Having films and other video stored on DVD and Blu-ray disc is great in many respects, but it is also somewhat restrictive. If you want to watch a particular video on a laptop that does not have a built in optical drive, you are a bit stuck for options, but MakeMKV is a tool that can help you to overcome this and other problems. There are numerous tools available that can be used to convert discs into video files, but this one is incredibly easy to use.

Where MakeMKV really shines is in just hoe simple the whole conversion process is made. Once your disc has been analysed, your will be provided with a new video file in a very short space of time – the biggest limitation here is the speed of your drive. The benefit of using the MKV format is that it preserves the menu structure of DVD and Blu-ray discs so you can maintain the full contents of a disc including film extras.

As well as keeping menus and chapters intact, the program will also retain all availbale audio and video tracks. The fact that the program can be used with both protected and unprotected discs is likely to appeal and in practice the app seems to cope well with all discs. It’s good to find a simple conversion tool that does not require the installation of countless extras – everything you need is ready right from the word go.

During the beta testing phase of MakeMKV’s development, the converting of Blu-rays will be free, but at the end of the beta period there will be a charge for this feature. However, the ability to convert DVD is and will remain completely free of charge. Anyone who has used the old program DVD Shrink is likely to find this particular app very familiar as the two program have a very similar look and feel.

Version 1.14.2 (see revision history for more):

- Support for BDAV AVCREC discs
- Improved handling for DVD discs with mastering errors
- Some small miscellaneous improvements
- Bug fixes for 1.14.0 regressions