click start. The only downside to Handbrake's newfound multi-faceted conversion methods? Handbrake's authors have ripped (no pun intended) the DVD decrypting functionality out of the software.

All is not lost, Handbrake user. Mac users can install the VLC media player, an open source movie player which also decrypts DVDs, and Handbrake will use VLC's libraries to encode DVDs. Why the change? We're not sure. it seems that some of Handbrake's grand ambitions lay in a less gray arena, with less legal questions, and as a result workarounds are now the name of the game.

Linux users have another potential work around, which they can read about on Handbrake's website. Windows users, sorry, there's no workaround for you. You'll need another tool for the job; we'll talk about it next.

DVDFab

While we love Handbrake's ease of use, without the ability to properly rip discs which are copy protected, it's very crippled on the Windows side. The solution? The free version of DVDFab can do the work Handbrake can't. DVDFab will copy a disc to the hard drive, removing any pesky protections to which Handbrake will oppose. The process is pretty simple. Pick the disk, and click "Start."

Once the disc has completed, open Handbrake, and from the source menu select "DVD/VIDEO_TS Folder." Then, navigate to the path on your hard drive where the DVD has been ripped. Pick your preset, and Handbrake will do the rest. You'll see an ugly DOS-style window pop up which counts your progress.

If you'd like to cut a couple steps out of the process, there are numerous commercial applications (read: not free) that'll do the job. We hear AnyDVD is the king, though we haven't ponied up the cash necessary to validate that claim.

About the process

All video conversions take time. To rip a DVD, there's some heavy computer lifting going on behind the scenes. First, you've got to copy about nine gigabytes of data from an encrypted disc. Next, you've got to encode that data to a new format which uses more compression. All these steps don't happen instantaneously. Even on a new computer, expect to spend at least half the time of the DVD, if not up to twice the time of the DVD to encode video. The more RAM and processor power you have to throw at the task, the less time it'll take.

Do you rip DVDs using software we didn't include on our list? Having trouble with ripping DVDs? Sound off in the comments and we'll do our best to help.