HandBrake 1.11.2

HandBrake is the free, open-source video converter to reach for when a file is too big, won't play on your TV or phone, or needs to become a plain MP4.

It is made by a volunteer team, has no ads, no trial and no paid upgrade, and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.

The one thing it won't do is unlock copy-protected DVDs or Blu-rays, and that is worth knowing before you install it.

What HandBrake Actually Does

HandBrake takes a video you already have and re-encodes it into a new file. You choose how small, how sharp and which format, or you pick a preset and let it decide.

It reads almost anything that plays, including MKV, MP4, AVI, MOV, TS and camera files, plus DVD folders and ISO images without copy protection. Output goes to MP4, MKV, WebM or, since version 1.11, MOV.

• Device presets. Ready-made settings for phones, tablets, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, game consoles and web upload - pick one and press Start.
• Modern codecs. H.264, H.265 (HEVC), AV1, VP9, plus ProRes and DNxHR for editing work, which arrived in 1.11.
• Hardware encoding. Uses your NVIDIA, AMD or Intel graphics chip, or Apple silicon on a Mac, for much faster encodes at a small quality cost.
• Clean-up filters. Deinterlace, detelecine, denoise, deblock, sharpen, crop, resize, rotate and grayscale, all with a live preview.
• Subtitles and chapters. Import SRT and SSA files, burn subtitles in or keep them selectable, and keep or rename chapter markers.
• Batch queue. Scan a whole folder, queue every file and walk away.

If you need a hand choosing between codecs, see our roundup of the best free HEVC encoders for Windows. There is also a plain-English look at whether AV1 beats H.265.

The DVD Question, Answered Honestly

HandBrake converts home-made and unprotected DVDs very well. Point it at the disc or its VIDEO_TS folder, pick the main title and a preset, and you get a single MP4 or MKV file.

Most shop-bought DVDs and nearly all Blu-rays are copy-protected, though, and HandBrake does not include any decryption. On those discs it usually shows no titles, the wrong length, or a scrambled picture.

The laws on copying discs you own differ between countries, so check what applies where you live.

Which File to Download

The download page carries six files. Most people want the first one.

Not sure whether you need the command-line build? Our GUI vs command-line explainer covers the difference. On Linux, get the official Flatpak from the HandBrake website.

Before You Install

• Windows 11 is fully supported. Windows 10 still runs HandBrake but is marked as deprecated, so it is no longer a priority for fixes.
• Microsoft .NET Desktop Runtime 10 must be installed on Windows. It is a free download from Microsoft's .NET page - choose the Desktop Runtime for your chip.
• macOS 14 Sonoma or newer is fully supported. Older versions back to 10.13 High Sierra still work but are deprecated.
• A reasonably recent computer. The team suggests 16 GB of RAM for HD work and 32 GB for 4K - less still works, only slower.

What Changed in 1.11

Version 1.11.0 was a big one for anyone who edits video. It added ProRes and DNxHR encoders, MOV output and uncompressed PCM audio, plus 10-bit AV1 hardware encoding on AMD Radeon 9000-series cards.

It is also the release that moved the Windows app to .NET 10, which is why some people found HandBrake stopped opening after updating.

The 1.11.2 update is a bug-fix release. It fixes a crash in two-pass lossless H.265 encodes and memory leaks in multi-pass encodes, and updates the bundled FFmpeg and SVT-AV1 libraries.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

HandBrake always re-encodes the video, so it is the wrong tool whenever you want to keep the picture exactly as it is. The tell: you only want to trim, join or swap tracks, not make the file smaller.

• Cutting or joining clips without quality loss: LosslessCut.
• Adding, removing or renaming tracks in an MKV: MKVToolNix.
• Fixing or syncing subtitle files: Subtitle Edit.
• Just playing a file that won't open: VLC media player - no conversion needed.

To check what is actually inside a file before converting it, open it in MediaInfo. It shows the codec, resolution and bitrate in seconds.

HandBrake Alternatives Worth Knowing

If you like HandBrake's engine but want a friendlier Windows interface, VidCoder is built on the same encoder.

For finer control, StaxRip and FastFlix expose far more encoder settings.

Our StaxRip vs HandBrake comparison helps you decide.

Shutter Encoder suits editors who need many professional formats in one place.

For the command line, FFmpeg does everything, and the standalone x265 HEVC encoder is there for H.265 purists.

Quick questions

More free converters and encoders are in our Video Encoders category.

Download HandBrake 1.11.2 and see how it handles your videos, or tell us how you got on if you have used it before.