Can VLC play Blu-ray disc? Why is VLC not working to play Blu-ray? Those questions are commonly asked by people who want to play Blu-ray on VLC media player. Actually, VLC doesn't offer direct support for Blu-ray disc, but the 2.0 and later version of VLC support Blu-ray media playback with some extra operations. So, it is possible to get VLC to play Blu-ray disc on computer. To help you know the whole process, we will show you how to use VLC to play Blu-ray movie step by step.
Tips: The setup might be troublesome and tricky to play Blu-ray on VLC. If you have followed the instructions correctly and it is not working, or you don't want to use such a cumbersome method, feel free to try VideoSolo Blu-ray Player. It is simple and powerful to play Blu-ray disc on Mac and Windows without setting anything.
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Free Mac Blu-ray Player for Mac makes it easy for you to play Blu-ray discs and other popular video files. The playback is smooth and free from audio and visual disturbances, making this app a. Enjoy HD movies on Mac as you like. Blu-ray Player software for Mac Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac is a professional Blu-ray playback software program for Mac users that could play Blu-ray discs/folders/ISO files on iMac or Mac book in lossless quality, no matter where the Blu-ray movies come from.
- 1. How to Use VLC to Play Blu-ray on Windows 10/8/7
- 2. Can VLC Play Blu-ray Movie on Mac? - Yes
- 3. Errors You May Encounter When Playing Blu-ray in VLC
- 4. Best Way to Play Blu-ray on Computer with VLC Alternative
How to Use VLC to Play Blu-ray on Windows 10/8/7
Step 1. To play Blu-ray with VLC on Windows, you'd better upgrade to VLC 3.0 first if you are still using the old version. Please note that you will need to download the VLC Windows 64bit version if it is a 64bit Windows computer.
Tips: It would be better to keep the default installation path while installing VLC. Otherwise, you can't completely follow the steps below.
Step 2. Go to https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/ to download the keys database and AACS dynamic library. Please notice that you should download the 32bit file for VLC 32bit, and 64bit file for VLC 64bit.
After downloaded, two files - the keys database file (KEYDB.cfg) and the AACS dynamic library file (libaacs.dll) should already exist on your Windows computer.
Step 3. Go to 'C:ProgramData', create a new folder in it and name it 'aacs'. After that, place your downloaded 'KEYDB.cfg' file into it.
Step 4. Go to 'C:Program FilesVideoLANVLC', then drop your downloaded 'libaacs.dll' file into it. If running 32bit VLC, you will need to find your VLC directory in 'C:Program Files (x86)'.
Step 5. Now, you can easily launch VLC and use it to play Blu-ray disc on Windows for free. Just need to click on 'Media' > 'Open Disc' > 'Blu-ray'.
Can VLC Play Blu-ray Movie on Mac? – Yes
VLC is one of the free Mac Blu-ray players. In this part, the way to play Blu-ray movies with VLC on Mac will be described in detail as below steps. It is similar to that of on Windows computer.
Step 1. Download the latest version of VLC for Mac OS X from Videolan.org.
Step 2. Go to: https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/ and get two necessary files.
1. KEYS Database
Mac OS: put 'KEYDB.cfg' in ~/Library/Preferences/aacs/ (create it if it does not exist).
2. AACS Dynamic Library
Mac OS: right-click on VLC, choose 'Show Package Contents' and put the 'libaacs.dylib' file in 'Contents/MacOS/lib/' (create it if it does not exist).
Step 3. Run VLC and insert your Blu-ray disc into the Blu-ray drive, and open it with VLC, then your encrypted Blu-ray movie will start playing in VLC.
Errors You May Encounter When Playing Blu-ray in VLC
Even you have successfully installed VLC 3.0 or above and follow all the steps above, you likely still encounter errors like:
• This blu-ray disc needs a library for bd+ decoding, and your system does not have it.
• This blu-ray disc needs a library for aacs decoding, and your system does not have it.
• No valid processing key found in AACS config file.
• Missing AACS configuration file!
• Your input can't be opened.
• VLC keep Blu-ray loading but nothing presents.
This is because not all the commercial Blu-ray discs are supported by VLC media player so that you might encounter the problem from time to time. VLC can only deal with discs which its library has the corresponding AACS keys, yet the AACS and BD+ DRM libraries and keys won't ship with the Blu-ray discs, as their publishers seem to take everyone as a pirate, even you already spend money just for personnel movie enjoyment.
So, the problem that 'VLC won't Play Blu-ray' is difficult to fix. But, in this case, a more powerful Blu-ray player software comes as an alternative to play Blu-ray on Windows and Mac computer.
Best Way to Play Blu-ray on Computer with VLC Alternative
If you thought that using VLC to play Blu-ray disc is too complex to handle and you don't want to face the problem when VLC won't Blu-ray, then you will love VideoSolo Blu-ray Player.
