Dec 09, 2019 So much so that we are spoilt for choice. However, the Handbrake tool clearly comes out as the winner. It works on all Operating Systems like Windows, Android, and iOS. For people who are not a big fan of Handbrake can opt for other similar media tools. These work equally well and are as good as Handbrake. Jul 16, 2019 Full list of the top Video Converter apps that are similar to HandBrake, including Wise Video Converter, Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate, Free AVI to MP4 Converter, Free MTS Converter, Mega. HandBrake The open source video transcoder. News Features Downloads Forum Community Docs GitHub Downloading. If your download does not start automatically, please click. Handbrake mac free download - HandBrake, HandBrake, WatchFolder for Handbrake, and many more programs. Everybody is going digital these days, so everybody has a reason for software like HandBrake. You can save your entire DVD collection on your computer in digital files, and you can convert videos into different formats. Check out this video tutorial on how to rip DVDs and convert videos on Ubuntu Linux, Windows, and Mac.
What Is HandBrake?
HandBrake can be defined as a free and open source video converter for Windows, Mac and Linux. Its supported media forms range from physical DVDs to Matroska (MKV), Audio Video Interleave (AVI), MPEG-4 Part 14 (MP4), VIDEO_TS and several others. After nearly 17 years since its development (in 2003), Handbrake video converter is still popular. Before we go in deeper, let's recap the basic information first:
- Current Version: 1.3.1
- Developer: HandBrake Team (initially Eric 'titer' Petit, and later Rodney Hester and Chris Long for MediaFork project)
- Operating Systems: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (64 bit); Mac OS X 10.11 and later, Linux Ubuntu deb, Flatpak
If you are new to HandBrake, you may want to know whether HandBrake is the best video converter for your computer, what other people say about it, what the greatest strengths and weaknesses are. All you need to know about this video transcoder will be buttoned down in the following text.
Is HandBrake the Best Video Converter?
You might have read through a wealth of professional reviews before downloading the program. Actually, these points of views are similar and can be concluded into two aspects:
1. HandBrake is more suitable for advanced users than beginners.
2. HandBrake is easier to be used on a Mac computer than Windows.
Natively, HandBrake was not the best video converter for universal users. The reason is obvious. At the very beginning, HandBrake was developed for ripping a movie DVD (for storing on a device) on Mac only. More people used this software for DVD ripping than video conversion in early stage. Anyhow, after various revisions and changes, from beta version to the percent, HandBrake has become mature and has been recommended as a solid choice for free transcoding.
Pros:
- - It is totally free and comparatively stable.
- - It can convert both DVDs and videos to popular formats.
- - It has vivid options and customizing freedom for professionals.
Cons:
- - The supported video formats are limited – only the common ones. For example, it only has three output container formats.
- - HandBrake does not rip copy-protected DVDs. It does not circumvent copy protection natively. For removing DRM, users have to install the latest version of libdvdcss, in combination with VLC Media Player.
- - Problems occur from time to time, according to users, such as HandBrake not copies part of movie, does not complete encoding, for example:
'HandBrake took a couple tries to correctly convert a 15-minute video file the first time. It seemed to shut down without finishing, but eventually it worked. That took about 40 minutes to finish converting and encoding.' – quoted from CNET.
If you want a video converter that is faster, safer, easier to use and supports more formats, please download VideoProc and give it a try.
How Do I Convert a Video with HandBrake on Windows or on Mac
After downloading and installing the right version on your computer, you can encode your video through the following steps:
Step 1: Insert the source file.
Handbrake For Mac Os
There are three ways to import the source video file to HandBrake:
- 1. Drag your source file directly to HandBrake.
- 2. Click on the 'Open Source' option on the top left.
- 3. Click on 'File' on the topmost and choose 'Open', then you can either click 'file' / 'file folder' or drag the source file directly to the dark area on the right.
Step 2: Choose a container format for output.
On 'Summary', you can choose MP4, MKV or WebM as your output format. You can also choose an option in the Preset area on the right. There are vivid options like 'General', 'Web', 'Device', 'Matroska' and 'Production' that are classified based on encoding speed, quality and usage.
Step 3: Adjust dimension.
Click on the 'Dimensions tab, next to 'Summary' to crop your video or change the width and height.
Step 4: Apply filters if necessary.
The filters are different from that of video editing software. There are 'Detelecine' to improve telecined video, 'Decomb' for deinterlacing, 'Denoise' if your video is grainy, 'Deblock' to remove blockiness supposedly. But not all of them are useful for all situations. You should turn on some filter only when you need it.
