HomeTo keep Blu-ray and DVD discs safe, many people tend to copy Blu-ray/DVD to ISO disc image to keep original video. But file such as ISO images are generally referred to as "disk image" formats because they're basically "cloning" the structure and content from a DVD or Blu-Ray optical disc so they are not supported by Plex. Simply put, you can protect discs from making ISO images but you can't play ISO images through Plex.
Since ISO formats just don't fit into the idea behind the Plex ecosystem, we recommend that users convert such content into more common and compatible media formats. There are many formats and tools available. Some can retain full quality of the original video or others could greatly compress the filesize with nearly no noticeable visual (or audio) quality loss.
Best ISO to Plex Converter
Pavtube ByteCopy is the best tool to help you achieve ISO playback on Plex by remuxing the images or transcoding ISO images to Plex more compatible media formats. It offers two broad strategies for converting disk image formats into something much more compatible:
* Remux the content. Remuxing is quick and retains the full quality of the original source, but the resulting files can be quite large (anywhere from 2GB to 50GB, depending on the source).
* Transcode the content. Transcoding can take quite a bit of time to process (anywhere up to several times the source content duration), but should result in a much smaller file with virtually no visually-noticeable loss of quality if done well. Resulting files might be anywhere from 500MB to 15GB.
Besides ISO to Plex conversion, Pavtube ByteCopy also can rip DVD and Blu-ray directly to Plex. It can rip 4K Blu-ray to H.265/HEVC 4K MP4 to Plex and make 3D SBS MP4 out of 3D Blu-ray for Plex playing. You can adjust video bitrate, video codec, video frame rate, video resolution, audio codec, audio channel to more fit in Plex. If you are using Mac computer, you should use Pavtube ByteCopy for Mac.
Part 1: Remux ISO to Plex in lossless MKV
Step 1. Free download and install the ISO copying tool on your PC.
Step 2. Launch it and then click “File” > “Load IFO/ISO files” to load the ISO image files you want to rip. As you can see, Blu-ray/DVD disc, BD/DVD folder, IFO files are also supported.
Step 3. Choose MKV format as output, here “Format > Multi-track Video > Lossless/encoded Multi-track MKV (*.mkv)” is recomended for you. And the audio tracks, subtitles streams, and chapters preserved in the MKV container are available to select at will during playback with Plex.
Tip: There is a “Settings” option, which allows you to make adjustments on your audio, video, subtitles. It’s worth mentioning that, by default, all audio & subtitles tracks in a source file are checked to be saved in the MKV container, if there are some tracks you don’t like, you can click Settings button and go to Multi-task Settings window to uncheck and remove them under Audio tab and Subtitle tab.
Note: To do ISO to MKV conversion without re encoding, don’t change audio parameters under “Encode” option, otherwise you will get a encoded multi-track MKV file, not lossless multi-track MKV and recoding ISO to MKV will take a little more time for conversion than lossless output.
Step 4. Start ripping ISO to MKV with multiple tracks for Plex
Click "Convert" button to start to remux ISO files to Plex. The conversion only take a few minutes, after it’s done. Click “Open” button, you will get the converted movie file. Then stream them via Plex Media Server and watch with your media player in multiple audio tracks.
Part 2: Transcode ISO to Plex more compatible content
Step 1. Load ISO images
Run the versatile ISO to Plex converter on PC and click “File” ＞ “Load ISO/IFO File" to load Blu-ray or DVD ISO movie for conversion to Plex.
Tip. If you want a preferred subtitle and audio displayed on the output ISO images, just choose from “Subtitle” and “Audio” dropdown menu.
Step 2. Choose Plex playable format
You can set the output format as MP4. Click the format bar to follow “HD Video” ＞ “H.264 HD Video (*.mp4).” Of course you can choose other output formats from the output format list as long as they are compatible with the Plex media player.
Tip: Click "Settings", you can adjust A/V parameters to make the video more compatible with Plex. Content matching the following can usually be Direct Played:
Container: MP4
Resolution: 1920x1080 or smaller
Video Encoding: H.264 (level 4.0 or lower)
Video Framerate: 30fps
Video Bit Depth: 8
Audio Encoding: AAC
Step 3. Rip ISO to Plex
Hit the “Convert” button to start to re-encode ISO to MP4 for Plex.
After remux or transoce ISO to Plex, now you can add the files to the library of Plex. You can watch the movies on TV with Plex via Roku, PS4, PS3, Apple TV 4/3, any one you like.
Video Playback Tips on Plex
Keep these tips in mind to help ensure the best experience.
- Higher streaming quality values have a better chance to allow the content to be Direct Streamed or Direct Played.
- Enabling multi-channel audio in the global settings menu adds support for the associated audio codec during Direct Play and transcoding.
- Setting a streaming quality value lower than the content's bitrate will cause the video to be transcoded. Most devices can handle streams with peak bitrates < 20Mbps. Some devices can handle higher quality transcodes or remuxes.
- Changing the Maximum H.264 Level global setting can allow many files to Direct Stream or Direct Play. Videos use the H.264 Level to define a maximum bitrate for the video as well as decoding parameters.
-- A H.264 level below that of the source video will force the video to transcode.
-- A H.264 level slightly higher than the recommended is usually safe.
-- Selecting the "None" value may be safe based on you media.
-- Changing the H.264 Level above the device's recommended value could possibly result in severe playback stability issues or device instability. Please exercise caution when adjusting this setting.
Plex Frequently Asked Questions
Does the app support multi-channel (AC3, eAC3, DTS, etc.) audio?
When possible. Enabling AC3/eAC3/DTS is prevented on devices we have directly found to be incompatible. On other devices, users can enable settings for their own testing.
Note: If you enable one of these settings but your device/setup doesn't actually support it, you'll typically experience silence or strange audio playback.
See the Specific Model Differences section for more information.
Does the app support audio passthrough?
Yes. Plex will present video streams with multi-channel audio to the television as-is. It's up to the television to handle the audio from there. If you experience issues, you may find success enabling digital (bitstream) audio output from your television to your receiver via ARC.
Is 3D playback supported?
Yes. However, note that there is nothing special that the Plex app can do to instruct the television that a specific video is 3D. You will need to enable the appropriate 3D viewing mode on the television yourself.
See the Specific Model Differences section for more information.
Does Plex support 4K?
When possible. We currently support 4K on the TiVo Roamio & Bolt (Series 6) devices, supported 2016 Tizen-based Samsung models, as well as VIZIO televisions.
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