As one of the best Blu-ray player software, VideoSolo Blu-ray Player can play encrypted Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray folder, also the Blu-ray ISO image without downloading any extra file. It is much easier to play Blu-ray compare to VLC. It supports playback advanced audios like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc. For better user experience, it provides detailed navigation and full playback control and allows users to choose their favorite Blu-ray subtitles, audio tracks, and scenes during playback on Windows and Mac computer.
What's more, the Windows version can serve you as a DVD player and common video player. That is to say, all your BD discs, DVD discs and digital media files can be loaded with VideoSolo Blu-ray Player.
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126260947/262070920.jpg)
This software is easy-to-use. You can just insert the Blu-ray disc and then open the program to play it. Follow the 3 steps below to play Blu-ray with the easiest way.
Step 1. Install VideoSolo Blu-ray Player
Click the 'Download' button above to get the free trial version of VideoSolo Blu-ray Player on your Windows or Mac computer.
Step 2. Insert a Blu-ray Disc into the Program
Connect an external Blu-ray drive to your computer and then insert a Blu-ray disc to the drive. Then, click 'Open Disc' to load the Blu-ray disc to the program.
Note: You need to be connected to the Internet so that the software can decode the copy-protection used on the commercial Blu-ray disc.
Step 3. Successfully Play Blu-ray Movie
After loading, you can see the cover of your Blu-ray movie. Here you can choose the title, chapter, audio track, or subtitle track. Or you can directly click on 'Play Movie' to start playing the Blu-ray main movie.
Blu Ray Player Software For Mac
Now, no matter you choose VLC media player or VideoSolo Blu-ray Player, there is one thing can be confirmed. Right, you are able to watch almost all your Blu-ray movies without difficulty on Window and Mac.
What is VLC?
VLC is a popular cross-platform open-source media player. You can find VLC on different platforms like desktop operating system including macOS, Windows and linux and mobile operating systems including Android, iOS, and Windows 10 Mobile, etc.
Does Apple have Blu-ray playback software?
No, it doesn’t. Apple had never taken Blu-ray seriously. The company didn’t really care to release a computer with a Blu-ray drive, not even once. The company only had a DVD drive featured in some of its Mac computers and laptops which had been put to an end recently. Apple had stopped giving DVD drives to users in order to make its computers slimmer and lighter. The last MacBook that you can find with a DVD drive in it is the Mid 2012 MacBook Pro 15, which Apple had stopped selling in 2016. So it’s only logical that you won’t find Blu-ray player software on a Mac computer.
Can VLC play Blu-ray?
One of the reasons why it’s so popular is because it’s free. Since Apple’s never been fans of Blu-ray, which can be seem from its attitude towards Blu-ray, you shouldn’t expect Apple to give you an official player on Mac to play Blu-ray, which it doesn’t. So a third-party Blu-ray drive and Blu-ray player app is needed. Some Blu-ray player apps on Mac are not free, if you don’t want to pay for it, then VLC is the one you want to go with. But VLC doesn’t support playback of Blu-rays, not without some modification. There are things you can do to make VLC play Blu-ray discs on Mac, and it’s fairly easy to make that happen.
How to enable Mac VLC to play Blu-ray
To enable VLC to play Blu-ray on Mac, here are all the things you need.
Below are the detailed steps on how to enable VLC to play Blu-ray on Mac
Step 1. Go online, find the latest version of VLC, download it and install it on your computer. There are a lot of websites that offers VLC. But for the sake of safety, you can go to VLC’s official site: videolan.org to download it.
Step 2. Open the following link with your browser: https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/. Find the KEYS DATABASE(KEYDB.cfg) and the AACS DYNAMIC LIBRARY(libaacs.dylib for mac) on it and download them to your Mac.
Mac Blu Ray Player Software
Step 3. Move the KEYDB.cfg file to ~/Library/Preferences/aacs folder and the libaacs.dylib file to the ~/lib directory folder. The ~ symbol refers to home directory. If you can’t find the ~/lib folder, create it by yourself, it’ll still work.
After the two files are put in the right location, you can connect your Blu-ray drive to your Mac and put your Blu-ray disc in it to play start playing Blu-ray on Mac. With the two files above, you also get to play a Blu-ray ISO file or a Blu-ray folder with VLC on Mac if you have them. With all the works above done, it’ll become VLC Blu-ray player Mac users could use for Blu-ray playback. Note that VLC currently doesn’t support Blu-ray menus, so it’ll require you to select which title to play manually.
How to use VLC Mac to play Blu-ray by ripping Blu-ray to Mac
Another way to use VLC to play the Blu-ray movie on Mac is to rip the Blu-ray to a VLC-compatible format on Mac. Considering that VLC is an open-source video player, you can convert the Blu-ray movie to videos in a lot of different formats to play on Mac.