Step 5: Adjust detailed video/audio parameters.
You can change video / audio codec, frame rate, and make as many presets as that are provided in HandBrake video converter for adjusting the output quality and file size.
Note: 'Subtitles' and 'Chapters' tabs are more useful when ripping a DVD.
Step 6: Choose a destination folder to save the output file.
After completing all presets, you should click 'Browse' next to 'Save As' to save the output file.
Step 7: Start encoding.
Click 'Start Encode' on the top.
Why Do People Like HandBrake?
You may notice that the domain of HandBrake ends with .fr. But the product has virtually nothing to do with France. HandBrake has users around the world, including India, Iran, Canada, Australia, but 18% come from the United States. Until now, it still has around xxx traffic from the United States. Why does HandBrake have so many users, especially American users? From my personal view, there are 4 possible reasons apart from the product features:
Free floor plan software. 1. People like Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), and HandBrake was created not for money making. Yes, it is totally free.
2. The GUI of HandBrake is in line with the operating habits of people in Europe and the United States. Especially, HandBrake is friendly to Apple Mac; Americans use Mac.
3. Most American people are highly educated and geeky. The technical terms, although not well explained on the GUI of HandBrake, poses no barrier to them. Customizing bit rate, file size, sample rate and so on is also a piece of cake.
4. HandBrake was developed in 2003 when DVDs are still prevailing and there was no other way to get them digitalized (meaning there was bare of competitor). After using for years, users get used to it for both DVD ripping and video conversion.
However, with the decrease of DVD users and the impact of other commercial software, the user base of HandBrake has gradually declined.
What People Don't Like HandBrake:
1. Some features in HandBrake are hidden and are hard to find.
2. The latest version (1.3.1) of HandBrake video converter has no AVI and WMV options or the like as output formats. So if you need to convert MP4 to AVI or WMV, you have to find the other way, such as download or downgrade to the early version or turn to other video converter.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Is HandBrake Video Converter Safe?
HandBrake software itself is safe and is not a virus. But back to May 2017, HandBrake Mac users had undergone a bad experience of Trojan attack, with whopping 50% risk rate. The issue was found and the malicious app was removed soon. But on one dare to say there will be no more such risk in future since open OSS is easy to get hacked since its source code is open to anyone.
Even now when you are trying to download HandBrake video converter to your computer that is installed with a sensitive antivirus program, it would prompt you to clean up the downloaded file.
What Are Alternatives to HandBrake?
As said above, HandBrake may not be the No.1 choice for parts of users. For example, beginners may not know how to operate from the get-go, or how to control the hard-to-understand parameters to achieve ideal effect; Windows users have many better options for video format converting. Is there any software similar to HandBrake for Video Conversion?
Yes, indeed. For example,
- Free alternatives to HandBrake, including FFmpeg, MakeMKV and Avidemux.
- Professional alternatives to HandBrake for Windows: VideoProc, WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe,
- Powerful Alternatives to HandBrake for Mac: VideoProc, MacX DVD Ripper Pro, Any Video Converter, Xilisoft Video Converter.
- HandBrake Replacement for Linux: Avidemux, FFmpeg, MEncoder
Among them, the underlying technology of FFmpeg is used for the development of HandBrake; Avidemux is the representative of free HandBrake alternative, and VideoProc is the representative of commercial video file converter for Mac and Windows.
VideoProc has virtually all that HandBrake has. It can help everyone transcode or remux DVDs, videos, audios like a pro, supporting the latest codecs and container formats. It has hundreds of ready-made profiles, delivers 47x real-time conversion speed with Full GPU Acceleration, offers up to 99% compression ratio. What's more, it can edit (cut, merge, crop, rotate, stabilize, remove noise, add effects, etc.), download and record media files as a rich toolbox. Download it to have a try!
In this age of HD and 4K, videos seem to keep getting bigger, but our hard drives and Internet bandwidth don't always follow suit. Whether you're ripping your Blu-ray collection to an external hard drive, or just trying to e-mail Grandma a high-quality video of your vacation, sooner or later you'll wish you could fit all those pixels into a smaller file. Happily, you can, with a little help from HandBrake – a free app that helps you compress video without sacrificing (much of) its quality.
Before we get into how you can use HandBrake, we'll quickly review how it works its magic, and which options might best help you shrink down your videos to your satisfaction.
