While replicating an encrypted DVD movies requires more technical steps than a typical copy-and-paste function on your PC, a lot of effective software exists to make the process quick and painless. The challenging part, then, is choosing the appropriate software for the job that you need to accomplish. In this article, we'll review the most common categories of software used to produce backup copies of your DVDs.

While generally interpreted to fall within the realm of "fair use," creating backup copies of DVDs you own has never been verified in U.S. courts. That is, although it is not illegal to make copies of DVDs you own, it has not yet been ruled legal either.

In order for a standard movie and all of the related extras to fit onto one DVD, the content is often compressed. When the disc is decrypted and ripped to your computer, the size that it requires on your computer's hard drive is oftentimes much larger than it originally required on DVD. That means that when you try to copy those files back to a DVD, you'll frequently find that there is not enough room to do so. So in addition to the DVD ripping software and decryption software to get the content on your computer, you'll also 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 change the format or content in the overall DVD file(s). The two examples that immediately come to mind are compressing the content while it's decrypted from the original DVD, or removing content from the DVD as the entire disc is ripped from the original DVD. The removed content could be things like subtitles, extra languages, commentary, or other DVD special features.

Considering the available options, here are the four basic classes of software that you can use:

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

Standalone decryption software: some software is capable of removing copy protection and burning a disc's image to your hard drive, but does not have any type of reauthoring or compression capabilities built into it. Some alternatives automatically remove extras so that you are left with the DVD movie only and no extras; others just make a straight copy of what is on the disc for you to reauthor using a different package.

Recording software: once the DVD files are on your computer, you'll need a piece of software to convert those files back into a format that can then be burned onto a physcial DVD.

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

Being aware of the different types of software available and their variations should make your DVD copying efforts much more manageable. Remember that intellectual property laws vary from country to country, but in almost all countries, making copies of DVD's you don't own is prohibited!