To get the best out of the Blu-ray movie, you should get a high-quality Blu-ray ripper to make a high-quality digital copy of your Blu-ray disc on Mac. It would be ideal if the Blu-ray ripper can create a lossless copy of your Blu-ray movie to watch on your Mac computer. There are programs that can do something like that. One of them is Leawo Blu-ray to MKV Converter for Mac. It’s a top-notch Blu-ray ripper program that can convert the Blu-ray movie to a lossless MKV video which packs all the original data in the MKV container without compression. It’ll allow you to enjoy the movie with the highest quality without needing the Blu-ray disc and the Blu-ray drive every time you play the movie.
Free Blu-ray Playback Software For Mac
Leawo Blu-ray to MKV Converter Mac
☉ Rips Blu-ray of all sources to lossless MKV.
☉ Able to rip protected Blu-rays.
☉ Saves all audio tracks and subtitles you need.
☉ Able to rip protected Blu-rays.
☉ Saves all audio tracks and subtitles you need.
Here’s how to make a lossless MKV video from your Blu-ray movie using Leawo Blu-ray to MKV Converter for Mac.
Step 1. Add source Blu-ray content to the program
Put the disc you want to rip to your Blu-ray drive and kick off Leawo Blu-ray to MKV Converter for Mac from the launch pad. And then on the interface, find the Add Blu-ray/DVD button in the top-left corner. Click on the Add Blu-ray/DVD button and then click Add from CD-ROM from the drop-down menu that follows. Click on the following option to load the content of the disc to the converter for further processing.
Step 2. Choose the titles you need
When the program finishes loading the content of the disc, it’ll show you all the video titles in the disc on the left side of the interface. To the right of the video list is the video player which you can use to play videos on the left. To play a video, just double-click a video title on the video list. Above the video list you will find 3 buttons: Full Movie, Main Movie and Custom Mode. Considering that you might not want to rip all the videos, the 3 options are for you to pick different video titles to rip. Full Movie button will select all the titles on the list for ripping. Main Movie will only select the main movie to rip. Custom Mode provides you with the option to pick multiple video titles you need by yourself from the video list. After choosing the video you need, click the OK button below the video player and it will take you to the interface where all videos you chose from this step will be listed in.
Step 3. Pick the audio tracks and subtitles you need
You can see a Subtitles option and a Audio option on each video. Click on one of the options and a drop-down menu would appear with all the audio tracks and subtitles included in that video. You can pick the audio tracks and subtitles you like freely on the drop-down menu to save in the output MKV video.
If you want to play a video, just click the Play button which you can find on the thumbnail of the video on the left. During playback of a video, you are also allowed to choose different audio tracks and subtitles for it.
Step 4. Start converting the Blu-ray movie to lossless MKV
In the upper right-hand corner of the interface you can see a green Convert button. Click on this button and a sidebar would pop up from the right. The default output directory is shown on top of the sidebar. You can change it to a new directory if you want. When you are done setting up the output directory, click the Convert button on the sidebar to let the program start to convert the Blu-ray movie in your disc to MKV.
Below’s the video guide of Leawo Blu-ray to MKV Converter for Mac.
The lossless MKV video you get from Leawo Blu-ray to MKV converter can be played directly with VLC video player. If you like, you can also transfer the MKV video to your iPhone or iPad and use a third-party video player to play the MKV video on them. What’s great about converting the Blu-ray movie to MKV is that you don’t have to look for the Blu-ray disc and the Blu-ray drive every time you want to watch the movie. The only thing is that the lossless MKV would be large and take up a lot of your storage space. If you don’t mind that, then it’s a great way to watch Blu-ray on your Mac. If you like watching movies on your iPhone or iPad, check out Leawo Blu-ray Ripper for Mac, it can rip Blu-ray to MP4 on Mac with high quality.
The best Blu-ray player software alternative to VLC to play Blu-ray on Mac for free
There isn’t much Blu-ray player software available to users for free. Other than VLC, you can also try Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac. Here’s why.
It’s compact as well as powerful. It can play encrypted Blu-ray/DVD disc directly. And you can also use it to play some videos in formats that are not supported by QuickTime and iTunes like RMVB and WMV. And it’ll only take up 4% of your CPU’s processing power to play a Blu-ray disc, meaning you can do other things while watch the movie without the player slowing you down. Frankly, I think it’s a superior choice to VLC for Blu-ray player software as you don’t have to spend time and effect to make it work with Blu-ray. Just download the program, install it and start playing Blu-ray movies with it. It also has a Windows version that works on Windows 7/8/8.1/10. If you have a Windows computer running Windows 10, you might need this program as like macOS, Windows 10 also doesn’t have Blu-ray player software pre-installed. With it you can easily play Blu-ray on Windows 10.
Leawo Blu-ray Player
☉ Supports playback of all kinds of Blu-ray/DVD discs.
☉ Completely free.
☉ Supports a wide range of video formats.
☉ Low CPU processing power consumption.
☉ Completely free.
☉ Supports a wide range of video formats.
☉ Low CPU processing power consumption.