How To Play Blu-Ray In VLC On Windows & Mac 2024

Looking to quickly play a Blu-Ray Disc using VLC Media Player? It’s very possible to play your movies, shows, and documentaries (from your DVD) this way, however playing Blu-ray discs on VLC requires some additional setup and steps compared to other media players due to something called: AACS dynamic library.

Blu-ray discs have become a popular way of distributing high-definition video and audio content, and VLC Media Player is one of the most widely used media players in the world.

In this guide, we will explore how to use VLC to play Blu-ray discs on both Windows and Mac operating systems, as well as troubleshooting tips for when VLC won’t play Blu-ray. By the end of this guide, you should be able to play your Blu-ray discs on VLC or find a suitable alternative media player.

Also see: 21 Best Video Players for Mac (Free & Paid)

Key Takeaways

Press Ctrl + D (Windows to open up the VLC Disc Menu to play Blu-rays
Press Cmd + D (Mac) to open up the Disc menu which will let you play Blu-Rays
If VLC won’t play your Blu-Ray it’s because you need to add aacs libraries or because you need change the Region Code.
- Region code solution: Click on Tools menu (top of screen menu) > preferences > Toggle Show settings from simple, to “all”. From here go to ‘input codecs’, and click on Access modules. You’ll see Blu-ray, here is where you can toggle your region codes. Try Region A, B, or C and see which one works for you.
- AACS Libraries solution: Download the AACS dynamic library and keys database and place them in the VLC installation directory (more on this further in this post).

Can VLC Play Blu-Ray?

Yes, VLC Media Player can play Blu-ray discs, but it requires some additional setup and steps to enable the playback of Blu-ray media. It can also play encrypted blu ray movies, but it’s not its primary purpose.

The process can be somewhat tricky and involves downloading additional files, such as the AACS library and keys database, and placing them in the appropriate folders.

Once these files are in place, you can launch VLC, insert your Blu-ray disc, and use the “Open Disc” option in the “Media” menu to play your Blu-ray.

Also see: How to Record Your Screen with VLC Media Player

Blu-ray discs are a type of optical disc that can store high-definition video and audio data. They are capable of holding more data than traditional DVDs and are commonly used for distributing movies and other video content.

How to use VLC to Play Blu-ray (Windows)

You should hold Ctrl + R

Here is a step-by-step process to play Blu-ray discs on VLC for Windows laptops:

First, make sure you have installed the latest version of VLC media player on your Windows laptop (this step is important)
Download the AACS dynamic library and keys database from a credible source, a popular source is https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/.
Navigate to the download location and extract the AACS library and keys database files.
Create a new folder named “aacs” in the following directory: C:\ProgramData and copy the KEYDB.cfg file that you extracted in step 3 to the “aacs” folder.
Navigate to the VLC media player installation directory on your Windows laptop, which is usually located in C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC. (If you are using a 32-bit version of VLC, then the directory will be located in C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC)
Copy the libaacs.dll file that you extracted in step 3 to the VLC installation directory. Once these files are in place, launch VLC media player on your Windows laptop.
Insert your Blu-ray disc into your laptop’s disc drive.
Click on the “Media” menu in VLC and select “Open Disc.” In the “Open Disc” dialog box, select the “Blu-ray” option and click “Play.
VLC should start playing your Blu-ray disc. If you encounter any errors, make sure that that you have downloaded the AACS library and keys database from a trusted source.

You should be able to play your Blu-ray discs on VLC media player on your Windows laptop now!

How to use VLC to Play Blu-ray (Mac)

How to use VLC to play Blu-ray on Mac OS (Macbook Pro & Air):

Download VLC media player for Mac OS X from the official VLC website. (Make sure its the latest version and that your Mac is up to date)
Download the necessary AACS dynamic library and keys database files from a trusted source, such as https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/.
Once downloaded, extract the AACS library and keys database files.
Create a new folder named “aacs” in the following directory: ~/Library/Preferences/
Copy the KEYDB.cfg file that you extracted in step 3 to the “aacs” folder.
Navigate to the VLC media player installation directory on your Mac, which is usually located in /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/lib/
Copy the libaacs.dylib file that you extracted in step 3 to the VLC installation directory.
Launch VLC media player on your Mac.
Insert your Blu-ray disc into your Mac’s disc drive, and VLC should start playing your Blu-ray disc automatically.

That’s it! By following these steps, you should be able to play your Blu-ray discs on VLC media player on your Mac OS X system.

