MKV or ISO Files for Ripping HD & 4K UHD HDR Blu-ray | Which is Better?

I convert mkv's into mp4 using handbrake because I don't own a NAS or use Plex. I only mainly rip anime and put it in a 4tb storage external hard drives so I can play it on my PS5.

This is extremely useful, and answered several questions I had. Thank you so much for making it!

No problems here DVDFAB and Zidoo...Flawless

ISO for the win!

Reencoding doesn't mean loss of quality at all. It all depends on the encoder settings. If compressed to much like streaming services do - ya then you have artifacts, loss of grain and all that funny stuff. So you can have smaller files and keep the visual quality of the BluRay. In some cases it is even possible or necessary to improve quality by using some tools prior to reencode. But good made reencodings are definitely not the same crap Netflix and others are offering.

MakeMKV is your friend.

I mainly use Avisynth & vapoursynth for Video encoding, i can do reduce the sizes 30 to 38% and getting much better quality from the source file...

I save stuff as if iTunes, Amazon & streaming don't exist ... , as streaming services continuously muck around with content .
So for me it's an issue of storage space VS original (Master) VS re-use (how often do I actually re-watch something) .
Sometimes I keep two copies, 1 ISO and 1 MP4 or MKV .
For me, ISO's are for music and classic (or bootleg) DVD's , stuff that at one point was on TV, and someone Tivo'd it (or it's from a VHS format) and it doesn't exist in a legit release . Anything that is important that compressing it again would just make it worse .

This was interesting. I'm trying to decide between mkv and iso. I just bought a Zidoo and have tons of movies. The Zidoo isn't reading my mkv files decently but that might be because I don't know how to use it right yet. But the movies on my computer are definitely not showing up on the movie section.

I want almost everything in the file. I'm a huge extras fan. Trailers and warnings, not so much. Like you said, extra storage is becoming cheap. ;)

Great video! I didn't know that MKVs were bit-for-bit copies of video files. I always thought that ripping to MKV involved re-encoding which would lose information from the original video file. Do you have any ripping tutorials on your channel? I look forward to more info and insights from you!

I do like the special features on most discs, though. Is there a way to get the best of both worlds by ripping the special features to MKV as well?

I simply love the menus and trailers cuase thats why I even buy and watch blurays

infuse for Apple TV can playback Disc Images with menus (Special Folder organization). however it does not have menu playback for UHD. Are you/anyone in this thread aware of any software that's available for Apple TV 4K/ Nvidia Shield Pro?

There’s definitely valid reasons for either way. ISO is king for endangered/lost media that you could still derive MKV or any other bog-standard consumer format from at any point in the future, but for media that isn’t in danger of disappearing anytime soon, MKV from the start makes sense.

Thanks! This will help me get started. Sound logic. I was thinking iso before viewing this.

As far as I know, infuse on Apple TV does not support Dolby Atmos. I believe it will play but not support the ceiling "top" channels. Is this not correct?

Im saving everying re-encoded to av1 in a mkv container

Is ripping ISO files software dependent (MakeMKV or DVDFab)? For example, can I rip an ISO file using MakeMKV?

Hello, how do I fix aspect ratio? MakeMKV stretches the video. Thanks

I went ahead and ripped a whole bunch of movies using MakeMKV before my Zidoo UHD3000 arrived. When it did arrive and tried to play, all I got was the movie posters and none of the movies would play. So frustrated. I used DvdFab with m2ts passthrough and everything works fine. Still wonder what went wrong with the MakeMKV program though. Perplexing. I will watch your tutorials now that I've found this channel.

Any advantage or disadvantage of using the m2ts format over MKV?

I don't bother with Digital Codes that come with Blu-rays. I rip my BDs and that way there isn't any D.R.M. and I may play them on any device, or make BD which contains more than 1 video. I've been doing this since 'ripping' has been possible. MKV is for portability, ISO isn't - except that you may mount them for a software player, or burn to disc for a hardware player. I still use ISOs because I really dig the menu structure for discs and themes. You may inject pictures into MKV...but you can't use themes. So, depends on your desires. Ripping also makes it possible to remove the HD junk from DTS. Stereo does very well.

Stress?? If you're stressed about any of this then you need more Zen in your life.

MakeMKV is a lossless process. Lossless is exactly what it means, you don't loose any quality from other video or audio.
BD-Rebuilder also has the ability to make Lossless MKVs but it's the Swiss Army Knife for Blu-rays. Very much worth donating to.

iTunes SUCKS!! Apple screws its users and doesn't allow freedom of Data very well. I do not and will not support Apple anymore.

Re-encoding.. If you want to have several videos or movies on your Phone's MicroSD or connected to a portable USB/SSD then reencoding can be very helpful to have many on one. BD-Rebuilder is excellent for keeping extremely great quality as the original when lowing the file size. With BD-Rebuilder it uses Software mode, the CPU, to reencode and that's better quality than with nVIDIA encoders, but using a newer GPU is much faster. Honestly, most people don't see any difference unless you're a massive nerd like me. Haha!

I keep all my 'ripped' discs on Hard Drives so I may put the originals away for safe keeping. So I use the directory structure vs ISO most times. If someone has a massive library of movies only, there isn't much interaction with other people. That's not a good thing. Wink.

I have encountered Hash errors for Alita and Aquaman 4K discs. How do I rip successfully?

