However, the feds aren’t likely to come knocking on your door if you restrict the copies to your own personal use. After all, you’re bypassing the copy protection. Ripping copy-protected DVDs for personal use is still technically illegal in the United States, whether you’re just backing them up or viewing them on a computer or mobile device.

You can certainly legally rip your own personal videos, but it is illegal to rip commercial, copyrighted, copy-protected videos with the intent to resell or share the copies. If you want more speed and advanced features, consider a paid program, such as WinX DVD Ripper or WonderFox DVD Ripper. Certain ones try to install unwanted extra software and, in some cases, malware. Your best bet for ripping DVDs and Blu-rays is to start with a reliable and free program, such as Handbrake or VLC Media Player. A good program should also let you rip discs to a variety of file formats, such as MP4s, AVIs, WMVs, and MOVs, and even more compact formats designed for mobile devices. That latter option means you'll be able to rip files stored in those VIDEO_TS folders you often find on DVDs.

Ideally, you want a program that can rip digital files from any source accessible from a DVD, including the disc itself, an ISO image, or folders of DVD files. If you want to rip your DVDs into digital files that you can play and even edit, without relying on the discs, there are a host of free and paid tools that can help you in this endeavor.

They may be movies or TV shows you've purchased or home movies. You have a collection of DVDs that you want stored on your computer or mobile device.

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