libdvdcss ☆

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Description:
Access DVDs as block devices without the decryption

Type: Formula | Latest Version: 1.5.0@0 | Tracked Since: Nov 9, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Multimedia

Tags: dvd multimedia decryption library video

Install: brew install libdvdcss

About:
libdvdcss is a lightweight C library designed to access DVDs as block devices by handling CSS decryption transparently. It enables media players to read encrypted video DVDs without requiring the proprietary libdvdcss-2 library or complex user-side key extraction. This library is essential for open-source software that needs to play or rip standard commercial DVDs on Linux and other platforms.

Key Features:

Transparent CSS decryption for encrypted DVDs
Small, lightweight C library with minimal dependencies
Provides a simple file-like API for DVD access
Supports Linux, macOS, and BSD systems

Use Cases:

Enabling DVD playback in open-source media players like VLC
Building DVD ripping tools that can handle encrypted discs
Developing custom DVD analysis or backup software

Alternatives:

libdvdread – libdvdread handles DVD structure navigation but relies on libdvdcss for CSS decryption; the two are often used together.
libdvdcss-2 (proprietary) – The closed-source version of libdvdcss; libdvdcss is a clean-room reimplementation providing similar functionality for open-source projects.

Version History

Detected	Version	Rev	Change	Commit
Nov 9, 2025 5:10pm		0	VERSION_BUMP	2c09146a
Nov 9, 2025 4:29pm		0	VERSION_BUMP	49f9390e