What free program do you use to make a Blu-ray ISO file?

you didn't even emention or add, BDMV file instead?

How does video quality or sound quality from rips compare to an actual physical blueray movie

The best is mkv no doubt, with this format you can give more out of it

MakeMkv is great, but just yesterday, I ripped a bluray in which the episodes were numbered IN REVERSE, probably just to mess with people who rip discs. And this is not the only example of that kind. So if storage is not the issue and an ISO player can work (I dont have any), I can understand it can be a good solution as well.

Is there a specific drive you are using to rip with MKV? I need something to attach to my Mac.

there is no substitute for effort

I rip with MakeMKV and then deinterlace with QTGMC if interlaced, and upscale with Topaz VEAI.

Hi, what recommended software or program do you suggests for ISO?

I totally prefer using ISO files. I hate playing MKV. The preference is totally that of the user. I play my iso files on PowerDVD 22. I love the 4K HDR playback I get. To each their own, but for me, it's ISO all the way.

Jpg is the best

I rip my 4k to about 25g each and my blurays to 10g. trust me nobody ever says the quality is low.

Also I have a dolby vision tv that also supports dolby atmos I want a player that supports both

Hello Sir question I download from the internet and store the file on a external hard drive which media player do you suggest that I purchase so I can watch for playback

If you use MKVtoolnix you can easily flad subs as forced and rename them. I also use it to rename the commentary audio track to know which track is which

Thank you for this information. Now I will start using MKV files. I didn’t know it was so compatible with most dvd players for play back. I’m new at this and I’m glad I found this video.

I’m planning to put together a media server very soon, and will probably go with both options, even if it sounds a little crazy.

What am a bit unsure of is, does MakeMKV strip the encryption away from the disc before converting it to an ISO file, just the same way it does for MKVs? I wouldn’t want to deal with players not doing anything all because of DRM. That’d be such a waste of time. Also, do you have any experiencing with playing back ISOs with Kodi, with the menus intact? I’ve heard mixed things about its handling. Sounds unstable, but who knows?

Also thanks so much for the videos. They’re fantastic. Keep up the great work!

I go insane. I run both, but i have reasons for it. I rip 1 for 1 in mkv for plex. Then I make a iso backup of the disc as I have kids under the age of 4 that think discs are toys. Plus it kinda follows, very loosely, a 3-2-1 backup stratergy. A good chunk of my collection, even used 2nd hand purchases, came with digital codes so i use that for loading onto a mobile device on the go. I find that the digital codes are not as high quality as the 4k disc. for thos titles that i dont have a digital code for i use handbreak to create a mobile version. But I really enjoy physical media collecting especially in 4k. But I think these are background tasks that I run when my main focus is on something else.

I personally choose iso just to preserve the disc itself. Once I have the actual iso disc then I just go mkv just to watch movies.

LOVE this video! This was extremely helpful and exactly what I needed as I begin ripping my discs for a Zidoo z1000 Pro that I recently purchased. MakeMKV has been working great for me. I've had nothing but problems with DVDFab. I'll probably need to create an ISO for concert and Dolby Atmos demo discs. What application do you recommend for creating an ISO file? Thanks!

What about all the behind the scenes content and navigating that?

Can you make a guide about merging contents of many audio CDs into a single bluray disc that will be recognized by bluray disc players & will be played by it? Option to choose specific albums will be awesome.
That would be awesome.

A question regarding ISO's: When you talk about burning an ISO file on a BD, do you literally mean to burn an ISO file on a disc or do you mean to create a 1:1 copy with the ISO file?

This might be the right place to ask:
I'm looking to physically back up BR and DVD discs, basically have a straight disc copies of my movies.

What software would be recommended for that? Free would be the best, obviously.

I compressed all of my disc rips into MP4 with Handbrake -- a decision I regretted later for the reasons you mention in the video. My reasoning, though, was that I could see all of my movies (both ripped and Apple purchases) in one place using the Computer app on the Apple TV, which shows you everything in the iTunes library of a machine on your network. I am now slowly replacing all of those rips. Still, nice to see everything in one place.

Hate to burst your bubble Bro, but you “Rarely” mentioned that MKV has different MODES (and you only [primarily] mentioned the “demux” mode, of MKV).

But it seems like you almost completely IGNORED [or minimized] the “Full Back-Up” [FBU] of the MKV program (also called, saving to BDMV).

So thus the FBU is VERY similar to the 1:1 of an ISO.

BIG “miss” here Bro 👎

IMHO, in the past I would do a ISO, but I found that I always [still] had MANY times of security [blocking] issues.

BUT, having MKV create FBU [making BDMV folders] is MUCH MORE superior, to ISO (as MKV strips out most AACS [security], while ISO rips may still have AACS security issues - unless you [first] do a MKV FBU, then translate that [again] over into the ISO (which to me, is a Very LONG way to do things 🤦🙅‍♂️).

My Zidoo media player reads MKV BDMV rips MUCH better than ISO’s.

As even you mentioned, you really have to do HARD hacking (on the OPPO) in order to get ISO’s to work (100%).

BUT, I found the MKV [FBU] BDMV rips work WAY…BETTER… (on the most variety of devices)👍👍👍

My 2 Cents 🪙😉👏

This doesn't really answer what the title is all about. Will I have HDR when ripping to a MKV???

Edit: OK I found out myself, HDR can be stored in MKV and it's visible on the color profile definition (can be checked in VLC media information)