How does video compression work?
Videos consist of frames, a series of still pictures played in quick succession to create the illusion of motion. Compression uses clever math to compare each frame to the next one, looking for areas of the picture that don't change. By merely making a note of the pixels that stay the same, and recording only the pixels that change, video compression algorithms help fit the same video into a smaller amount of total data.
But computers, like humans, aren't perfect. Throttle up your compression settings too high, and the machine gets sloppy, making the picture look blocky or less detailed (known as artifacting) or smushing a wide gradient of colors into an obvious, rainbow-y pixel smear (known as color banding.) The more compression you apply, the smaller your file, but the worse these problems get.
You'll need to experiment with compression settings and methods to figure out which balance of quality and file size works best for you. Compressed video won't ever look quite as good or detailed as the uncompressed original. But with the right settings, it'll look close enough that you'll be hard pressed to tell the difference.
Let's discuss a couple of the choices you'll need to weigh before you start putting your videos through the wringer.
H.264 vs. HEVC: Which compression algorithm is best?
HandBrake offers a choice of four compression algorithms: MPEG-2 (oldest, relatively lousy), MPEG-4 (still old, not great), H.264 (old, faster, pretty good), and HEVC/H.265 (new, slower, even better). The first two aren't worth considering with the latter two available.
Tried-and-true H.264 converts relatively quickly, and it can squeeze a high-def Blu-ray file onto a DVD's worth of space or less. H.265 or HEVC makes files even smaller — but requires hefty processing power to crunch the necessary numbers.
If you don't have a Mac made from 2017 onward, stick with H.264. Older Macs can play HEVC files just fine, but only the newest models have chips fast enough to encode HEVC decently.
In my tests, both H.264 and HEVC looked remarkably close to the original, even on a big TV screen. And both held up no matter what I threw at them, from animated movies to black-and-white classics to films with lots of fast action and bright colors.
(Note that on some newer, faster computers, HandBrake will also offer Google's VP8 and VP9 encoders. They're generally considered comparable in quality to H.264 and HEVC, respectively. )
Constant quality vs. average bitrate
Once you've picked an algorithm, you need to decide how you're going to apply it to your video. Again, the trade-off here boils down fairly simply: a longer wait for smaller files, or a much shorter wait for somewhat larger ones.
HandBrake 1.2.0 and later enables Apple's VideoToolbox technology to dramatically speed up H.264 (and, for users of post-2017 Macs, HEVC) encoding … but there's a slight catch. (Big thanks to transcoding wizardDon Melton for his expertise on this next part.)
To make a very, very long story short, you have two options when compressing a video with H.264 or HEVC. Constant quality asks you how close to the original, uncompressed file you want the compressed version to look. Then it adjusts how much compression it applies scene-by-scene to hit that quality mark. This results in smaller final file sizes - but while it looked pretty good to my untrained eye, the resulting picture quality might not match that of your second option.
Average bitrate keeps the amount of compression within a much smaller range, hovering around a target you set. Basically, the higher the bitrate, the better your video looks, and the bigger the resulting file is.
At the same bitrate and file size, HEVC looks better than H.264. At the same general quality, HEVC produces smaller files than H.264.
For constant-quality encoding, Handbrake can't use hardware acceleration, so it's stuck doing the math in software. Thus, if you want the smallest possible file size with HEVC, you'll have to wait a looooong time, unless you're rocking one of Apple's tricked-out, professional-grade, cost-of-a-small-car high-end Macs.
VideoToolbox's hardware-accelerated compression is a whole lot faster, ranging from 'impressively' for HEVC to 'insanely' for H.264, but it can only use average bitrate. (As I write this, it's not clear whether that limitation comes from the chips themselves, or the software talking to them.) You can also use average bitrate when compressing with software, but given the massive speed boost you get from VideoToolbox, that's not nearly as tempting an option.
Here's a quick comparison of approximate file sizes using different compression methods, plus encode times relative to the actual length of the original clip. Remember, those speeds will vary based on your own hardware – I used a 2017 5K iMac – but the numbers below can give you a rough idea of what to expect:
- Original: 1.25GB
- H.264, constant quality software encoding: 1x real time, 239.5MB
- HEVC, constant quality software encoding: 1.6x real time, 50.3MB (… no, that's not a typo. But on average, my tests found that constant-quality HEVC ran about 35% smaller than equivalent H.264.)
