#How to Rip DVDs

Here's how to rip DVDs and optimize their quality.

1. Install and run MakeMKV (free)

2. With MakeMKV, click the big Open DVD button.

   Note: If you rip with another software like Handbrake, you will re-encode the audio and video and lose quality along the way. MakeMKV allows ripping the original audio and video without re-encoding it. Modern MP4 compresses data twice better than DVDs so it's still a good idea to re-encode it, but later while enhancing the quality. We also want to conserve the original audio untouched.

3. Select the Output folder and click the "Make MKV" button.

4. Install and open the Natural Grounding Player (free)

5. Make sure your ripped videos are within your Natural Grounding folder.

6. Follow these instructions to convert your videos from 480p to 720p, or from 560p to 1080p, and enhance their quality.

7. (Optional) To add those videos to your Natural Ground Player playlist, go in Playlist | Edit Playlist, double-click on each file and enter the track artist and title. If the video was already in the database, right-click on the file and click "Select Existing Entry". Afterwards, go in Playlist | Move Files to rename all files into something more meaningful.

That's it!