Turn a DVD into an Audiobook

Last Modified:February 21, 2005

Using VLC and iTunes, turn a DVD into an audiobook to listen to on the go

Keywords: vlc, itunes, dvd, audiobook

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VLC is a very versatile media player. Besides just playing content, it can play content to a file, changing formats. You can even have it play the output of a DVD to a file. To begin, insert a DVD into your computer and open up VLC. (DVD Player may start up, quit it if it does). Go to File< Open File. Inside the "Open Source' Dialog, choose the "Disc" tab. First, uncheck "Use DVD Menus". Secondly, at the top of the window will be a space to enter a MRL. At the end of this string will be something that takes the format "Title:Chapter." By default, it will show "1:1", and change this to simple "1" By getting rid of the chapter number, VLC will play the entire movie. Finally, check "Advanced output:" and click on "Settings..." From top to bottom:

• choose the option File, and click browse. Choose the file name and where you want to save the file to.
• For Encapsulation Method, choose "Quicktime."
• For Transcode options, uncheck Video, check Audio, and choose your favorite Codec (mp4a is a fine choice.) Make sure to use just 2 channels for the audio, and use a high enough bit rate to keep the quality high (I use 96, and it is just fine for me)
Choose OK, and OK again. The movie will play, in real time, and at the end a file will be created and ready to import into iTunes To import into iTunes, open iTunes and open the "Advanced" menu while holding down the option key. Choose "Convert to AAC..." The movie will start to convert to an audio file and be added to your iTunes library. The final step is to change the file to an audiobook file. Select the file, hit Commad-R and the file will be revealed in the Finder. Change the end of the file from "m4a" to "m4b." Changing it to an audiobook allows you to stop and start the file and it will pick up from where you left off, instead of from the beginning. Now enjoy listening to your movie on your iPod.

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