Top 10 DVD Player Software & Hardware for Laptop [Best Picks]

With the development of digital media and streaming services, movies have gradually become a kind of digital file from the physical media form. Not only the film but the ways people play, share, and manage their videos have dramatically changed in recent years. It’s convenient and fashionable to have loads of movies saved on your laptop’s storage and play them anytime, anywhere. However, a significant number of people still choose the traditional way to record their life or play their favorite movies on a DVD disc. Meanwhile, these DVD disc collections can save your movies securely for a long time. If you are one of them, you must be searching for the best DVD player so that you can play DVDs on your laptop smoothly and efficiently.

Luckily, this is the right page you need. We will review the best DVD player for laptop in this article, whether it’s software or hardware. And we believe you can definitely find the one that suits your laptop the most. Just keep reading on!

• Part 1. Can I Play DVDs on Laptop
• Part 2. Top 5 External DVD Players for Laptop
• Part 3. Top 5 DVD Player Software for Laptop
• Part 4. How to Connect a DVD Player to a Laptop
• Part 5. FAQs of DVD Player for Laptop

Part 1. Can I Play DVDs on Laptop

The answer can be positive. But you still should adopt the proper DVD playback way according to your laptop’s configuration. We know that many manufacturers removed the optical drive from laptops a long time ago because it may make the machine cumbersome.

Play DVDs with an optical drive on the laptop

If you own a laptop with an optical drive, you can locate the optical drive on the machine. Follow the steps to play DVD on your laptop:

Step 1.Insert the DVD disc into the hard disk drive on your laptop. Your laptop will start to automatically read it.

Step 2.Launch a built-in DVD player on your laptop to play it. If you think the built-in player is not so powerful, you can download other great DVD player software for playback.

Watch DVDs via an external DVD drive for laptop

If you just bought an optical-drive-removed laptop recently, you need to:

Step 1.Purchase an external DVD drive from the store.

Step 2.Connect the drive to your laptop and put the disc into the drive.

Step 3.Follow the instructions to download a DVD player software on your laptop to play the DVD.

Part 2. Part 2. Top 5 External DVD Players for Laptop

1 LG GP65NB60 8× Super Ultra Slim Portable CD/DVD Drive

Price: ＄26.99

If you don’t have a big enough budget, the LG GP65NB60 8× DVD drive is one of the cheapest drives you can buy. It performs quieter than other drives when burning or ripping discs. LG GP65NB60 8× comes in multiple colors you can choose. However, it runs a bit slowly.

• Compatible with Windows 10/11 and macOS
• Support jamless play and silent play
• Video memory requirement: 64MB to 128MB
• Support M-DISC

2 Asus ZenDrive

Price: ＄37.99

Able to work on Windows, macOS, and Linux, Asus ZenDrive performs at a decent speed in writing and reading the disc. This lightweight drive is plug-and-play. What’s more, ZenDrive adopts the M-DISC technology to help you save data for a long time under harsh conditions.

• 8× optical storage write speed
• 13-millimeter ultra-slim design
• Support disc encryption for password control and hidden-file functionalities
• Support online backup for Android devices

3 Asus BW-16D1X-U Blu-ray Drive

Price: ＄168.00

Asus’s other great optical drive product, Asus BW-16D1X-U Blu-ray Drive, supports both DVD and Blu-ray discs. Asus BW-16D1X-U can present the same Blu-ray sound quality for disc playback but a little loss of image quality. Besides, it is fast for reading discs and ripping a Blu-ray movie.

• 16× optical storage write speed
• Support Blu-ray disc ripping
• Compatible with all formats of Blu-ray, DVD, and CD plus M-Disc
• Support USB 3.0 B port and DC power port

4 Panasonic DVD S700

Price: ＄44.88

For people who want to play DVDs with all regional codes, the Panasonic DVD S700 is the one you can’t miss. This region-free optical drive is easy to use with complete remote control for playing discs you bought in different areas. Meanwhile, its playback includes JPEG and MP3 as well.

• Support playback of DVD, CD, JPEG image files, and MP3 audio
• Play DVDs with all regional codes
• Support upscaling the native resolution of old DVDs for higher and larger TVs

5 Sony BDP S3200

Price: ＄129.00

Sony BDP S3200 is the other region-free external DVD drive. Besides the HDMI connection, it’s flexible to connect with Wi-Fi and ethernet. You can use this DVD drive to play Blu-ray discs, too. The streaming services and mirroring functionalities will also improve your playback experience.

