It becomes easier to share or backup media files, data to your mobile phone, USB stick, external hard drive, network-attached storage, and other digital devices. But it doesn’t mean that DVD burning is useless.
DVD is a type of practical optical disk technology to store those important video/movie files and prevent them from being deleted by mistake. Obviously, putting videos on an actual disc is more secure than saving them on digital devices.
Dvd Cover Print For Mac free download - AudioLabel CD/DVD Cover Maker, CD and DVD Label Maker, Apple DVD Player Update, and many more programs. This free DVD creator for Mac users is a cross-platform application that allows users to create professional DVDs with ease. This is an open-source DVD burning software for Mac that is distributed under the GNU General Public License. You can create and burn DVD videos with the interactive menu using the program. This free DVD creator for Mac users is a cross-platform application that allows users to create professional DVDs with ease. This is an open-source DVD burning software for Mac that is distributed under the GNU General Public License. You can create and burn DVD videos with the interactive menu using the program.
Use DVDShrink to backup all your favorite DVDs directly on your hard drive easily and quickly. DVDShrink is a powerful software that works in conjunction with other DVD software to make backups of any DVD. Last update 25 Sep. 2014 Licence Free to try OS Support Mac Downloads Total: 1,400,039 Last. Aug 30, 2021 Platforms: Mac OS X 10.5 and above. VLC Media Player. VLC Media Player is one of the most popular DVD player software for Mac and Windows. To play a DVD disc with VLC Media Player, open the File menu, choose Open Disc from the resultant menu item. While in the Open Disk Dialog Box, select DVD.
In this article, I’ve listed down 10 best free DVD burner for Mac, together with the most effective one (paid program). Keep reading to get your favorite free DVD burning software for Macintosh.
Advanced Mac DVD Burning Software
Burn videos to DVD flawlessly via the Cisdem DVD burner for Mac:
- Burn video to playable DVD with high quality and fast speed
- Support a wide array of input video formats, like MP4, WMV, MOV, FLV, etc.
- Create home DVD disc/DVD folders/ISO files from digital files
- Edit video by adding effects & (your own) watermarks & subtitles, rotating, etc.
- Offer a plethora of attractive and stylish DVD menu templates
- Customizable background soundtrack and image
- Preview the original and output videos in real-time
- Take a screenshot of any video frame to auto set as a thumbnail
- Adjustable output parameters: television standard, aspect ratio, and more
- Compatible with macOS 10.12 or later, 11.0 Big Sur included
- >> 10 Best Free DVD Burner for Mac
- >> Where Free DVD Burning Software for Macintosh Fall Short
- >> Alternative- The Powerful Yet Easy-to-use DVD Burner for Mac
10 Best Free DVD Burner for Mac
#1) Burn
Burn, while simple, is a well-known free DVD burner for Mac, and has gained a wide reputation to make playable DVDs. It‘s able to burn audio and video files, but it requires converting your media files to MP3 and MPG before burning. Don't worry! Burn app can handle the conversion processes. You only need to drag your files into the software, and choose 'Convert'.
Besides burning media files to DVD, this Mac DVD burning software has the ability to burn data files in various formats like ISO, Cue/Bin, DMG, etc. You can also copy disc contents and images via the program.
#2) LiquidCD
LiquidCD allows you to burn data, audio, photos and video files. It supports some special file formats, including MDF, MDS, DAA, and GBI. The key feature of LiquidCD is that it helps you to burn custom hybrid discs or Cue/Bin files. If you can’t believe that, why not download the software for free and and give it a try? It is a decent free DVD burner software for Mac to finish your simple burning task.
#3) Express Burn
Express Burn is another reliable and free DVD burner for Mac that you can use to burn DVDs easily and quickly. It can burn data on DVD, Blu-ray, and HD-DVD. What’s more, you can also use it to burn ISO images. Its interface is very intuitive, and once you see it, you will know how to operate it.
Note: The free version for non-commercial use only.
#4) iDVD
iDVD is one of the most widely applied free DVD burning software for Mac. It allows you to burn QuickTime Movies, MP3 music, and digital photos to a DVD. The free software is integrated with iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto or any other Apple product. iDVD indeed makes DVD burning fairly straightforward and saves you lots of time.
