HandBrake For Mac

What began as primarily a DVD ripper has evolved into a general-purpose video editor that is widely considered to be the best choice for pretty much any conversion job. It supports a large variety of input formats and can export videos using widely-supported codecs for any device.

Handbrake is free, open-source, and available for all major desktop platforms — macOS, Windows, and Linux. You can use presets or customize conversion jobs in-depth, and the app also supports batch processing. For further automation, you can use the command-line version and run complex scripts with one command.

Handbrake integrates open-source libraries such as FFmpeg, which allow it to open almost any video file you throw at it. If you still have those lying around somewhere, and your Mac still has a drive for them, it also allows you to rip DVDs and Blu-ray discs, provided they don't use copy protection.

Modern codecs, such as H.265 and H.264, are used to export videos to commonly-used formats suitable for a wide range of devices. If you're in a hurry, or just don't feel like fiddling around with the settings, just select one of the many device presets and let the app take care of things.

If you want to have more control over the output, you can cycle through the tabs and tweak your settings for each source video. You can crop and rescale content, add filters, change encoder parameters, manage subtitle settings, select chapters, and more.

Before exporting your video, you can generate a short preview that will give you a better idea of what the final version will look like.

The app's GUI edition is already great for running multiple jobs in quick succession, as you can add them all to the queue, each with its own settings, and export everything in one go.

If you're after complete automation, however, the command-line edition is what you need. It allows you to run scripts that convert multiple videos with just one command, simplifying your workflow significantly if you need to run similar operations on a regular basis.

There are few situations when Handbrake isn't the best tool for the jobs. It has everything you need: extensive format support, customization options, easy-to-use presets, and batch processing capabilities. And to top it all off, it's completely free and open-source.