- H.264, VideoToolbox, 6000kbps: 0.2x real time, 286.8 MB
- HEVC, VideoToolbox, 4000kbps: 0.4x real time, 205.6 MB
Good news for folks with older hardware: You can still use VideoToolbox for H.264. On an aging 2012 Mac mini, I still got compression speeds between 0.25x and 0.33x real time. Even if HEVC's not an option, you'll still get great-looking results, and much smaller files, with H.264 compression.
How to get started with HandBrake
1. Install the app
Visit HandBrake's site to download a copy. But before you open the downloaded file, make sure you validate its checksum. HandBrake's creators added this security measure after hackers broke into their servers in 2017, briefly replacing the real app with a bogus version that installed malware on unfortunate users' computers. Take this quick, easy step for added peace of mind.
2. Open the video you want to compress
When you first open HandBrake, it'll prompt you to browse for the jumbo-sized video you want to diminish. You can also do this via the 'Open Source' button in the app's upper left corner, or by simply dragging a video file onto the app.
![Software like handbrake for mac free Software like handbrake for mac free](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126419055/518729450.jpg)
3. Find a format for your compressed video
HandBrake can open just about any video format you've got, but it will only save compressed files in two formats: MP4 or MKV.
MP4 files play nicely with iTunes and QuickTime, so anyone with a Mac can view them without any additional software. But if your video involves subtitles transferred over from a DVD or Blu-ray, HandBrake can only support one subtitle track, and only if it's burned into the image.
The open-source Matroska format can store lots of different video, audio, and subtitle tracks within a single MKV file, making it ideal for movies converted from DVD or Blu-ray. But iTunes and QuickTime won't play MKVs, though media servers like Plex and free players like VLC will.
4. Pick your preset
You can choose between MP4 and MKV on HandBrake's Summary screen, the first one you'll see after you choose a video to compress. HandBrake offers unusually helpful tooltips when you roll over each item in its interface, so I'll encourage you to explore on your own, and just cover the basics here.
You'll probably first notice the preview window in the lower right, which plucks frames out of the source video to give you a rough idea of how the finished product will look.
You can select MP4 or MKV from the
Format
pulldown menu, but especially if you're new to HandBrake, you might want to consult the Preset
menu just above it. You'll probably use its General
(to create MP4 videos) and Matroska
(to create MKVs) settings most often. But look through its Web
and Devices
settings, too. If you know what you want to do with the final video – say, send it to someone over Gmail or upload it to YouTube – or what specific kind of device you'd like it to play on, these videos can make configuring HandBrake a lot easier for you.Otherwise, look through the
General
or Matroska
sections, and find a setting that matches the resolution (most likely 480p, 720p, or 1080p) of your source video, and your desired quality. (Very Fast
probably won't yield good results, Fast
should be, eh, decent, and HQ
and Super HQ
offer the best quality, and probably the largest file sizes.Presets load a bunch of settings that will likely approximate what you want. You can, and should, tinker with them further to your own satisfaction.
5. Choose your compression
You can skip the Dimensions tab — HandBrake's good at figuring out the resolution of your original image, and you probably don't want to mess with that. And you can leave the stuff in Filters on autopilot, unless you really want to invert or rotate your video, or turn a color video into black & white. (Finally, the moody, noir version of Sesame Street the world has waited for…)
Instead, head straight to the Video tab. Look for the
Video Encoders
pulldown menu. It'll offer you the different compression algorithms we discussed above, including H.264 and H.265 (aka HEVC). Remember, even if you have the option, you won't want to use the latter on pre-2017 Macs, because H.265 will run sloooooooooooooowly.Note that H.264 and H.265 come in different flavors — regular and 10-bit for H.264, and regular, 10-bit, and 12-bit for H.265. The higher that bit number, the slower the compression process, but the less likely you are to get color banding in the final product. Those additional bits mean the algorithm can detect and work with more subtle color gradations. If you're noticing egregious amounts of banding however you adjust the other settings, try one of these – but in most cases, you likely won't need them.
H.264 will also offer a VideoToolbox version, letting you capitalize on that turbo-boosted hardware acceleration I mentioned earlier. So will H.265, if your computer's sufficiently new and fast.
If you choose VideoToolbox, make sure to set your desired bitrate in the Average Bitrate box. 6000kbps gets solid results for H.264. For HEVC, 4000kbps gets perfectly good results at a smaller file size. And 6000kbps will get you a picture closer to that of the original (with a file size roughly one-third larger than 4000kbps, proportionally matching the difference in bitrates). Remember that at the same bitrate, H.264 and H.265 will produce videos with nearly the exact same file size – but H.265 will look better.
