How to Play VOB Files on Mac

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Before we get to how to open VOB files on Mac, let’s start by going over what a VOB file is. This will help you better understand how to pick the best VOB player for loading your files. VOB stands for video object, and it represents a container format that is used for audio and video files, but also for DVD menus and subtitles. You can watch your videos and movies on Windows PCs or Mac computers in a VOB format as long as there is a VOB player that you can use. However, VOB is not a very common format nowadays, which means that, unfortunately, several media players do not support it. Now let’s see what the best player currently available on the market is.

About VOB File

We established earlier what is a VOB file and that is used to store the data of all the elements of a video/movie, such as subtitles, DVD menus, the video, and the audio. Now, you will find that most DVDs have some form of copy protection or encryption that doesn’t allow for the files to be copied straight from the DVD disc. This means that if you try to play a video that you have just copied from a DVD on your hard drive, you’ll immediately get an error on your screen.

There are a couple of programs dedicated to the decryption of such files that bypass the original authentication keys, however, there are certain legislations in place that forbid their use. However, you don’t need to subject yourself to any risk of getting in trouble, as multiple high-quality programs will let you play your favorite movies in no time.

What is a VOB file?

Play VOB Files on Mac with Third-Party VOB Player

You are probably asking yourself „alright, but what is the best app for playing VOB on mac?” Say no more! You will be glad to know that we have selected the best options for you to consider and we will go through each and every one of them, to see what are their strengths and weaknesses, compare them, and then conclude which one is the best converter for .vob files. Without further ado, let’s go explore the best players currently available on the market.

Elmedia Player

If you’re looking for the best possible player that can help you get VOB files to play on your macOS, the answer is Elmedia Player. It comes with a wide variety of codecs available for you to use, including VOB. The software has multiple features that make your life easier, giving you absolute control over the playback aspect. It allows you to sync the audio and the subtitles, adjust the brightness of the video, deinterlace, and many others. Another reason why this is an excellent VOB player is the fact that you are not required to install any kind of codecs whatsoever in order to play your files.

Video Guide
Video tutorial on How to Play VOB Files on Mac

Another great feature of the Elmedia player app is that it allows you to stream content straight to your Chromecast, Apple TV, DLNA-certified devices, AirPlay, or Smart TV. It combines all the functional elements that you need from a VOB player with a smooth user interface that is definitely worthy of the praise received from its users.

Elmedia VOB Player

VLC Media Player

VLC is one of the more popular media players as it’s been around since the 2000s, and still continues to serve as one of the best video players out there. You can use VLC on the following OS: Android, Windows 7/8/10/11, Chrome OS, macOS, iOS, MacBook, etc. It also supports a wide variety of multimedia files such as VCDs, Audio CDs, or DVDs, as well as several streaming protocols. Of course, VOB is included in the list of supported formats

However, we have read several user reviews that were mentioning about having experienced difficulties in playing .vob files with VLC. The issues were fixed by either playing the VOB video with the VLC Open Disc feature, or by changing the extension of the file to .mpg from .vob. Reportedly, most of the time you will need to convert the files from VOB to MP4 or other formats that VLC currently supports for successful playback.

.vob files with VLC

MPlayer

The pioneer of video players, the classic Windows Media Player, was developed by Microsoft and did a pretty good job of playing, organizing, and storing video and audio file types on Windows OS, mobile devices, and pocket PC. However, the player still had some issues when dealing with VOB files.

It had difficulties in playing VOB files due to not having a MPEG-2 decoder or encoder in its system. The developers have since fixed this and the player can now handle VOB files, so you will be able to enjoy your video collection unhindered.

MPlayer - play VOB files

Convert VOB to MP4/MOV for Mac Playback

Normally, you will find that the built-in media player from both Windows and Mac devices, such as QuickTime or Windows Media Player, does not normally support the VOB format. However, luckily for you, there are several solutions available on the market that will allow you to easily bypass these issues.

In order for you to be able to play VOB files on your iPad, iPhone, AppleTV, Mac, or other mobile devices or to have unlimited editing possibilities of VOB files on a MAC, you will need to convert them to MP4 (or M4V, MOV).

EaseFab Video Converter Ultimate for VOB

The Ease Fab software will allow you to convert VOB files into MP4 and several other formats such as MKV, MOV, AVI, etc. The Merge feature that is embedded in the app will let you grab multiple VOB files and convert them into a single MP4 file. The software comes with a High-Quality Engine that has the sole purpose of keeping the loss of quality at minimum levels – it saves up to 98% of the video quality!

The app allows you to decode and re-encode a VOB video to one of the 500+ preset format profiles. Profiles such as iPhone, iPad, Android, iMovie, MKV, WebM, SWF, Apple TV, etc. It also gives you the option of editing your VOB files, so you will have access to crop, trim, apply effects, add subtitles, and many other features.

EaseFab for VOB

Conclusion

After discovering what a VOB file is, how we use them, how to play VOB files on mac, and what software is the best to fulfill all your needs, we hope that we shed a bit more clarity on the matter and that you are now armed with the proper knowledge for choosing what’s best for you.

After researching and reviewing the best video players that support the VOB file format, the most impressive and complete one, in our opinion, is Elmedia Player. It perfectly combines functionality with looks, offering the user a smooth and unhindered process. It has never been easier to play VOB files on your Mac, and it also has a free version so you can dip your fingers into the water before deciding to go for the full package.

Frequently Asked Questions

The VOB files represent the core of a DVD movie, it has a .vob extension and can usually be found in the VIDEO_TS folder. If the .vob files are encrypted, a generic player won’t be able to load them. Another cause for your player not reading a VOB file could be the lack of a DVD playback function, which is crucial.

If you’re wondering how to open VOB files on mac, there are multiple options that can help, such as VLC media player, Final Media Player, GOM, etc. The best player available on the market right now is Elmedia Player which offers all the necessary functionalities that you will need to enjoy your movies.

All you need to do is to launch the VOB converter on your Mac, click the „Add Video” button and then load your VOB files, then select MOV as your preferred output format, and click on „Convert”. You also have the option of „batch conversion” to convert multiple files in one go.