About HandBrake
What HandBrake is
HandBrake is an open-source video transcoder available for Linux, OS X, and Windows, licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2 (TODO: license link).
Everyone can use HandBrake to make videos for free.
What HandBrake does
HandBrake takes videos you already have and makes new ones that work on your mobile phone, tablet, TV media player, game console, computer, or web browser—nearly anything that supports modern video formats.
HandBrake works with most common video files and formats, including ones created by consumer and professional video cameras, mobile devices such as phones and tablets, game and computer screen recordings, and DVD and Blu-ray discs. HandBrake leverages tools such as Libav, x264, and x265 to create new MP4 or MKV video files from these Sources.
HandBrake does:
- Convert nearly any video to MP4 or MKV
- Crop and resize video
- Restore old and low-quality video
- Remove combing artifacts caused by interlacing and telecine
- Pass-through audio without conversion for certain audio types
- Downmix discrete surround sound to matrixed surround or stereo
- Adjust audio volume levels, and dynamic range for certain audio types
- Preserve existing subtitles, and add or remove soft subtitles (subtitles stored as text)
HandBrake can also make videos that are smaller—taking up less storage space on your device—than the originals.
What HandBrake does not do
HandBrake does not:
- Combine multiple video clips into one
- Pass-through video without conversion (video is always converted)
- Create Blu-ray, AVCHD, or DVD discs
- Make cocktails (yet)
HandBrake also does not defeat or circumvent copy protection of any kind. It does not work with video files employing Digital Rights Management (DRM). This includes but is not limited to, copy protected content from iTunes, Amazon Video, Netflix, or other online providers, and many commercial DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Applications such as AnyDVD HD for Windows and MakeMKV (TODO: link) for Linux, OS X, and Windows create DRM-free copies of DVD and Blu-ray discs that HandBrake can open; however, the HandBrake Team has no affiliation with these third parties and as such can neither recommend nor support these applications or their usage.
Do not use HandBrake to copy materials you do not own or have the right to copy. If you are uncertain about your right to copy any material, you should contact your legal advisor.
Next steps
Continue to Where to get HandBrake.