Should I rip DVDs to ISO or VOB files?

[bitrape]

Which is better? Assuming both are lossless.

[MOVIEGEEK]

There is no "better", it depends on what you will be doing with them.

[hech54]

The DVD structure (VOB files inside a VIDEO_TS folder) is inside the ISO image.
Stop talking about VOB files. VOB files are useless(and not a DVD) outside of their VIDEO_TS folder.

[usually_quiet]

Which is better? Assuming both are lossless.

Moviegeek has the right idea about use determining the ripping format.

VOBs don't always play back correctly without a complete DVD file/folder structure, and ISOs are often problematic for streaming over a home network or playing the video with a hardware-based media player. Ripping a DVD to MKV file(s) with MakeMKV may make more sense for some people than ripping to either VOBs or ISOs.

[manono]

Ripping a DVD to MKV file(s) with MakeMKV may make more sense for some people than ripping to either VOBs or ISOs.

I experimented using MakeMKV on a DVD for upload to YouTube. What I wound up from this 23.976fps film with pulldown was a 29.97fps video on YouTube with every fifth frame a dupe (I downloaded it to check what was going on). Not what I had in mind, although I suppose I should have expected that. I'm not sure software or hardware players will play an MKV made from the DVD as they would the DVD itself. I then experimented with stripping the TFF/RFF flags and returning the M2V to its original 23.976fps, muxed it into an MPG, reuploaded it, and all was good with framerate and aspect ratio.

The upshot of all this is that I doubt, for NTSC people, using MakeMKV on film DVDs is such a good idea. Since all I cared about was what happened with an MKV from MakeMKV on YouTube, I didn't investigate any further.

I also agree with MOVIEGEEK if by 'VOB files' bitrape means the complete DVD and not just the VOBs. hech54 and usually_quiet are absolutely right about that.

[bitrape]

Which is better? Assuming both are lossless.

Moviegeek has the right idea about use determining the ripping format.

VOBs don't always play back correctly without a complete DVD file/folder structure, and ISOs are often problematic for streaming over a home network or playing the video with a hardware-based media player. Ripping a DVD to MKV file(s) with MakeMKV may make more sense for some people than ripping to either VOBs or ISOs.

Would VLC or foobar count as a hardware based player?

[usually_quiet]

Which is better? Assuming both are lossless.

Moviegeek has the right idea about use determining the ripping format.

VOBs don't always play back correctly without a complete DVD file/folder structure, and ISOs are often problematic for streaming over a home network or playing the video with a hardware-based media player. Ripping a DVD to MKV file(s) with MakeMKV may make more sense for some people than ripping to either VOBs or ISOs.

Would VLC or foobar count as a hardware based player?

No. VLC and foobar are software-based. I was thinking about the built-in media player in a TV or a Blu-ray player

[stonesfan129]

I recommend ripping to a MKV file instead. The files seem to turn out a tad smaller than an ISO. I'm not exactly sure why.