What Happened to MakeMKV and the Top 3 MakeMKV Alternatives

MakeMKV has long been a go-to tool for DVD and Blu-ray ripping, appreciated for its simplicity and free decryption features. However, the recent downtime of its official website—from June 16 to June 20—has raised concerns among users about its reliability and long-term support. While the site is now back online, this incident highlights the need for more stable and feature-rich alternatives. In this article, we'll introduce three powerful MakeMKV alternatives that not only offer similar functionality but also bring added value to enhance your media conversion experience.

1. What Happened to MakeMKV?

MakeMKV is a popular free ripping tool that allows users to convert DVDs and Blu-rays into MKV format, which is regarded as preserving the original video, audio, and subtitle tracks with minimum quality loss.

On June 16, 2025, the official MakeMKV website suddenly became inaccessible. The holding page suggested that the domain might not have been renewed or was misconfigured. The outage was likely caused by a domain expiration or DNS issue, as tools showed SERVFAIL errors and parked domain indicators. Similar incidents happened before and were usually resolved within a few days.

2. Top MakeMKV Alternatives to Improve Your Ripping Experience

As mentioned earlier, the MakeMKV website's instability and the software's inherent limitations—such as its MKV-only output format, lack of compression, absence of hardware acceleration, and dependency on beta keys—can pose significant challenges. Because of these factors, exploring reliable alternatives to MakeMKV is not only practical but necessary for users who need a more stable, flexible, and fully featured ripping solution. So we pick up Top 3 MakeMKV alternatives for you to improve your ripping expierences.

Top 1 MakeMKV Alternative: DVDFab DVD/Blu-ray/UHD Ripper

DVDFab DVD Ripper comes as the best alternative to rip any encrypted DVD as well as ISO image files and DVD folders. It is compatible with both Windows and macOS systems. In comparison to MakeMKV, DVDFab DVD Ripper supports a long list of popular video formats, including MP4, AVI, MOV, and WMV, as well as converts DVDs to MKV (H.264/H.265), FLV, WEBM, Hi-Fi Flac/WAV, MP3, and many other output formats, allowing you to play the created files on mobile, tablets, Plex, home theater, and more.

Main features of DVDFab DVD Ripper

• Remove copy protection from old and new DVDs.
• Rip DVD to more than 1,000 video and audio formats and over 260 profiles for devices.
• Convert DVD to subtitles in SRT format and output to Hi-Fi audio.
• Allow to crop, rotate, and trim the video, and change playback speed.
• The software can take advantage of the GPU hardware to increase the batch conversion speed.
• Ability to add external subtitles, and personalized watermarks, adjust human sounds, and add effects like saturation, brightness, contrast, and white balance.

How to Rip a DVD with MakeMKV Alternative

Here we take DVDFab DVD Ripper as an example.

Step 1: Run DVDFab after completing the installation of DVDFab.

Step 2: Switch to the Ripper module. You can choose the specific module according to your input files.

Step 3: Put a DVD into the physical drive connected to your PC. DVDFab will automatically detect and analyze the DVD and add the main movie title as the source.

Rename the title, and deselect the audio tracks or subtitles you do not want to keep in the output file.

The default profile settings for DVD will be displayed the first time you add a DVD as below. However, you can change your profile by clicking the profile option on the main window of DVDFab.

You can also open the "Advanced Settings" panel to change the codec, and resolution, set the encoding method to use CRF, fast encoding, or high-quality encoding, frame rate as well as set the output size based on bitrate or pixel.

Step 4: Edit and trim the video. In the Edit window, you can crop the video, change the video effect, add the picture or text as a watermark, import subtitles and change the subtitle position, increase audio volume and remove background noise, and playback speed.

Step 5: Change the output path in the lower area and then click the "Start" button to initiate the conversion.

Top 2 MakeMKV Alternative: HandBrake

HandBrake is an authentic, and open-source video transcoder that allows you to rip DVDs or Blu-rays to the most commonly used three formats like MP4, MKV, and WebM . This cross-platform software works on multiple OSs, including Windows, Mac, or Linux. While ripping, it can preserve chapters, titles, subtitles, etc. It offers file compression to reduce file size.

Pros and Cons of HandBrake

Top 3 MakeMKV Alternative: VLC Media Player

VLC is a great media player that can also convert Blu-ray to MP4 for free. There is no entry barrier because it is open-source and free software. Even if it isn't your preferred Blu-ray ripper, it's a capable video player that can handle most video and audio formats.

The only problem with VLC is that, as open-source software, it lacks the capability to play protected Blu-ray discs, let alone rip them. You have to go through a few obstacles to enable the ability to play encrypted Blu-ray discs, and even then, the ripping process is lengthy, and VLC cannot handle some Blu-ray menus.

Pros and Cons of VLC Media Player

3. MakeMKV vs. MakeMKV Alternatives: Which Ripping Tool Comes Out on Top?

With so many disc ripping tools available, it's important to pick the one that best suits your needs—whether you're archiving your DVD collection, compressing files for mobile playback, or converting for Plex. Below is a side-by-side comparison of four popular options: MakeMKV, DVDFab DVD Ripper, HandBrake, and VLC Media Player. This table breaks down their strengths, limitations, and ideal use cases.

While MakeMKV is great for lossless backups and HandBrake is ideal for compression and format conversion, both have limitations—such as lack of editing features, copy protection support, or limited format output.

DVDFab DVD Ripper, on the other hand, stands out as the most powerful and versatile option. It supports a wide range of formats, handles encrypted discs, preserves high-quality video, and offers advanced features like compression, editing, and GPU acceleration—all within an intuitive interface. If you're looking for a stable, all-in-one ripping solution that does more than just the basics, DVDFab is the top recommendation.

4. FAQs

1. Is using MakeMKV illegal?

MakeMKV is widely used by home media enthusiasts to create personal backups of their DVD and Blu-ray collections, thanks to its ease of use and lossless ripping capabilities. However, because it circumvents copy protection mechanisms like AACS and BD+, its use may technically violate digital rights management (DRM) laws in many countries. It's important to use the software responsibly and ensure you're in compliance with your local copyright regulations before proceeding.

2. What is the alternative to MakeMKV 4k?

If you're looking for a 4K UHD alternative to MakeMKV, DVDFab UHD Ripper is the most complete and user-friendly option. It supports a wide range of formats, preserves HDR and lossless audio, and offers built-in compression and hardware acceleration.

3. Does MakeMKV reduce quality?

No, MakeMKV does not reduce quality.MakeMKV performs lossless ripping, meaning it copies the original video, audio, subtitles, and chapters from DVDs or Blu-rays without re-encoding. The output is an MKV file that contains the exact same quality as what's on the disc — including high-bitrate video and advanced audio formats like DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD.

4. What Can Users Do When MakeMKV Website Is Down?

• Check Trusted Mirrors: Sites like VideoHelp or the Wayback Machine may have cached versions of MakeMKV, but be cautious of malware.
• Browse Forums & Social Groups: Some users may share beta keys, but verify them carefully. Avoid openly requesting keys to prevent account bans.
• Try an Alternative: If you urgently need to rip discs, DVDFab offers a free trial with limited ripping—perfect as a reliable backup while MakeMKV is down.

5. Conclusion

MakeMKV's website outage has disrupted access for users who rely on it for updates and beta keys. While this isn't the first time such an issue has occurred, the lack of updates raises concerns about its reliability going forward. Given its limitations, users may need a more stable alternative. DVDFab DVD Ripper stands out with its wide format support, strong decryption, advanced features, and consistent updates. For users seeking a dependable and full-featured ripping solution, DVDFab is the top choice.