HandBrake is a free and open source tool for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs. HandBrake is a cross-platform application, available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Is HandBrake a video editor?

HandBrake can crop and resize videos as well as restore old and low-quality videos, but for more powerful editing tools you can try DaVinci Resolve, Shotcut or VSDC Free Video Editor, which are great free options.

Can you use HandBrake to rip DVDs?

Yes, HandBrake can rip any DVD or Blu-Ray discs that are not copy protected.

Can HandBrake compress 4K videos?

Yes, HandBrake can compress any 4K video to reduce video size, while converting the video format at the same time.

Is Handbrake better than FFmpeg?

Both HandBrake and FFmpeg are free and open source, both are compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux, and both can convert video files. The difference is that Handbrake uses a GUI (graphical user interface) to convert media files, while FFmpeg uses the command line to encode or decode video files. In fact, Handbrake uses FFmpeg internally for conversion. Another difference is that Handbrake supports DVD and Blu-Ray video as input, while FFmpeg does not. Also, Handbrake only offers MKV and MP4 output, while FFmpeg supports many video output formats.

Features

One of HandBrake's strengths is its ability to open a wide variety of video formats. HandBrake uses FFmpeg under the hood and generally can open whatever FFmpeg will, in addition to disc-based formats like DVD and Blu-ray. HandBrake does not defeat or circumvent copy protection of any kind. It does not work with video files employing Digital Rights Management (DRM).

HandBrake's software video encoders, video filters, audio encoders, and other processes benefit from fast CPU and memory. HandBrake's hardware video encoders also benefit from modern GPU hardware.

Built-in Device Presets

Get started with HandBrake in seconds by choosing a profile optimised for your device, or choose a universal profile for standard or high quality conversions. Simple, easy, fast. For those that want more choice, tweak many basic and advanced options to improve your encodes.

Supported Input Sources

Handbrake can process most common multimedia files and any DVD or Blu Ray sources that do not contain any kind of copy protection.

Outputs

  • File Containers: .MP4(.M4V) and .MKV
  • Video Encoders: H.265 (x265 and QuickSync), H.264(x264 and QuickSync), H.265 MPEG-4 and MPEG-2, VP8, VP9 and Theora
  • Audio Encoders: AAC / HE-AAC, MP3, Flac, AC3, or Vorbis
  • Audio Pass-thru: AC-3, E-AC3, DTS, DTS-HD, TrueHD, AAC and MP3 tracks

Even more features

  • Title / chapter and range selection
  • Batch Scan and Queueing of encodes
  • Chapter Markers
  • Subtitles (VobSub, Closed Captions CEA-608, SSA, SRT)
  • Constant Quality or Average Bitrate Video Encoding
  • Support for VFR and CFR
  • Video Filters: Deinterlacing, Decomb, Denoise, Detelecine, Deblock, Grayscale, Cropping and scaling
  • Live Static and Video Preview

What's New

  • Beta version updated to 20250216

All platforms

General

  • Fixed FFV1 pixel format selection when an hardware decoder is used (#6565)
  • Fixed an issue that could happen when chapters titles are not UTF-8 (#6489)
  • Fixed gcc14 aarch64 build failures (#6463)

Subtitles

  • Improved support for SRT files with overlapping subtitles (#6155)

Audio

  • Fixed AC3 and EAC3 extradata in MKV (#6582)

Third-party libraries

  • nv-codec-headers: Harden DLL loading so that it only uses system32 for the search path on Windows (#6548)

Updated libraries

  • libdav1d 1.5.1 (AV1 video decoding)
  • HarfBuzz 10.2.0 (subtitles)
  • libjpeg-turbo 3.1.0 (preview image compression)

Windows

  • Fix an issue with the autoname function not updating when title is the only option (#6517)
  • Fix an issue where the audio encoder may not display correctly after a queue has been imported and queue item edited. This may exhibit in other scenarios as well (#6524)
  • Fix an issue with titlebar / taskbar progress erroneously showing with multi-instance encodes (#6477)
  • Fix a crash when importing chapters where there is a chapter count mis-match (#6514)
  • Fixed an issue with autoname pre/postfix option where it would apply regardless of file path collision.
  • Fixed an issue where the crop controls would not enable correctly when editing jobs (#6614)