Easy Guide: How to Enjoy DVD Content Across Apple's Lineup Including MacBook and iMac

Easy Guide: How to Enjoy DVD Content Across Apple’s Lineup Including MacBook and iMac

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4 Ways to Play DVDs on Mac (MacBook Pro/Air, iMac, etc.)

How to play DVD on Mac? Why has my Mac computer failed to play DVDs? his article will demonstrate three simple methods for playing DVD movies on a MacBook Pro or Air, or an iMac with or without a DVD drive.

By Bella Brown ｜Last updated onJanuary 24, 2024

DVDs still remain a significant method for users to enjoy movies; however, technology evolves rapidly. Apple has streamlined its MacBook Air/Pro, iMac, and other newer Mac models by eliminating the disc drive, resulting in many users wondering how to watch DVDs on Macs without a DVD drive. To aid both Mac users without a built-in drive and those encountering issues with DVD playback on Mac, we’ve crafted three comprehensive guides to ensure a seamless experience when playing DVD movies and TV shows on your MacBook Air/Pro, Mac mini, etc.

How to Play DVDs on Mac?

#1. Use MacX DVD Ripper Pro [Play Region DVDs on Mac Freely]

#2. Use Mac DVD Player App [Can’t Play Protected DVDs]

#3. Use Other DVD Players for Mac

#4. Use Remote Disc [Play DVDs on Another Mac over Network & can’t Play protected DVDs]

Method 1. How to Play DVDs on Mac with MacX DVD Ripper Pro?

Carrying an external disc drive or lugging around bulky DVD discs can be quite inconvenient. Furthermore, dealing with DVD player issues like “no disc found,” “blank disc,” or DVD regional locks can be a real headache. However, with the best Mac DVD ripper , you can effortlessly convert DVDs into commonly used formats like MP4. Then you can play DVD movies on your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini without using a physical DVD player.

MacX DVD Ripper Pro allows you to easily convert any DVD for Mac (M1/M2 Macs) to play without a DVD drive, region code limits, or using the discs.

Rip any DVD discs to MOV, MP4, M4V, AVI, etc. for free playback with QuickTime or other DVD players on Mac.
Remove any protections on DVDs. So Mac users can freely play DVDs on Mac without limits like region codes, bad sectors, 99-titles, CSS, etc.
With support for Nvidia, AMD, and Intel hardware acceleration, it speeds up DVD ripping on Mac by 5x faster with no computer overheating or stuttering.
Employ the “High-Quality Engine” and “Deinterlacing” features to ensure that the output maintains the same level of quality as the original DVD.

Download for Mac Download for PC

Here are the simple steps to convert DVDs to Mac-playable formats with MacX DVD Ripper Pro:

Step 1. Download MacX DVD Ripper Pro. It works on the latest macOS 14 Sonoma and earlier. Install and run it. Then insert your source DVD into the optical drive and click the “Disc” button on the main interface to import the DVD to your Mac.

Step 2. It will detect the correct title of the DVD regardless of any region codes or protections. Then the “Output Profile” window pops up. To play DVD video on Mac, go to Mac General Video > select a format for Mac like MP4, M4V, MOV. There are also profiles for QuickTime, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, iMovie, webs, etc.

Step 3. Click the “Browse” button and select a destination folder on Mac to save the converted DVD files.

Step 4. Click “RUN” to convert DVD to Mac MP4, MOV, etc. After a few minutes, you should be able to play the DVD video files on your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini without the need for a Mac DVD player or DVD drive.

It can also copy a DVD on Mac with 100% original quality in ISO, MKV, MPG format. If you prefer to watch DVD movies on a portable device, such as an iPhone, iPad, or Android, it can also assist you by converting the DVDs to these devices.

Bonus benefit: By ripping DVDs into digital formats, you will no longer need the discs or drives in order to play a DVD on a Mac. More than that, the DVD drive only plays DVDs with the same region code, but after ripping, you can feel free to play DVDs on your MacBook Pro/Air, iMac, regardless of the DVD’s region code.

After you convert DVDs to digital files, you can play the DVD videos on Mac with any players. There is no region code limit, DRM issue, or the like.

