MacTheRipper

MacTheRipper is a DVD ripper for Mac OS X, enabling users to create a playable copy of the contents of a Video DVD by defeating the Content Scramble System. During this process it may optionally modify or disable the DVD region code or the User operation prohibition features of the copied data. The previous lack of an OS X equivalent to the PC software DVDShrink gave this standalone DVD ripper widespread popularity among Macintosh users. The last freeware release was version 2.6.6. Later versions were available only directly from the developer, for a fee.[1]

Early releases of MacTheRipper reportedly violated the GNU General Public License (GPL), which requires the source code of any software incorporating the GPL-licensed libdvdread and libdvdcss libraries to also be published.[2][3] Beginning with MacTheRipper 4, these libraries were not included, and needed to be installed separately.

The creation and distribution of MacTheRipper may violate the anti-circumvention laws which the U.S. and EU have adopted as part of the WIPO Copyright Treaty. In a case against the maker of a program similar to MacTheRipper, the court found that "the downstream uses of the software [...], whether legal or illegal, are not relevant to determining whether [the manufacturer] itself is violating the statute."[4] In that case and others that followed it, the court found the software manufacturer in violation of the DMCA.[5]

See also

  • DVD ripping: an article about extracting the content of DVD, CD, and Blu-ray discs
  • HandBrake: a free open-source transcoder application for converting DVD content into other formats

References

  1. ^ "MTR • Index page". Archived from the original on 2011-08-01. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  2. ^ Sturm, Christoph (2006-07-13). "gpl violation at www.mactheripper.org". Retrieved 2026-03-22.
  3. ^ Johansen, Jon Lech (2008-03-15). "Rogue developers". nanocr.eu. Retrieved 2026-03-22.
  4. ^ 321 Studios v. MGM Order Archived 2008-10-26 at the Wayback Machine Court Decision in case against 321 Studios, the makers of PC software similar to MacTheRipper
  5. ^ 321 Studios Shuts Its Doors Wired News article about the entertainment industry lawsuits that forced 321 Studios to shut down
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.