Best Blu-ray Player Software to Play Blu-ray on Mac & PC - Everything You Need to Know
Blake Sullivan Updated on Apr 15, 2022 4:10 PM
I have several blu-ray discs on my bookshelf. When I insert these discs onto my Sony Blu-ray standalone player, runs OK. I am wondering if anybody knows of any blu-ray player software that will play Blu-ray discs on the computer with title menu's ?
Streaming movies and TV shows online is popular these days, but there are still times you want to watch Blu-ray movies on computer. Every computer comes with a built-in media player out of the box, the bad news is that none of them have a support of playing Blu-ray discs. So, are there any good desktop based Blu-ray players software out there?
The fact of the matter is that there are plenty of free Blu-ray player software applications and feature-filled shareware to choose from, and as such, choosing which you should use can be tricky. That's why we've picked out the very best options available for you in this post. Before that, we'll take a closer look at everything you need to know about playing blu-ray on Mac and Windows.
Do you need software to play blu-ray?
You'll have to need a Blu-ray drive to recognize the disc and then the dedicated Blu-ray player software to play it. Neither a Mac or PC machine comes with media player installed to support Blu-ray playback by default.
Does a DVD player can recognize a Blu-ray?
When you try to load a Blu-ray disc in a regular DVD player on computer, nothing at all will happen. The reason that you can't use a DVD player to play Blu-ray discs is that they have different formats and recorded pits and lands to store the information on the disc. While DVD player use red laser to read the data, the BD disc requires a blue laser to read it.
What software can play Blu-ray disc?
Don't panic. You have a lot of options. The following list contains Blu-ray software players we deem offer the best service.
1: VLC Media Player (free)
VLC from VideoLan is the simplest and best free Blu-ray media player software solution worth your attention. It's cross-platform and works with all popular Windows versions (32 bit and 64 bit). It can play unprotected Blu-ray discs, DVD, CD, online video, network URLs, capture devices. Also, VLC supports a huge list of video & audio formats (360-degree video to 8K formats included).
The downside of VLC — when you use it as the free Blu-ray player software for Windows 7 64 bit — is that the latest version of VLC (v3.0.4) still doesn't have Blu-ray menu support yet.
To play Blu-ray with VLC, just open VLC media player, go to Media > Open Disc > Blu-ray > Play.
It should be noted that if you have issue of playing Blu-ray discs with VLC, you may need to download two files: KEYS DATABASE (keydb.cfg) and AACS DYNAMIC LIBRARY (libaacs.dll for Windows or libaacs.dylib for Mac) from https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/ and place them into C:\ProgramData\aacs\ (~/Library/Preferences/aacs/ if on a Mac) and VLC directory (Contents/MacOS/lib/ if on a Mac) separately.
2: Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player
We chosen Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player software as our top overall pick if you're looking for a professional Blu-ray player software for Mac and Windows. It has every feature we need in playing Blu-ray disc, BD folder, BD ISO file as well as DVD discs.
The program sports a user-friendly interface that's easy to navigate and use, making it ideal even for total beginners. It includes advanced algorithm to shred the Blu-ray disc region code restriction to let you play the content without limitation. Additionally, this Blu-ray player software can also play standard and rewritable DVDs, UHD 4K videos, and all kinds of digital video & audio formats.
What's more, this Blu-ray player app packed with advanced options for enhancing movie watching experience. It supports Blu-ray menu, quality DTS-HD Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD sound, and allows you to choose audio track and subtitle, and even customize the playing effects. You can capture a screenshot of your favorite movie scene by using its integrated snapshot grabber.
Playing Blu-ray files is quite simple: you just run the program, go to click "Open Disc" and load the Blu-ray disc, choose the chapter, audio tracks and subtitles you preferred, and you're good to go.
3: Leawo Blu-ray player (free)
Just like its name, Leawo Blu-ray player is specifically designed for Blu-ray disc playback. It's free and easy to use, letting you play Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray folder, Blu-ray ISO file and DVDs in just a few clicks. It also has wide support of digital file types you're likely to come across.
This free Blu-ray playing software also offers an impressive array of customization options to make the player yours.
To view Blu-ray on computer with Leawo Blu-ray player: Insert your BD disc into the drive, run the software, click the movie icon when it appears on the interface to start playing.
- Leawo Blu-ray player software free download here: https://www.leawo.org/blu-ray-player/
- Platform: Windows, macOS
- Cons: Supported by ads. Lacks HD/ 3D upscaling capacity. Can't read some commercial discs.
