Opens almost any video
Feed it camera footage, screen recordings, iPhone HEVC clips or unprotected DVD and Blu-ray sources. FFmpeg under the hood reads nearly every format you throw at it.
Free & Open Source · v1.11.2
Convert Any VideoWith HandBrake for Mac
Shrink huge iPhone clips, rescue old DVDs and batch-convert whole folders to MP4, MKV or WebM. Free, open source and native on Apple Silicon.
$0
Free forever, GPL v2
24.4k
GitHub stars
2003
In active development since
10.13+
Minimum macOS
Features
Everything a Mac video converter should do
HandBrake for Mac takes the videos you already have and makes new ones that play on your phone, TV, browser or game console. One free download replaces a stack of paid converters.
Quality you control
Set a constant quality RF value and let HandBrake pick the bitrate. Crop black bars, scale down 4K, deinterlace old tapes or clean up grainy footage with built-in filters.
Hardware speed on M-series
Apple VideoToolbox encoders hand the heavy work to your Mac's media engine. Long 4K exports finish in minutes and your battery barely notices.
Presets for every screen
Pick Fast 1080p30, an Apple TV profile or a Discord preset that stays under the upload cap. Save your own tweaks as custom presets and reuse them forever.
Queue and live preview
Drop a whole folder, add every file to the queue and walk away. Live preview renders a short sample first so you see quality before committing an hour of encoding.
Safe by design
Everything runs locally on your Mac. No account, no uploads, no tracking and no ads. Your original file stays untouched while HandBrake writes a fresh copy beside it.
Terminal installation
Advanced users can install HandBrake for Mac with a single command.
$brew install --cask handbrake-app
How to open Terminal on Mac
- 1Press ⌘ + Space to open Spotlight.
- 2Type
Terminalinto the search field. - 3Hit Return and a shell window appears.
Installation via Terminal command
- 1Click Copy above to grab the brew command.
- 2Paste it with ⌘ + V and press Return.
- 3HandBrake lands in Applications. Update later with
brew upgrade --cask handbrake-app.
No Homebrew? Install it from brew.sh or grab the official DMG.
Download DMG
How it works
From giant file to perfect copy in three moves
Your first HandBrake mac encode takes about a minute to set up. After that, presets make every job a two-click affair.
01
Open a source
Drag a video, a folder or a DVD's VIDEO_TS folder onto the window. HandBrake scans titles, audio tracks and subtitles in seconds.
File › Open Source ⌘O
02
Pick a preset
Choose a device or web preset from the drop-down. Adjust quality, trim a range or swap audio tracks if you want more control.
Default: Fast 1080p30
03
Start the encode
Set where the output goes, hit Start and watch frames per second climb. Queue more files and they convert one after another.
Add to Queue ⌘B
Pick quality, not bitrate
HandBrake's constant quality mode spends bits only where the picture needs them. Here's a real encode in flight on an M-series Mac.
SourceBeach Day 4K.mov · HEVC · 3.8 GB
PresetHQ 1080p30 Surround
EncoderH.265 (VideoToolbox)
QualityRF 22
Encoding: task 1 of 1, 62.40 % (148.2 fps, avg 141.7 fps, ETA 00h01m52s)
Compare video encoders
Every option ships inside the same free download. Pick by where the file will play.
| Encoder | Speed | File size | Plays on |
|---|---|---|---|
| H.264 x264 | Baseline | Everything | |
| H.265 x265 | Smaller | Modern devices | |
| AV1 SVT | Smallest | New browsers + TVs | |
| VideoToolbox | Larger | Apple + most players |
Lower RF means higher quality and bigger files. The HandBrake docs suggest RF 20–24 for 1080p and RF 22–28 for 4K as a starting point.
Reviews
Why Mac users keep HandBrake installed
Editors, parents, gamers and archivists all reach for the same free tool. Here's what they say after a few hundred encodes.
Shot a wedding on my iPhone and ended up with 30 GB of HEVC clips. HandBrake for Mac squeezed them under 6 GB and nobody can spot a difference on the TV.
Ayesha K.
I have run HandBrake on Mac since the PowerPC days. The queue still saves my weekends. Load forty episodes, hit Start and walk away.
Tom R.
VideoToolbox on my M2 Air is ridiculous. A 20 minute 4K clip finished in about four minutes and the laptop barely got warm.
Priya S.
Powerful and free, but the settings tabs scared me at first. Stick with presets for a week and it clicks. One star off for the learning curve.
Daniel W.
Found plenty of shady sites when I searched for a handbrake download. Grabbed the official DMG instead, matched the checksum and it opened right up.
Lucas M.
Our dance studio converts old recital DVDs for parents. HandBrake on my Mac reads the VIDEO_TS folders and keeps a chapter marker for every act.
Hannah B.
The Discord preset is a hidden gem. Gameplay clips come out under the upload limit and I never touch a slider.
Sofia G.
As an editor I need small review copies fast. A custom preset with H.265 10-bit at RF 22 gives clients a link they can stream on any phone.
Omar F.
First thing I run on a fresh Mac is the brew cask. Quickest handbrake mac download there is and updates arrive with everything else.
Ethan J.
FAQ
HandBrake for Mac questions, answered
Is HandBrake completely free?
Yes. HandBrake is free and open source under the GNU GPL version 2. There are no trials, no watermarks, no subscriptions and no account. A small team of volunteers builds it.
What macOS version does HandBrake for Mac need?
HandBrake 1.11.2 runs on macOS 10.13 High Sierra and later. That covers Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia and macOS 26 Tahoe.
Does HandBrake run natively on Apple Silicon?
Yes. The Mac download is a Universal binary, so it runs natively on M1, M2, M3 and M4 chips as well as Intel Macs. It also supports Apple VideoToolbox hardware encoding for fast H.264 and H.265 output.
Where is the safe HandBrake download for Mac?
The HandBrake team lists handbrake.fr, github.com/HandBrake and Flathub as the only official sources. Every download button on this page links to the official HandBrake-1.11.2.dmg on handbrake.fr. You can verify the file against the published checksums.
How do I install HandBrake via Terminal?
With Homebrew installed, open Terminal and run
brew install --cask handbrake-app. Homebrew downloads the official build and places HandBrake.app in your Applications folder. Run brew upgrade --cask handbrake-app to update later.Can HandBrake rip DVDs and Blu-ray discs?
HandBrake reads DVD and Blu-ray sources that have no copy protection, including VIDEO_TS folders and disc images. It does not defeat copy protection. Check the copyright rules in your country before converting any disc.
Which formats can HandBrake export?
HandBrake writes MP4, MKV and WebM files. For video it offers H.264, H.265, AV1, VP9 and more, plus Apple VideoToolbox hardware encoders. For audio it supports AAC, AC3, E-AC3, FLAC, MP3, Opus and passthrough.
Which HandBrake preset should I start with?
Fast 1080p30 is the default and works for most files. Pick HQ 1080p30 Surround for higher quality, an Apple preset for iPhone or Apple TV playback or Discord and Gmail presets when a file must stay under an upload limit.
Get HandBrake for your Mac
One free download. Every format, every preset and every encoder. No account and no catch.