Also see: How to Cut & Trim Videos in VLC MediaPlayer (Windows & Mac)

VLC Won’t play Blu Ray (how to fix)

Here are some additional troubleshooting methods you can take to fix the issue of your Blu-Ray not playing on VLC:

Install the latest version of VLC: Ensure that you have the latest version of VLC media player installed on your computer as older versions may not support Blu-ray playback.
Install the AACS and BD+ decryption libraries: You may need to download and install the AACS and BD+ decryption libraries on your computer for VLC to play Blu-ray discs properly. As mentioned earlier, you can find that at https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/
Copy the necessary files to the appropriate directories: You may need to copy the AACS.dll file and the libbdplus.dll file to the appropriate directories on your computer. The AACS.dll file should be copied to the VLC program directory, while the libbdplus.dll file should be copied to the system directory.
Enable Blu-ray playback in VLC settings: Go to the “Preferences” menu in VLC, click on “Input/Codecs” and then choose “Access Modules”. Next, select “Blu-ray” and enable the “Ignore encryption” option.
Try using an alternative media player: If none of the above methods work, you could try using an alternative media player that supports Blu-ray playback, such as PowerDVD or Leawo Blu-ray Player.
Rip the Blu-ray disc to a digital format: If it still won’t let you play your Blu-ray disc using VLC or through another media player, then you could rip the Blu-ray disc to a digital format such as MP4 or MKV using a Blu-ray ripper software, and then play the digital file using VLC or any other compatible media player.

Fix error: VLC this blu-ray disc needs a library for aacs decoding, and your system does not have it.

You’ll need to install libaacs on VLC. This means that in order to play Blu-ray discs on VLC when it can’t directly support them, you need to copy the libaacs.dll file to the installation directory located at “C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC”.

After that, insert your disc and open VLC, and then select “Media” followed by “Open disc” to play your Blu-ray on VLC without any issues.

Blu ray plugin for VLC

Libbluray is a free, open-source plugin for enabling Blu-ray Discs playback on media players like VLC. It is compatible with GNU/Linux, Windows, and MacOS X. It is also DRM-circumvention free, making it safe to integrate into your software with no any legal issues.

The library offers several features like navigation, playlist parsing, menus, and BD-J, providing a smooth user experience.

To install libbluray, clone the git repository using the command: git clone https://code.videolan.org/videolan/libbluray.git

On Mac

Use MacPorts to install libbluray, following the steps below:

Install MacPorts from: https://www.macports.org/install.php
Open the macOS Terminal (Applications->Utilities->Terminal) and run the command: sudo port install libbluray to install libbluray
To see what files were installed by libbluray, run the command: port contents libbluray
To later upgrade libbluray, run the command: sudo port selfupdate && sudo port upgrade libbluray

On Windows

Windows users can follow the instructions to install libbluray:

Download and install VLC media player. If you have a 64-bit system, install the 64-bit version of VLC.
Download the corresponding files from: http://vlc- aacs.whoknowsmy.name/
Put the downloaded files in the same folder as the script you can download from the link: https://gist.github.com/louy2/9bfbee657b9d660022b0
Execute the script to enable playback of encrypted Blu-ray discs.

Options for Blu Ray playback on VLC

While using your VLC to play Blu-ray Files, you may encounter errors preventing you from playing certain discs. This happens because of a mismatch between the disc region code and the player region code.

To avoid this issue, enable certain playback settings on your player.

Here’s how to do it:

Click on the “Tool” menu at the top of your player’s interface. Then, select “Preferences” from the dropdown menu.
Next, in the lower-left corner of the preferences window you’ll need to toggle on the “All” option to make the advanced settings appear.
Then, navigate to “Input / Codecs” and double-click on “Access modules.”
From here, select “Blu-ray.”
Finally, change the region code on the right side of the window and save the settings.

See: How to Convert Youtube Video to Mp3 (Audio) using VLC

VLC Alternative options for playing Blu-Ray

Apart from VLC, there are other alternative media players that offer seamless playback of Blu-ray files. I’ll cover each option in further depth.

VideoSolo

VideoSolo is a great software for playing DVDs and Blu-rays smoothly on both Windows and Mac. It is region-free and can play many Blu-rays, including discs, folders, and ISO files.

With VideoSolo, you can output Blu-ray movies at 4K Ultra-HD quality, and bypass various protection measures used on commercial Blu-rays, allowing seamless playback. The software also offers flexible playback controls, including volume change, fast- forward and backward, and settings to jump to previous and next chapters.

Also see: How to Download a Youtube Video with VLC

WinxDVD

How to Play Blu-Ray in VLC on Windows & Mac 16

WinxDVD is a free DVD ripping software which helps to digitize your DVDs for easier backup, archiving, editing, and sharing. Compatible with both Mac and Windows, it has over 350 profiles, you can use to convert your DVD or ISO image to formats, like MP4 (H.264/HEVC), AVI, WMV, FLV, MOV, MPEG, MP3, and more. It also allows you to back up your DVD to storage options like hard drive HDD/USB/NAS/Plex.

