How to play and convert VOB files on Mac with VOB Converter

How to Play and Convert VOB Files on Mac

2012-04-11 03:20:15 / Posted by Brian Fisher to Video Solution
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Part 1: How to play VOB files on Mac
Part 2: How to convert VOB to MOV, AVI, MPEG, MP4, etc. on Mac
Part 3: What is a VOB file?

Part 1. How to play VOB files on Mac

A player of generic MPEG-2 files can play VOB files, although sometimes only after renaming the file extension to .mpg. MPlayer, VLC media player can play VOB files.

Actually, Apple DVD Player can play VOB files in DVD VIDEO_TS folder. Open DVD Player, go to File>open DVD Media and navigate to the VIDEO_TS folder with VOB files inside and click Choose.

Is there other information in a VOB file, besides the MPEG movie? YES!

A VOB file is not a video file per se. It is a container file that adds extra information to the MPEG2 files within the container. The reason for this is part of the DVD standard. If you look at the files within a DVD you will also find ifo and bup files. MPEG2 files are just video. So if you only renamed the VOB files, much video editing software can not support it or the VOB can not be played. So you need to convert VOB to other video popular video formats such as AVI, MOV, MP4, etc.

Part 2. How to convert VOB files to MOV, AVI, MPEG, MP4, etc. on Mac

Step 1: Install and Run DVD to VOB Ripper for Mac

You can download this Mac DVD Ripper for free here:

To install VOB Converter for Mac (Snow Leopard, Lion included), simply mount the .dmg archive by double-clicking it, and copy the application to your applications folder (or wherever you want it ). It's very easy-to-use.

Step 2: Load VOB files to VOB Converter for Mac

Or go to "File" menu, choose "Load DVD" to locate the VIDEO_TS folder with your VOB files inside and and click Load.

Convert VOB on Mac OS X

Step 3: Convert VOB files to MP4, MOV, FLV, AVI, iMovie, etc. on Mac OS X

Select an output format like MOV, AVI from the output format list or use the optimized presets for iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, iMovie, and more.

convert vob mac

You can also extract audio from VOB video to MP3 on Mac with this DVD Ripper for Mac

Hit "convert" and this DVD to VOB Mac app will do the rest for you! When the conversion is done, you can watch your VOB movie on your Mac, and import your output file to the iPod, iPad, iPhone or other players for playback anytime and anywhere. Want to edit the VOB files in iMovie to creat your own masterpiece? Just import the converted VOB files.

Part 3. What is a VOB file?

A VOB file (Video Object) is a container format in DVD-Video media. VOB is based on MPEG-2 program stream format, but with additional limitations and specifications in the private streams. It contains the actual Video, Audio, Subtitle, and Menu contents in stream form.

A VOB file is an MPEG-2 system stream. This means that it complies 100% with the MPEG-2 system level standard, ISO 13818-1. However, VOB files are a very strict subset of the standard. So while all VOB files are MPEG-2 system streams, not all MPEG-2 system streams comply with the definition for a VOB file.

Other DVD files include IFO and BUP files.

Employee 2012-05-23 09:06
Glad it helped you, Sara.
Employee 2012-05-23 09:05
You'll get prompted before converting. We'll also make it more clear in the next version. Thanks for your feedback.
Mlt 2012-05-22 22:08
You don't mention the horrible Sky Soft Watermark that gets burnt onto the movie.
Sara 2012-02-01 23:27
Excellent, been searching for hours to find out how I can convert VOB IFO and BUP! Thank you!
Niceladywithdog 2012-01-19 23:07
Thank you! I was fumbling around under the delusion I had to download special software, and there in your Step 2 was my answer. Nice!

VOB Converter Mac