DVD Decrypter is a software application for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

that can create backup

disk image A disk image is a snapshot of a storage device's content typically stored in a file on another storage device. Traditionally, a disk image was relatively large because it was a bit-by-bit copy of every storage location of a device (i.e. every ...

s of the DVD-Video structure of

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s. It can be used to make a copy of any DVD protected with Content Scrambling System (CSS). The program can also record images to disc — functionality that the author has now incorporated into a separate product called ImgBurn. The software also allows a copy of a region-specific DVD to be made region free. It also removes Macrovision content protection, CSS, region codes, and

user operation prohibition The user operation prohibition (abbreviated UOP) is a form of digital rights management, use restriction used on video DVD discs and Blu-ray Disc, Blu-ray discs. Most DVD player, DVD players and Blu-ray players prohibit the viewer from performing ...

Legality in the United States

As DVD Decrypter facilitates the removal of copy restrictions, certain uses may be illegal under the United States

Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...

unless making copies that are covered under the

Fair Use Fair use is a Legal doctrine, doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to bal ...

doctrine (or in some cases illegal even when making copies under fair use). In countries without similar laws there may not be any legal restrictions. On June 6, 2005, the developer, Lightning UK!, announced via the CD Freaks website that he received a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

letter from Macrovision. He later stated it was within his best interests to comply with the letter, and stopped development of the program. By June 7, 2005, a

mirror A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...

site was up, which allowed people to download the final version (3.5.4.0). On November 27, 2005, Afterdawn.com, a Finnish website, announced that it complied with a letter received from Macrovision demanding that DVD Decrypter be taken down from its site. Under United States federal law, making a backup copy of a

DVD-Video DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVDs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in most of the world in the 2000s. As of 2024, it competes with the high-definition Blu-ray Disc, while both rece ...

or an

audio CD Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the '' Red Book'' technical specifications, which is why t ...

by a consumer is legal under

fair use Fair use is a Legal doctrine, doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to bal ...

protection. However, this provision of United States law conflicts with the

prohibition of so-called "circumvention measures" of

copy protection Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, is any measure to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media. Copy protection is most commonly found on vid ...

s. In the "321" case, Federal District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California, ruled that the backup copies made with software such as DVD Decrypter are legal but that distribution of the software used to make them is illegal. In 2010, the

Librarian of Congress The librarian of Congress is the head of the Library of Congress, appointed by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, for a term of ten years. The librarian of Congress also appoints and overs ...

instituted a DMCA exemption which protects circumvention of CSS protection under certain circumstances. This exemption expired in 2013. On October 4, 2005, Lightning UK! continued the development of the burning engine used by DVD Decrypter in his new tool, ImgBurn. However, for legal reasons, ImgBurn does not have the ability to circumvent copy protections of encrypted DVDs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dvd Decrypter DVD rippers Internet in the United States Windows-only freeware Discontinued software

Legality in the United States

See also

References