MakeMKV 1.18.4 for Mac

Three things bring Mac owners to this page: macOS refused to open the app, MakeMKV threw a "version too old" error, or there is doubt about whether it runs on an M-series chip.

All three have short answers, and the macOS one is not what most guides tell you any more.

MakeMKV 1.18.4 is the current build, it runs natively on Intel and Apple Silicon, and DVD ripping stays free permanently.

What MakeMKV Does on a Mac

MakeMKV reads a disc and copies the tracks you choose - video, every audio language, subtitles and chapters - into a single MKV file, with no re-encoding at any point.

Nothing is recompressed, so the output is a faithful copy of the original streams. That is why a Blu-ray rip runs 25-40GB: the quality is left entirely intact, which is the point if you are archiving rather than shrinking.

The finished files open immediately in the players most Mac owners already have:

• VLC Media Player for Mac plays anything MakeMKV produces without a setting changed.
• IINA is the option that looks and behaves like a native macOS app.
• Elmedia Player handles the multi-track audio a Blu-ray rip carries cleanly.
• mpv for Mac suits anyone who wants no interface in the way at all.

If none of those is what you want, our roundup of free video players for Mac compares the rest. The same files also drop straight into a Jellyfin Server or a Plex library for streaming to an Apple TV or iPad.

When macOS Says It Cannot Verify MakeMKV

This is the one that stops most people, and the standard advice on the internet is now out of date.

On first launch macOS shows a dialog reading: Apple could not verify "MakeMKV" is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.

That is not a virus detection. MakeMKV is simply not notarised by Apple, so macOS has no scan result to show you and blocks the app by default.

On macOS 15 Sequoia and later, the approval takes four steps.

1. Double-click MakeMKV, let the warning appear, and click Done.
2. Open System Settings and go to Privacy and Security.
3. Scroll to the Security section, where a line now says MakeMKV was blocked, and click Open.
4. Confirm with Open Anyway and enter your administrator password.

On macOS 14 Sonoma and earlier, Control-click MakeMKV in Applications, choose Open, then confirm. Either way you do this once and macOS remembers.

Fixing "Version Too Old" and the Expired Key

There are two separate clocks here, and confusing them is what makes this look harder than it is.

The build itself carries a built-in expiry date roughly 60 days out, and once it passes the program refuses to work until you install a newer one. That is "version too old", and no key will clear it - installing 1.18.4 below will.

The public beta key is the second clock. When that lapses you get "evaluation period expired" instead, and pasting the current key into Help - Register fixes it in seconds.

Who MakeMKV for Mac Is For - and Who Should Look Elsewhere

It is the right tool in a few fairly specific situations.

• You want an exact copy of a disc and you have the drive space to hold it.
• You are filling a Plex or Jellyfin library running on a Mac mini or an iMac.
• You want discs preserved before they degrade or get lent out and never returned.
• You want films on an iPad for a flight, with the compression step handled separately.

It is the wrong tool if what you want is a small file, because MakeMKV does no compression by design. The tell is simple: if file size is the thing you care about, this is not the program.

The normal Mac route is two stages - rip to MKV here, then re-encode with HandBrake, which reads the output directly and typically halves the size using HEVC.

If you only need to drop audio tracks, add subtitles or join segments without re-encoding, MKVToolNix for Mac does the container edits.

And if MakeMKV cannot read a particular disc, Mac DVDRipper Pro and DVDFab are the maintained commercial fallbacks.

The full Mac software section lists the rest of what runs on macOS.

Before You Install: What You Need

MakeMKV needs macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later and runs on Intel and Apple Silicon alike, M1 through M4, including current macOS releases. The installer is makemkv_v1.18.4_osx.dmg, about 41.9MB.

Budget two steps rather than one: drag the app to Applications, then approve it once in System Settings as described above.

The piece of hardware most Macs no longer have is an optical drive, so disc work needs an external USB or Thunderbolt unit - and for 4K UHD specifically, a drive with compatible firmware, which most standard Blu-ray drives are not. Allow 4-8GB of free space per DVD and 15-50GB per Blu-ray.

For UHD discs MakeMKV passes HDR10 and Dolby Vision metadata through untouched, though whether it reaches your screen depends on the player and display rather than on the rip. The screenshot of the title list shows what you will be picking from.

Quick questions

On a PC instead, the MakeMKV for Windows build is identical in function.

Download MakeMKV 1.18.4 for Mac and see how it handles your first disc, or tell us how you got on if you have used it before.