4: PotPlayer (free)
As a comprehensive free multimedia player developed by the folks at Daum, which also designs another popular application — KMPlayer, PotPlayer can also be acted as a free Blu-ray player software program. It is similar to VLC media player (our best pick) in the number of files it supports but it's faster than VLC. With it, you can play unprotected Blu-ray movie on Windows, as well as DVD, videos and music files. Furthermore, it now add supports to various types of 3D glasses and subtitle formats such as Blu-ray subtitles, DVD(Vobsub) and Text subtitles(SMI & SRT).
PotPlayer might not be the feature-packed Blu-ray player software for Windows 10/ 8/ 7 computer, but it's ideal for everyday BD playback.
To play Blu-ray with PotPlayer, launch PotPlayer, select Open > Open Blu-ray to watch Blu-ray disc movie automatically.
5: Corel WinDVD Pro
WinDVD Pro is another alternative if you're looking for a Windows Blu-ray player software. It can play Blu-ray Disc, BD-Live, and a wide array of other popular formats such as AVCREC, BDXL, DVD, common video & audio formats.
The coolest bit about this PC Blu-ray software player is that it includes built-in upscaling feature, letting you turn standard-definition videos into near-HD quality video from standard DVDs and 2D to 3D, as well as the ability to play high-definition video files in 3D mode (you need to have a NVIDIA graphics card with 3D Vision support).
- WinDVD page: https://www.windvdpro.com/en/
- Platform: Windows
- Cons: User interface isn't the best; Limited range of features, Doesn't support virtual remote control with smartphone. Not available for macOS
6: Cyberlink PowerDVD
Cyberlink PowerDVD is another great option for playing encrypted Blu-ray disc. It includes everything you would hope and expect to find, and much more. In addition to being able to play Blu-ray discs & DVDs, video, audio, photo, the application has the ability to cast a wide range of media content on the latest 4K UHD HDR TV, Apple TV, Roku, ChromeCast and Fire TV, and play 360˚ VR content on the latest Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.
This Blu-ray player software, at the same time, includes powerful upscaling technology that lets you upscale old DVDs, Blu-ray discs and media files on big TV with minimal distortion. It also has both Dolby and DTS cinema-grade sound support.
There are 3 versions of PowerDVD you can choose from, you can get more details here: Compare Editions.
7: MacGo Blu-ray Player
If you're looking for a way that plays Blu-ray discs on computer and nothing more, this is the one.
The MacGo Blu-ray Player software is capable of playing Blu-ray Disc, Blu-ray ISO file, and Blu-ray (BDMV) folders, as well as digital video files such as MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV, MKV. It supports DTS 5.1, Dolby TrueHD Audio DTS-HD Master Audio and Pass Through without any quality loss. It also supports importing external subtitles like SRT, SSA and SUB file to make the viewing experience more comfortable.
This Blu-ray player program comes with two editions: Standard and Pro. If you opt for the Standard edition, you can take it as a common media player with Blu-ray playback function and you won't get Blu-ray menu support nor DTS/Dolby sound which are included in Pro edition.
FAQs of Mac & Windows Blu-ray player software
How do I transfer a Blu-ray to computer?
For those who want to get more control over their Blu-ray movies rather than playing Blu-ray disc movie on computer, ripping the disc and getting the movie content into digital file would be a choice. If that's the case, you might want to consider the Blu-ray Converter. It's a 4-in-1 suite that can help you convert Blu-ray, DVD, video and audio all in one place. There are a wide large number of popular digital formats as well as device-oriented profiles you can choose to export the file in. Experienced users can even use its advanced options to tweak the quality of the video and do practical editing tasks on the video.
Screenshot below:
Can Windows media player play Blu-ray disc?
WMP actually doesn't play Blu-Ray disc, by design. Microsoft doesn't provide the license for free.
Can you play a DVD on a Blu-ray player?
Of course yes. Blu-ray has long been favored for its backward compatibility.
The Bottom Line
Which one is the best? The answer depends on your personal preference. If you just want to get a free Blu-ray playing software on PC's, then VLC is the simplest and best you can go after; if you're on a Mac machine want a great Mac Blu-ray player software download, then Aiseesoft and MacGo would be the way to go—Obviously, the other five programs lack macOS support; if you want to get a powerful media player rather than just playing Blu-ray on laptop & desktop, Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player and Cyberlink PowerDVD should a tool in your arsenal.