If you're not using VideoToolbox, you'll be employing software encoding. Make sure Quality is selected, and move the RF slider to set the constant quality you want for your video. RF stands for 'Rate Factor,' and bigger RF numbers mean more compression, lower image quality, and smaller final file sizes.
In general, an RF of 18-20 looks good for H.264, and 20-22 holds up well for H.265 – but feel free to adjust that. (That sentence will likely, and justifiably, horrify compression connoisseurs. But those settings are plenty good enough for everyday users, and you can always tinker with others for different results.)
If I'm encoding a movie and want to experiment with different settings, I like to use the Chapters pulldowns near the top of the window to pick a single short chapter from the film for test encodes. That way, I don't have to wait while HandBrake grinds through the whole file. You can also get a good general idea of how different RFs look under H.264 encoding with Matt Gadient's comparison images and videos.
6. Adjust audio and subtitles
If you're just compressing a home video you've shot, you probably needn't bother with the Audio or Subtitles tabs. They mainly come in handy when you're using HandBrake to convert video that originally came from TV recordings, DVDs, or Blu-rays.
In the Audio tab, you'll see all the available audio tracks bundled in with your video file. (If you think some are missing, look for the
Tracks
pulldown menu and select Add All Tracks
.) You can use the pulldowns in the track listing to add, reorder, or remove those tracks.Under
Codec
, you can either leave the existing setting alone or choose AAC (CoreAudio)
, which does a good job compressing the audio while preserving its fidelity. And if you know that the source video comes with swanky 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, use the Dolby Surround
or Dolby Pro Logic II
options under Mixdown
to ensure that your audio sounds great in plain old stereo, but will also remain compatible with multichannel audio systems.Follow similar steps in the
Subtitles
tab. If you're making an MP4, HandBrake will only let you pick one track, and it'll be burned into the video. For an MKV, set Track 0 to 'Foreign Audio Search,' and leave 'Forced Only' checked. If your movie has any scenes where non-English dialogue gets subtitled, this should ensure that those 'forced' subtitles show up – though for whatever reason, HandBrake's not always great at doing this. If you want to see those forced subtitles every time you watch the movie, make sure 'Burned In' is checked.If you're compressing a foreign-language film, and you always want a subtitle track to automatically appear when you're watching a film, check 'Default' next to that track.
7. Save your video
At the bottom of the HandBrake window, you'll find
Save As:
. Give the resulting file has the name you want. Even if you'll be storing your movies on an external hard drive, I recommend creating the compressed files on your local drive. HandBrake will work much faster, even when you factor in the time needed to copy them over later.When you're finished, click the big
Start
button at the top of the window, and watch the progress bar creep along the bottom of the window until your newly compressed file is ready. (This might take a while, depending on whether you choose software or hardware encoding, and how big the original file is. Maybe go get a snack or a sandwich or watch some TV or something.)If you've got lots of different videos to compress, use HandBrake's Queue feature. Open a source, follow the steps above to set it up how you want, then click the
Add to Queue
button at the top of the window. Then open another source and do it all over again. When you're all done, the Start
button will begin working through your queue in order, and won't stop until every video's finished.You can review that queue, see your settings for each item in it, and remove queued items before HandBrake gets to them by clicking the
Queue
button in the upper right of the window.A quick note about DVDs and Blu-rays
HandBrake will not directly rip and compress video from copy-protected DVDs or Blu-rays. HandBrake used to support direct ripping for DVDs, but it removed that feature a few versions back. I'm not saying you should search online for
HandBrake install libdvdcss mac
to safely learn more about that whole situation and how one might hypothetically remedy it, but I'm also not saying you shouldn't. As for Blu-rays, you'll need to employ other means.Software Like Handbrake For Mac Windows 10
Put the squeeze on your .MOVs
If you want to really dive deep into transcoding, and you don't fear using the command line in Terminal, I recommend the aforementioned Don Melton's transcoding scripts on GitHub. But for most users, HandBrake for Mac should easily cover all your video-compressing needs.
Got any handy HandBrake tips we missed? Pack them into the tiniest possible space and post them in the comments below.
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Closed for 2020Apple says its offices in the US will not fully reopen until at least 2021
Handbrake Free Download For Mac
According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple is planning for its office and many of its retail workers to remain remote for the rest of the year.