Note: iDVD is no longer available in the iLife bundle on OS 10.7 Lion or later. And online Apple Store doesn’t sell iLife ’11 (carries a copy of iDVD 7.1) anymore. Only the Mac with a Superdrive can run the free DVD burner Mac at the moment. So the solution I recommend is to: find older versions that include iDVD 7 on Amazon or eBay; try to download the iDVD alternatives.
#5) Disco
Disco does more than just look pretty, it supports CD/DVD-Re-writable disc burning and erasing. Its discography feature keeps track of every file on every disc you burn. Disco emits 3D animated smoke whenever the application is burning a disk. As of July 2011, development and support of Disco have been officially discontinued, but you can still download this free DVD burner software for Mac from its home page: http://discoapp.com/.
#6) BurnX Free
BurnX Free is a good free DVD burner for Mac with prominent features. The software makes it handy to burn DVDs with multiple sessions in a hybrid format for compatibility with other platforms. Plus, Burn X' s interface is very intuitional. You can quickly add or remove files as you like, and erase the information of disc when the disc is already full.
#7) iTunes
iTunes empowers you to organize and enjoy the music, movies, and TV shows that you already collected. You can import digital audio files from other sources in any formats. And the software lets you sort, play and add to a digital media collection on your computer and sync it to a portable device.
Meanwhile, you would feel surprised in that iTunes is also a popular free DVD burning software for Mac. It acts as a thorough video-toolbox and supports to burn iTunes playlist to Audio CD, MP3 CD, and Data CD/DVD.
iTunes 12 is the highest version of iTunes, available for OS X 10.7.5 to 10.14.6. Since macOS Catalina, the iTunes app has gone, but you can create CDs and DVDs in the Music app, which looks very much like iTunes.
Note: You can't burn music or movies purchased and rented from iTunes, as they are DRM-protected.
#8) SimplyBurns
SimplyBurns free DVD burner for Mac comes along with an open-and-shut interface for you to make CD/DVD medium. The program emphasizes ease of use, thus you can create audio/data projects and rip discs without hassle. You can also copy and burn images that already saved on your system. It’s very simple to operate for novice users and you are able to download it for free from sourceforge.net.
#9) Finder
This is the default file manager used on all Mac operating systems. You don’t need a third-party program to burn discs on your computer as you can use Finder as free DVD burner software. It helps you navigate all of the files and folders on your Mac and also lets you browse your apps, disks, files, and folders in a variety of ways. It's worth noting that Finder only burns data DVD disc.
#10) FirestarterFX
FirestarterFX is a free DVD burner software that has a unique graphical interface. There are 5 tabs including Home, Copy, Image, Data and Erase for you to choose. You can get the information on what you can do with the software through the home tab. Create a backup copy of other discs at express speed by clicking on the Copy tab. You can burn Cue/Bin, as well as ISO images, which can be done by selecting the Image tab. Burn data allows you to burn a data CD and DVD. Click the Erase tab if you want to delete contents from a disc.
Where Free DVD Burning Software for Macintosh Fall Short?
There are some drawbacks of the free DVD burner for Mac, for example:
- No wonderful DVD menu templates or no video editing function provided.
- Be obsolete and not updated (unavailable on the newest Mac version), such as iDVD.
- Not good at dealing with large video files, causing your Mac or programs stuck.
- Not flexible enough or burn DVD discs incorrectly when adding components to your menu.
- The free software like Finder, iTunes can only burn a data DVD, not a video DVD. It doesn’t contain the file structure AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS.
- Most of them like Burn and LiquidCD only support burning files to DVD disc, not DVD folder and ISO file.
Free DVD burning software for Mac lets you do basic DVD burning, but it may: lack advanced, stop updating, exist a few bugs, can’t burn a video DVD, and so forth. To make your DVD burning more effective and the output more beautiful, an advanced Mac DVD burning software alternative is necessary.
Alternative- The Powerful Yet Easy-to-use DVD Burner for Mac
Cisdem DVD Burner for Mac is the best alternative to free DVD burning software for Mac. Its price is also reasonable for lifetime licenses and updates.
The software enables you to burn videos to DVD in short order and personalize your videos by trimming, cropping, applying special effects. You can choose a menu and add subtitles or watermarks to your videos.