The DVD ripper developer only advocates using this self-contained Mac DVD ripper to rip and convert DVDs for legal personal use, instead of illegal reproduction or distribution of copyrighted content. Please obey your local DVD copyright law before doing it. DO NOT do harm to others’ lawful rights and interests.

Method 2. How to Watch DVDs on Mac via the Built-in DVD Player App?

The DVD Player app on Mac is an official application that Apple developed for Mac users to play DVD movies. So, you can use the “DVD Player” application to play DVDs or DVD movie files stored on your Mac, such as the Video_TS folder or ISO image files. Let’s go through the steps to play a DVD on MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini using the DVD Player App.

To enable DVD playback on your Mac, especially if it lacks a built-in disc drive, you can acquire an external DVD drive. Apple offers a USB SuperDrive priced at $79.00, which is compatible with iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro with Retina Display, and MacBook Air. With this device, the process is straightforward: simply insert the DVD into the SuperDrive, and the DVD Player app should automatically launch and begin playing the disc.

If the Mac DVD hard drive is not working for you, there are many other external hard drives for Mac available at cheap price. Then you can watch the DVD with a Mac DVD player as normal.

1. Play a DVD disc

Insert a DVD disc into the the SuperDrive or an external DVD drive, the DVD Player app on Mac should open automatically and start playing the disc. If the disc doesn’t play automatically, press the Space bar after the disc is recognized.

If the DVD player doesn’t run automatically, open Spotlight by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the top right, search for the DVD player app, and play the DVD on Mac like you do when playing DVD movie files in the section below.

2. Play a DVD movie file stored on Mac

Step 1. Open DVD Player app on your Mac. You can also click the Spotlight icon in the upper right corner of your Mac’s screen and search for DVD Player app. It will appear at the top-left corner. By double clicking the icon, DVD Player app will be launched. Or you can check for other DVD players for Mac .

Step 2. Then choose “File” in the upper left corner of your Mac’s screen.

Step 3. Then Click on the “Open DVD Media” option.

Step 4. Navigate to the VIDEO_TS folder that contains the movie file you want to play. Note that you need to rip the DVD disc first to get the VIDEO_TS folder.

Step 5. Click on “Open” to start playing the selected DVD file.

Problems:

It seems simple enough to play and watch DVDs on a MacBook Pro/Ai/iMac with an optical drive. However, there are still complaints reporting that DVDs won’t play on Macs . So below we offer some major fixes on how to watch DVDs on MacBook Pro/Mac Pro, other computers without problems.

Fixes to Mac DVD Player Not Working Error:

Check System Preferences -> CD’s & DVD’s to check if the DVD player is set to run when a DVD is put into the drive.
Reset the SMC on Mac computers.
Check if the DVD player supports the type of disc, for example, you may need to adjust the region code for DVDs with other codes, and Mac’s default player won’t support Blu-ray discs.
Switch to another DVD player for Mac. Other popular and free DVD players for Mac include VLC Media Player, 5KPlayer, MPlayer, Kodi Player, PowerDVD, etc.

This method requires you to take along the movie discs and drive whenever and wherever you want to watch DVDs on MacBook Pro/Air, iMac or Mac mini computers. It is not available for copying and playing copyright protected DVD discs. The DVD Player app on Mac cannot play DVDs from other regions after 4 changes. It won’t support other media, such as Blu-ray discs, or recognize video content recorded on certain types of DVD-RW discs.

Method 3. How to Play DVD on Mac with 3rd-party DVD Players for Mac

As the built-in DVD Player app on Mac can’t play DVDs with copy protections, you can rely on another DVD player software for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini. Here we recommend you some best Mac DVD player options:

5KPlayer

5KPlayer plays any DVD movies on MacOS/Windows. It supports DVD disc, DVD-R/RW, ISO image, and Video_TS files. You can use it to watch any region encoded DVDs and CSS-encrypted DVD movies on Mac. It can open DVDs protected by region codes, Disney DRM, DVD CSS, Sony ARccOS, etc. It offers high video and audio quality as well as smooth DVD playback experience on Mac computers. In addition, there are options to Airplay videos, download files, play 4K and HD videos, and more.

VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is a versatile and reliable choice for playing DVDs on a Mac. In fact, VLC can play nearly all media files from video and audio file formats to discs like DVD, Blu-ray, VCD, and DVD files like ISO image and Video_TS folder. It has libdvdcss inside so it’s able to play DVDs with region codes and copy protections on Mac easily. You’ll find a range of options to control the DVD playback on Mac, including play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, control volume, resize screen, adjust the playback speed, etc.

Mac Media Player

Mac Media Player from Macgo is a nice free DVD player for Mac. It can be a good alternative to VLC Media Player. Compared to other Mac DVD players, it offers two unique features. First, it has a good connection with social network sites that allows users to directly share their favoutire movies to Facebook or Twitter friends with only one click. There Airx function of Macgo lets not only Mac computer but also other iOS device like iPhone, iPod touch watch DVD movies that are playing on the MacBook Pro/Air, iMac, Mac mini.

For more recommendations on the DVD player apps for MacBook Pro/Air, iMac, other Mac computers, see list of best DVD players for Mac here.

Method 4. How to Play DVD on Mac with Remote Disc?

Remote Disc is a Mac feature that allows one Mac to share and access another Mac’s DVD/CD drive as if it was their own. That is to say, you can insert a DVD into a drive on one Mac, and watch the DVD on another Mac over the network.

Also, Remote Disc allows these Macs without optical drives to achieve many other great functions, such as installing software from DVDs, importing CDs into iTunes, ripping DVDs, and even burning CDs and DVDs. However, Remote Disc doesn’t allow users to play audio CDs or copy-protected DVDs on Mac. Now, let’s see how to open a DVD on Mac via Remote Disc:

Step 1: On a Mac with the built-in SuperDrive, open “System Preferences”.

Step 2: Click on “Sharing”, then choose the lock icon.

Step 3: Enter your admin password, tick DVD Sharing. This feature is only available on a Mac with an optical drive.

Step 4: Insert a DVD into the drive and the user on another Mac will be able to watch the DVD.

However, this way requires two Macs connected over a network. So, it may not be suitable for you if you only have one Mac.

This method requires two computers running at the same time when you watch DVD movies on MacBook Pro or Air, iMac or Mac mini. Besides, internet access is also required to share the DVD movie. So remote disc can be very slow over the network. Besides, not all types of DVDs are supported. You can’t play protected DVDs on Mac this way.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why can’t I play a DVD on my Mac?

The biggest cause of DVDs not playing on Macs is that Apple has abandoned the DVD drive on its Macs, so it is impossible to insert a DVD disc and open it. In addition to that, many other factors will also contribute to the not playing problem. For example, there is dirt and dust on the disc, which causes Mac to eject DVDs. The Mac DVD player can’t play DVDs after the Mac OS upgrade or when the DVD disc is damaged. Furthermore, region-locked DVDs cannot be played on your DVD player.

See more fixes to DVDs not playing on a Mac here

2. How do I view a DVD on my Mac?

There are two primary methods for opening a DVD on a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini: You can directly play DVDs on a Mac with a DVD player. But you should note that some DVD players can’t play region-locked DVDs and blu-ray discs. Ripping DVD discs to DVD media files is another popular method for watching DVDs on Mac.

3. How can I play a DVD on my Mac without a DVD drive?

Actually, all DVD disc playback needs a DVD drive. But if you have a DVD media file like VIDEO_TS folder or ISO Image, you can directly play DVD on Mac with a DVD player without the need of DVD drive.

4. What to do when DVD drive won’t read disc?

Some other times, the DVD drive won’t read any DVD and will eject the disc automatically. When the DVD drive is not working, it is usually a sign that the disc is not readable or the drive has an issue. Now you can try to:

Try another DVD disc, if the problem occurs with a specific DVD, the disc may be damaged or dirty. You can try to repair the scratched DVD and try again.
If the problem continues on every disc, there may be an issue with the hard drive. You can clean the lens of the optical drive with a cleaning disk, or purge the slot with compressed air.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bella Brown

Bella has been working with DVD digitization for over 12 years. She writes articles about everything related to DVD, from disc drive, DVD copyright protection, physical structure, burning and backup tips. The unceasing passion of DVD movies helps her build a rich DVD library and ensure a practical solution to address almost all possible DVD issues. Bella is also a crazy fan for Apple products.

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