WinxDVD supports homemade, commercial, damaged, workout, or 99-title DVDs, ISO, or DVD folder.

Leawo Blu-ray Player

Leawo Blu-ray Player is a free media player that allows Windows users to enjoy the latest DVDs and Blu-rays. The player supports common video formats up to 1080P, and almost all audio formats with lossless quality. You can also add subtitles to your playback, making it a great tool for watching foreign films.

The Leawo Blu-ray Player provides detailed navigation and full playback control, allowing you to adjust subtitles and audio tracks. It also supports virtual remote control of Blu-ray/DVD menu to let you select the disc menu during playback.

AnyMP4 Blu-ray player

AnyMP4 Blu-ray player is a robust software which plays Blu-ray and DVD discs, folders, ISO image files, 4K videos, and 1080p HD videos with high definition image and video quality. You can take screenshots during playback. Not only does AnyMP4 Blu-ray player play discs and media files, but it also allows you to rip homemade DVD discs to formats like MP4, AVI, FLV, WMV, MOV, MKV, M4V, and more.

Cyberlink PowerDVD

Cyberlink PowerDVD is an outstanding media player to watch Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and digital media files. It is compatible with formats like MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, WebM, HEVC, AVC, and supports DTS-HD, Dolby Audio, and Hi-Res 7.1 surround sound, providing an immersive sound experience.

PowerDVD also allows you to digitize your media collection by selecting specific chapters from your DVDs and Blu-ray discs. If you want to share your favorite memories, PowerDVD can trim your video clips and convert any video file to MP4.

FAQ

Can you rip Blu-Ray discs using VLC?

Ripping a DVD with VLC is easy, just use the Convert/Save menu, select the DVD, name the file and hit start. If the video has DRM protection, decryption may be required, but make sure it’s legal. To create a universally playable file, it’s best to use the H.265 or H.264 compression format and make sure the correct audio track is selected.

To see our full guide on how to rip Blu-ray discs, visit: How to Rip a DVD in VLC

Does the VLC media player play 4K 2160p video files?

Yes, the VLC media player can play 4K 2160p video files. The latest version of the VLC media player has support and capabilities for playing 4K UHD videos. If you’re experiencing issues with VLC playing 4K videos, download the latest version of VLC 3.0 Media Player.

Also see: 5 Best Micro SD Card for 4K video recording

How to get VLC to automatically play a DVD

To get VLC to automatically play a DVD, download, install and launch VLC. Next, go to the Convert/Save tab and click the Disc button. Choose the DVD and DVD drive under Disc options. Then, click Convert/Save and select the related parameters (codec) as you prefer. Go to the Browse tab and pick the file directory to save the output video. Finally, hit the Start button and wait for the resulting video.

Computer requirements for playing Blu-Ray

To play Blu-ray on your computer, you will need a few requirements. You need a Blu-ray or HD DVD optical drive, a powerful dual-core CPU, a graphics card with H.264 acceleration, HDCP-compliant with crypto-ROM chip and preferably with 256 MB memory. You also require a display that’s HDCP-compliant and a Blu-ray or HD DVD playback software.

Playing Torrents on VLC

To play a torrent on VLC after you have already downloaded the file, you will need to follow these steps:

Open VLC media player on your computer.
Click on “Media” in the top-left corner of the window, and select “Open File” from the dropdown menu.
Navigate to the location on your computer where you saved the torrent file, select it, and click “Open.”
If the torrent file contains multiple files, select the file that you want to play and click “OK.”

The file should begin playing in VLC. You can control playback using the standard playback controls in VLC, such as play, pause, stop, and skip forward/backward. Examples of this are .ISO files.

Note: VLC does not support the downloading or streaming of torrents, it only allows playback of the downloaded torrent files. It is important to make sure that you are only downloading and sharing legal content through torrents. MediaPeanut does not support any copyright infringement activities and advises against this.

What is a Blu-Ray?

A Blu-ray is a very specific type of optical disc that is used to store high-definition video and audio data and is popular due to the level of quality it allows for on DVD players.

In comparison to DVDs, it can hold much more data than a DVD. As Blu-ray discs have a higher storage capacity and a different format, they must be played with a special player.

A Blu-ray disc is read with a blue laser, which has a shorter wavelength than a DVD’s red laser.

Bottom Line

In conclusion, playing Blu-ray discs on VLC can be a bit complicated, requiring additional files and careful installation.

However, by following the step-by-step guides for Windows and Mac users, you can enjoy your Blu-ray movies on VLC media player.

If you encounter errors, you can troubleshoot by updating VLC to the latest version, downloading the necessary decryption libraries from a trusted source, and copying the files to the appropriate directories.

You can also try enabling Blu-ray playback in VLC settings or using alternative media players. If all else fails, you can rip the Blu-ray disc to a digital format and play it using VLC or another compatible media player.