All in all, Cisdem DVD Burner creates a professional disc and burn video files quickly, coming to download its free trial version for a test.
Alternative to Free DVD Burner software for Mac
Use the Best Mac DVD Burner to:
- Edit videos via Crop, Chapter, external subtitle, awesome Effects, etc.
- Make a DVD menu, with rich and free templates
- Add background picture, frame, text, music, etc.
- Preset output parameters to enhance the DVD video quality
- Keep updated with the latest operating system, like Catalina and Big Sur
Free DVD Burner Mac VS Cisdem DVD Burner
| Features | Free DVD Burner Mac | Cisdem DVD Burner |
|---|---|---|
| Burn file to data DVD | Yes | Yes |
| Burn file to video DVD | The built-in apps can't do it | Yes |
| Burn to 200+ formats | No | Yes |
| DVD menu templates | No or very few | Yes |
| Video Editor | No | Yes |
| Real-time Preview | No | Yes |
| Speed | Average | 10-20x fast |
How to Burn DVD with Alternative to Free DVD Burning Software for Mac:
Step 1Download, install and run Cisdem DVD Burner for Mac
Head over to the menu bar, click 'File' > 'Add Files'. From the pop-up dialog box, choose the target videos you desire to burn. Alternatively, drag the clips to the 'Source' panel.
Once your clips loaded, click under the video thumbnail to open the built-in editing tool. Now you can crop the video, apply effects, put watermarks, etc.
Switch to the 'Menu' tab, plenty of pre-installed menu templates appears on the left portion of the screen.
To change the menu template, frame, button, and edit text, call up the the custom tools by clicking in the upper right corner.
If the templates don't match the video content, click the button to import your preferred background image.
Click the button to preview the DVD project and make sure all effects (including menu) have been successfully added.
Insert a blank DVD into your Mac drive.
Hit and you'll see the output window. The 'Burn to Disc' option is selected by default. Just go to tweak the DVD settings like playback mode, copies number (create multiple DVDs).
When you're done, click the “Burn” button to start the burning process with Cisdem DVD Burner Mac.
Here's a video guide:
Conclusion
Above I've listed top 10 free DVD burning software for Mac. To complete the essential DVD burning tasks without the DVD menu, I recommend you install Burn, LiquidCD, ExpressBurn, SimplyBurns, etc. iDVD is merely helpful for old version Mac. iTunes and Finder can't create video DVDs. If you would like to make a nice-looking and fast-navigation DVD for sharing or preserving, a commercial program like Cisdem DVD Burner for Mac is the best option.
- “Apple’s own DVD player fails to work, I tried to reinstall the Mac DVD Player. But nothing happens…”
- “I just upgraded to macOS Mojave on my 2017 MacBook Pro and found that the DVD Player app has disappeared…”
A good DVD player really matters. If you have large collections of DVD discs, you need to find a reliable DVD player to bypass Mac DVD Player not working or showing up errors. There are numerous free and paid Mac DVD player software in the market. Which one can be your best DVD player for MacBook Pro and Air? And how to play DVD on my Macbook Pro? Just read and find your answer.
Part 1: Top 5 Best Free Mac DVD Player Software
Is there a DVD player on Macbook Pro or on Macbook Air? The answer is absolutely yes. Here we will be covering top free DVD players for Mac, and you can pick up your preferred one to get a DVD to play on your Macbook. You can play DVDs on Mac for free with smooth playback experience here.
Top 1: Free Mac Blu-ray Player
You can play DVD/Blu-ray discs and movies with copy protection via Blu-ray Master Free Mac Blu-ray Player in 100% image quality. The Mac DVD player software adopts the most advanced kernel and newest playing technology. You can play any DVD with selectable chapter, title, audio track and subtitle.
Besides, you can adjust visual effects and take screenshots while watching DVD movies on Mac. The user interface is clean and intuitive. Thus, both beginners and experts can load and play DVDs on Mac with entire new home entertainment experience.
- 1. Play DVD disc, and DVD movie on Mac with customizable filters.
- 2. This DVD player also supports Blu-ray playback. (Can DVD player play Blu-ray files?)
- 3. Adopt the most advanced kernel and newest playing technology for DVD playback.
- 4. Support Dolby 5.1, DTS and HD audio to keep all audio tracks perfectly.
