How to Convert Blu-ray to MKV

Converting a Blu-ray disc into an MKV file is the most effective way to digitize your physical movie collection while preserving the original high-definition video and audio quality. This step-by-step guide explains how to decrypt and extract the contents of your Blu-ray disc using the free software MakeMKV, and optionally how to compress the resulting file using HandBrake to save storage space.

What You Need

Before starting, ensure you have the following hardware and software: * A Blu-ray Disc Drive: An internal or external Blu-ray drive connected to your computer. * MakeMKV: A free-to-use software available for Windows, macOS, and Linux that bypasses copy protections and extracts the video. * HandBrake (Optional): A free, open-source transcoder used to compress the large MKV files if you need to save hard drive space. * Sufficient Storage Space: A single Blu-ray rip can take up between 25 GB and 50 GB of storage space.

Step 1: Rip the Blu-ray Using MakeMKV

MakeMKV is the preferred tool because it copies the video and audio tracks directly from the disc without re-encoding them, ensuring zero quality loss.

  1. Insert the Blu-ray disc into your computer’s Blu-ray drive.
  2. Open MakeMKV. The software will automatically detect your optical drive.
  3. Click the large optical drive icon in the center of the screen. MakeMKV will analyze the disc to identify the titles, audio tracks, and subtitles.
  4. Select the tracks to keep. The main movie is usually the largest title listed. Check the boxes for the main movie, along with your preferred audio languages and subtitle tracks.
  5. Set the output folder where you want to save the final MKV file.
  6. Click the “Make MKV” button (the icon with the green arrow) on the right side of the window to start the extraction process. This usually takes 15 to 30 minutes.

Step 2: Compress the MKV File (Optional)

The file generated by MakeMKV will be identical in quality to the Blu-ray, but its large file size can quickly fill up your hard drive. If you want to compress the file to save space without a noticeable loss in visual quality, use HandBrake.

  1. Open HandBrake and drag your newly created MKV file into the window.
  2. Choose a preset from the “Presets” menu (such as “Fast 1080p30” or “Matroska H.265 MKV”) based on your compatibility preferences.
  3. Go to the Video tab and ensure the video codec is set to H.264 or H.265. Set the “Constant Quality” RF slider between 20 and 23 for an optimal balance of quality and file size.
  4. Go to the Audio tab and select the audio tracks you want to keep. You can choose “Passthru” to keep the original audio format or transcode it to AAC to reduce the file size further.
  5. Set the destination path at the bottom of the screen.
  6. Click “Start Encode” at the top of the window. This process can take anywhere from several minutes to hours depending on your computer’s processor.