What video codecs will Blu-ray support? and How to Play Blu-ray Movies?

Jul 26, 2016 05:46 am / Posted by Diana Joan | Categories: Blu-ray

Blu-ray or Blu-ray Disc (BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format. A single layer Blu-ray disc could store data up to 25GB, and a dual layer Blu-ray disc up to 50GB. It was designed to supersede the DVD format, in that it is capable of storing high-definition and ultra high-definition video resolution (2160p), which is the important reason why Blu-ray Disc defeated HD DVD in the war.

Blu-ray supports different video codecs in that sometimes you ripped Blu-ray but you can’t play the Blu-ray rips on Kodi or Roku due to the Blu-ray codecs. So what video codecs Blu-ray supports? Here, let’s introduce the Blu-ray codes in detail.

Blu-ray Codecs

Blu-ray codecs means that all Blu-ray players and recorders will have to support playback of these video codecs, it will still be up to the movie studios to decide which video codec(s) they use for their releases. So it is necessary to learn a little about Blu-ray codecs.

MPEG-2

MPEG-2 is a digital video standard upon which DVD and early Blu-ray Disc is based and refers to video files with TS, VOB, MPG and SVCD extensions. While MPEG-2 is not as efficient as newer standards such as H.264 and H.265/HEVC, backwards compatibility with existing hardware and software means it is still widely used, for example in over-the-air digital television broadcasting and in the DVD-Video standard.

MPEG-4 AVC

MPEG-4 AVC is part of the MPEG-4 standard also known as H.264 (High Profile and Main Profile). The intent of the H.264/AVC project was to create a standard capable of providing good video quality at substantially lower bit rates than previous standards (i.e., half or less the bit rate of MPEG-2, H.263, or MPEG-4 Part 2), without increasing the complexity of design so much that it would be impractical or excessively expensive to implement. H.264 is perhaps best known as being one of the video encoding standards for Blu-ray Discs; all Blu-ray Disc players must be able to decode H.264. It is also widely used by streaming internet sources, such as videos from Vimeo, YouTube, and the iTunes Store, web software such as the Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight, and also various HDTV broadcasts over terrestrial.

Read >> H.264/AVC vs VC-1, which is better?

SMPTE VC-1

SMPTE 421M, informally known as VC-1, is a video coding format. It is today a supported standard found in Blu-ray Discs and the now-discontinued HD DVD. VC-1 is an evolution of the conventional DCT-based video codec design also found in H.261, MPEG-1 Part 2, H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2, H.263, and MPEG-4 Part 2. It is widely characterized as an alternative to the ITU-T and MPEG video codec standard known as H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. Both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc have adopted VC-1 as a video standard, meaning their video playback devices will be capable of decoding and playing video-content compressed using VC-1.

Blu-ray Player for All Blu-ray Codecs

As shown above, to play Blu-ray successfully, your Blu-ray video playback device should be able to support to decrypt the Blu-ray codes. Cyberlink’s PowerDVD, Corel’s WinDVD, and Arcsoft’s TotalMediaTheatre are such Blu-ray Players on Windows that can handle Blu-rays with various codes. Macgo Blu-ray Player is a Mac choice to play Blu-ray on Mac.These Blu-ray players would usually install their own video codecs for Blu-ray disc so that you don’t have to install Blu-ray codec yourself.

Blu-ray Ripper for All Blu-ray Codecs

Usually, there is another way to help you stream Blu-rays with any codecs. That is to decrypt Blu-ray to digital files like MP4, MKV to playback. Comparing all the popular Blu-ray ripping tools in the market and studied many online reviews, Pavtube ByteCopy is regarded as the best DVD Ripper to rip any Blu-rays:

– Rip Blu-ray encoded with VC-1 and AVC and commercial DVD.

– Decrypt Blu-ray AACS, BD+, UOP up to MKB61 and DVD Disney, Sony protection, etc.

– Convert Blu-ray and DVD to MKV with lossless quality.

– Re-encode Blu-ray and DVD to multi-track MOV, MP4, AVI.

– Create 3D SBS MP4/MKV from 3D Blu-ray, 2D Blu-ray, DVD to Gear VR, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, etc.