- 5. Play any video or audio format with great video quality.
- 6. Capture video images in one click while playing DVD movie on Mac.
- 7. The Mac DVD player freeware works with Mac OS X 10.5 or above.
Top 2: VLC Media Player
VLC Media Player is a free and open source DVD Player for Mac, Windows and other platforms. You can play not only DVD, but also CD, VCD, general video and audio files with VLC. The Mac DVD player freeware is capable to play encrypted DVDs. However, when you play a DVD with VLC on Mac, you may encounter VLC not working on DVD and other related issues.
Top 3: MPlayer
The latest MPlayer 1.4 version was released in April, 18th, 2019. It is compatible with the latest FFmpeg release and current FFmpeg development version. You can play DVD, Blu-ray disc, CD and video CD with MPlayer on Mac, PC and Linux. The open source Mac DVD player is free to use.
However, there is no way to save playlists. When you try to access the menu, the DVD movie will pause automatically. Meanwhile, MPlayer will be unstable for several minutes.
Top 4: QuickTime
QuickTime is the default media player for Mac. You can play DVD on MacBook Pro and other devices with ease. Well, QuickTime has been superseded by QuickTime X. It requires regular update. If you want to edit and convert video files, you need to upgrade to QuickTime Player Pro version first.
Top 5: KMPlayer
KMPlayer is also an open source multimedia player that can play most video and audio files, including DVD discs. You can experience the 3D home cinema entertainment with the 3D format playback function. The DVD player for iMac and other Apple computers takes low CPU memory. The multi-core decoding and subtitle support are also powerful. Since KMPlayer is an adware, the ads pop up constantly. The bundled programs are also annoying.
Part 2: How to Watch DVDs on Macbook Pro with Best Free DVD Player Freely
Launch Mac DVD player
Download and install the free DVD player for Mac. Launch the program to get its main interface. Then insert your DVD disc into the DVD drive.
Play DVD on Mac
Click the “Open Disc” option. Select the name of your inserted DVD. Click “OK” to confirm and move on. The program will start to play DVD movies on Mac instantly.
Adjust visual and audio effects
Unfold the “Control” list on the top toolbar of the Mac DVD player freeware. You can choose your favorite DVD title and chapter freely. Moreover, you can play, stop, forward, backward, volume up and down DVD video with one click.
Free Dvd Burner Software For Mac
Furthermore, you can customize audio track, audio channel, audio device, video track, subtitle track and screen size from the “Audio” or “Video” drop-down menus.
Take a snapshot of DVD movie
Click the camera-like “Screenshot” icon near the bottom to capture the DVD video image. You can click the folder icon besides to access the screenshot directly.
These are good Apple DVD player for Mac alternatives you can use for Mac DVD player app missing, not working and other problems. You can play DVD discs with free Mac DVD players smoothly and effortlessly. If you want to play encrypted DVDs on Mac for free, you can free download Blu-ray Master Free Blu-ray Player to have a try.
The high video and audio quality can keep all details with the best visual experience. Its user interface is clean, safe and intuitive. Thus, you can find all advanced features and support directly. What’s more, you can play Blu-ray discs on Mac for free within Free Blu-ray Player too.
Part 3. FAQs of Playing DVD on Windows and Mac
1. How can I play a DVD on my Mac?
With Blu-ray Master Free Blu-ray Player for Mac, you can easily play a DVD on Mac and Windows. Get and run Free Blu-ray Player on your Mac. Insert the DVD disc to the DVD drive, and click Open Disc to choose the DVD disc. Once the DVD disc is loaded, your DVD file will be automatically played on Mac.
Mac Dvd Burning Software
2. Can I play a DVD on a Blu-ray Player?
Yes, you can play a DVD on a Blu-ray player. All Blu-ray players can play standard Blu-ray discs, or even 3D Blu-ray discs. Since manufactures have enabled DVD disc playback on Blu-ray player, Blu-ray player can play DVDs without problem.
3. Can VLC play DVD disc?
Free Dvd Software For Mac
VLC Media Player is a free and open source DVD player that plays DVD, VCD, CD, and popular video and audio files. Sometimes, VLC may not play DVDs for some errors. In this case, you can convert DVD to VLC supported file format with Free DVD Ripper.