While cloning an encrypted movie DVD takes more technical steps than your standard copy-and-paste process on your PC, plenty of effective software exists to make the process quick and painless. The difficult part, then, is picking out the right software for the work that you need to accomplish. In this article, we'll review the most common types of software used to produce backup copies of your DVDs.

Before beginning, please notice that although making backup copies of DVD's you own is often considered to be legal per the recognized definition of fair use, it has not been established in courts. However, making "backup" copies of DVD's you don't own is intellectual property theft, plain and simple, so don't do it!

In order for a typical movie and all of the associated extras to fit onto one DVD, the content is often compressed. When the disc is decrypted and copied to your computer, the size that it takes on your computer's hard drive is frequently much larger than it originally required on DVD. That means that when you go to burn those files back to a DVD, you'll often find that there is not enough room to do so. So in addition to the DVD decryption software and ripping software to get the content to your computer, you'll need reauthoring software to get the content into a format that can be copied back to DVD.

Reauthoring really just refers to the techniques you can use to modify the format or content in the overall DVD file(s). The two examples that instantly come to mind are compressing the content as it's decrypted from the original DVD, or removing content from the DVD as the complete disc is ripped from the original DVD. The removed content could be things like the DVD menu, subtitles, alternate languages, or other DVD special features.

So your 4 main software choices are:|This leads us to our four main software alternatives:|This sets the stage for the 4 types of software that can be used to carry out this process:

DVD Decryption / Compression Software: This type of software will not only decrypt a DVD, but will also enable you to reauthor the DVD, removing unneeded bits and pieces so that it can fit on a single DVD when burned. DVD Shrink is an example of this type of software.

DVD Decryption Software: This type of software can decrypt the content of a DVD, but cannot compress it. Therefore, the decrypted file is commonly of the main movie title only, and not any of the menus or extra choices. DVDFab is an example of this type of software.

DVD Burning Software: With both of the above types of software, you will only be able to move the content to your computer. To get it back into DVD format, you'll need a burner. ImgBurn and Nero are good examples of this type of software.

Multifunction coftware: taking a great deal of the work out of the process is all-in-one software, which unites features of two or more of the preceding types of software into one package. For example, a typical DVD copy program will take care of decryption, ripping, and burning.

When you're familiar with what's out there, you're much less likely to box yourself into a software corner, where you choose the wrong software for the job and are then afraid to move on. But please do remember that although intellectual property laws vary in different countries, intellectual property theft is almost always unlawful, so don't make copies of discs that you don't own. This would most definitely NOT be considered fair use!