• Support playback of Blu-ray discs, DVDs, CDs, and rewriteable CDs
• Support built-in Wi-Fi for wireless streaming with apps
• Support remote control
• Support Miracast technology to mirror your smartphones

Part 3. Top 5 DVD Player Software for Laptop

When you find a great external DVD drive, using it with powerful DVD player software can be a perfect match. Here are the five best DVD player programs in 2024 you can consider.

1 Blu-ray Master Blu-ray Player

Features

• Support DVD types of DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-DL, etc. from all regions
• Support Blu-ray playback
• Support playback forms of discs, folders, ISO image files, and IFO files
• Support almost all video and audio formats
• Support various playback settings to select subtitles, forward/backward, adjust movie’s effects, select audio tracks, manage playlist, and take screenshots

Bottom Line

Blu-ray Master Blu-ray Player is the most amazing DVD player you have ever seen before. This excellent DVD player supports almost all DVD types and video formats. No matter whether you are a beginner or a professional, you can easily get into it and navigate to the DVD title you want to watch. To enjoy a cinema-like DVD-watching experience on your laptop, Blu-ray Player provides support of resolution in 1080p HD, 4K, and 8K, as well as lossless sound quality. What’s more, the Blu-ray player supports all DVD regional codes, so you can play DVDs from anywhere you bought with it.

2 VLC Media Player

Features

• Support DVD discs, files, ISO files playback
• Support video format conversions
• Support screen recording
• Support MPEG and DivX streaming

Bottom Line

VLC Media Player is an open-source program that is compatible with both PC and Mac. It’s widely used because this free DVD player software supports a variety of media forms’ playback. However, the operation may be tough for new users. Moreover, it seems that there’s nothing VLC can’t do, but it isn’t expert in everyone.

3 5KPlayer

Features

• Support playback of video/audio files, DVD discs
• Support streaming services for websites like YouTube
• Support online radio stations of BBC, Classic FM, Hotmix radio, etc.
• Support AirPlay and DLNA wireless stream

Bottom Line

5KPlayer is the other free player software that suits your DVD playback on a laptop. It only supports DVDs. You can enjoy high video quality up to 8K with 5KPlayer on Windows and macOS. The streaming service and IPTV functions make it more versatile. But the instability and other playback problems will bother your watching.

4 PowerDVD

Features

• Support high-quality playback of DVD, Blu-ray, and 4Ultra HD
• Support major video formats like MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, APNG, WebP, WebM, etc,
• Support enhancing video and audio quality
• Support 100GB of free cloud storage to share on PC, TV, and phones

Bottom Line

PowerDVD is a Windows-only media player. It supports playing all regular DVD and Blu-ray discs. At the same time, PowerDVD developed other special features to improve the overall viewing experience, like 3D playback. Yet, these functions slow down the system’s performance.

5 Leawo Blu-ray Player

Features

• Support DVD/Blu-ray discs, files, ISO files playback
• Support virtual remote control of Blu-ray/DVD disc menu
• Support video files in AVI, MPEG, WMV, MP4, FLV, RMVB, MOV, Xvid, 3GP, etc.
• The multi-angle feature allows users to enjoy multi-camera movies and switch viewing angles

Bottom Line

Leawo Blu-ray Player is a suitable program for those who try to play DVDs on laptops. Its interface doesn’t have many figures or menus to bother you. You can control the disc playback well with this player. But the Leawo Blu-ray Player really needs stability improvements.

Part 4. How to Connect a DVD Player to a Laptop

When you get an ideal external DVD player for laptop computer, you can follow the steps below to connect them:

Step 1.Turn on your laptop.

Step 2.Plug one end of the USB cable into the external DVD drive. Then, plug the other end into your laptop.

Step 3.When the physical connections are secure, follow the instructions to download a related software for playback.

Part 5. FAQs of DVD Player for Laptop

• Do any laptops still have a DVD player?

  Not so much. More and more manufacturers decided to remove the built-in DVD player inside the laptop. This can make the laptop more lightweight.

• Can all laptops play DVDs?

  Yes. Even if your laptop doesn’t have an optical drive inside. You can play CDs or DVDs with an external DVD drive.

• Why DVD is not playing on my laptop?

  Many reasons can cause this problem. Your DVD drive is disabled, the DVD disc is dirty or damaged, the region code of the DVD isn’t compatible with your player, and more.

Wrapping up

Here we are, finally, the article’s end. We believe that you have gained everything about playing DVDs on your laptop through reading. We listed the best DVD player for laptop with ten software and hardware for you to select. If you think hardware is more expensive. An economical and powerful player software, such as the Blu-ray Master Blu-ray Player, can wipe out all your worries. Download it and enjoy a fantastic DVD viewing experience on your laptop!