[5.9] How can I copy a DVD?

This section is about copying disc-to-disc. See 2.11 for copying to tape.

First, please understand that copying a commercial DVD may be illegal, depending on what you do with the copy. Copying video for your own personal use may be legal, but making copies of copyrighted discs for friends is not.

Second, be aware that almost all DVD movies are protected from casual copying. See 1.11 for details. However, any protection measure is usually broken, see 4.8 .

Third, realize that many movies come on dual-layer discs (DVD-9s), which can't be directly copied to recordable DVD since dual-layer recordable discs aren't out yet. Though you may be able to break up the content from one DVD-9 onto two recordable discs. Some of the copying software below can recompress the video to fit on a single-layer recordable DVD, but the picture quality will suffer.

Fourth, understand that simply copying the computer files from a DVD to a recordable DVD often produces a disc that won't play in a set-top DVD player, since the files have to go in specific order and specific places on the disc. Some DVD writing software recognizes the files and places them correctly, but other software doesn't. In other words, you can't just copy the .IFO and .VOB files (see 4.10 ).

If you have a legitimate need to copy a DVD, such as a disc you made yourself, there are a number of options. You can hook a DVD player to a set-top DVD video recorder. Some DVD authoring software (see 5.4 ) can import video from an unprotected disc. There are computer software utilities you can use to extract video and audio from a disc, which you can then use to make a new disc. There are also software tools for copying entire discs, see the list below and also see 6.4.2 and 5.3.3 . See 5.8 for how to make your own DVDs.

Beware of e-mail and ads touting DVD copying software for sale. See 5.9.1 below.

DVD copying software:

CloneDVD* from Elby
Copy DVD Pro *
DVD Copy from Intervideo
DVD Wizard Pro *
DVD X Copy* from 321 Studios
DVD2one *
DVD-Cloner *
RecordNow from Sonic
* Can copy CSS-protected movies (which is illegal because of the DMCA, see 1.11 )

[5.9.1] What's with those "Copy any DVD" e-mails?
It's true you can copy any DVD movie. However the people selling DVD copying software conveniently don't mention the many free alternatives, nor do most of them mention that their applications only copy to CD-R/RW in Video CD format, which means the video quality is crummy and the copies don't play in about half the DVD players out there (see 2.4.3 and 2.4.5 ). They also neglect to mention that copying movies from rental stores or from friends is illegal.