Video Format for DVD Players

Use the MPEG-2 Video Format

There’s so many video formats out there now that it’s hard to know which one to use. Especially when burning media to a DVD, it’s hard to pick the right format for a DVD player. This guide aims to explain 1) When to consider making digital files into DVDs and 2) Which video format makes the most sense for it. The trick to getting video into a playable DVD format is to first encode the video into MPEG-2 format. That’ll be compatible with a DVD player or a Blu-Ray player. MPEG-2 is the format of movies and other programs that are distributed on DVD and similar discs. As such, TV stations, TV receivers, DVD players, and other equipment are often designed to this standard.

 

Do You Still Need to Worry About DVDs?

Although DVDs are usually second-best to digital files on your computer, they’re still very useful sometimes. Maybe you’ve recently had an old family VHS tape transferred to a DVD or digital file and you want to give out copies as a gift. Something you can hold certainly makes a nicer gift than a digital file! Or maybe you’ve got some old movies as digital files and you want to view them with the best possible picture. Burn them to Blu-Ray! 1080p on Blu-Ray is much better than digital 4k.

 

How do I Transfer Video Formats?

Okay, you’ve (hopefully) decided to transfer your file to MPEG-2 for burning to a DVD. So, in order to transfer your video file to an MPEG-2, you need to pick an online video converter. Try to look for one that doesn’t shower you with ads. Programs you need to download are okay, just make sure you’re downloading the actual program and not any malware. Here’s the one I like to use most of the time, for video files I don’t want all that much control over.

Video File Compression

However, if you’d like more say into how you compress your video, I recommend a program called Super C. This is a handy little video conversion tool that will convert all sorts of video into anything you want. The website does look a little bit dated and the program is something you have to download, but the tool works and is pretty good. You’ve got control over lots of things about how your video converts. In addition to MPEG-2 conversions, you can convert to WMV, AVI, MP4 and many more. There’s different uses for all those different kinds of digital formats, so here’s a good guide on what those files are all best for.

 

YouTube to DVD

If you wanted to transfer online videos, such as YouTube, onto a DVD, check out our guide on How to Save YouTube Videos on Your Computer. Once you’ve saved the video to your computer, you can then use Super C to convert the video to MPEG-2, and then proceed to burn to a playable DVD movie.

 

How Should I Burn my DVD?

As far as DVD burning software goes, there’s free and there’s paid. The paid software does tend to work better than the free (it’s faster, the capture quality is better, etc), but if you want something you can use to quickly burn a DVD, I recommend CDBurnerXP. Despite the name, yes, you can burn to DVD, and yes, you can use it on a modern operating system. The best paid option for casual use is Toast DVD.