How to Download a Movie and Burn It to a DVD for Easy Viewing

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Your guide to downloading and burning a movie for personal use

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: August 19, 2025 Fact Checked

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• Downloading a Movie
|
• Burning on Windows
|
• Burning on Mac
|
• Video
|
• Q&A
|
• Tips
|
• Warnings

|Show more |Show less

This wikiHow teaches you how to burn a downloaded movie file onto a DVD. You can do this on both Windows and Mac computers. Before downloading a movie, make sure that you aren't breaking any anti-piracy laws by doing so.

Burning a Downloaded Movie to DVD

To burn a movie onto a DVD, download the movie onto your computer first. Insert a blank DVD into your computer's CD tray. On PC, select With a CD/DVD Player and choose the files you want to add to the DVD. On Mac, Ctrl + Click the movie file and select Burn to disc.

Steps

Section 1 of 3:

Downloading a Movie

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1. 1
   Search for the movie you want to download. You can download YouTube movies, or you can search for a movie on any file-sharing site.

   • You'll typically have to purchase the movie before you can download it legally.
   • If you're on a torrent site, you can use uTorrent or BitTorrent to download movies.
2. 
   2
   Make sure that the movie is safe to download. Look at what other site users have said about the download, check its ratings, and verify the website's safety.

   • You should also make sure that the video's format will work on your computer with your video player.
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3. 
   3
   Check the video's attributes. Many file sites post the video's quality and language next to the title of the movie or in the description box; if this information doesn't match your expectations, you'll need to download a different version of the movie.
4. 
   4
   Download the movie. Click the "Download" button near the movie. This button will differ from site to site, so look for links and arrows as well as actual Download buttons.

   • Depending on your browser's settings, you may have to select a download location (e.g., the desktop) before the file will actually download.
   • Make sure the button you click is the site's actual download button and not a pop-up ad. The download button will usually be a link rather than a giant, green, flashing button.
5. 
   5
   Wait for the movie to finish downloading. Once the movie finishes downloading, you can proceed with burning it using your Windows or Mac computer.
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Section 2 of 3:

Burning on Windows

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1. 
   1
   Insert a blank DVD-R into your computer's CD tray. The DVD has to be blank (e.g., brand-new) and logo-side-up for this to work.

   • The CD tray must be able to burn DVDs. You can tell whether or not your computer's CD tray can burn DVDs by looking for the "DVD" logo on or near the CD tray.
2. 2
   Select "With a CD/DVD Player" and click Next. This will prompt Windows to create a DVD that will play, with a title menu and other options, as soon as it's popped into a CD/DVD player.

   • If you want to burn a data disc, which won't play movies automatically, you can choose "Like a USB drive."
3. 3
   Drag and drop your movie file(s) to the disc. You can copy and paste them into the new File Explorer window, or you can simply drag and drop them.
4. 4
   Select Drive Tools and click Finish burning. Windows will burn the files you placed in the file to the CD/DVD.

   • You can also right-click the disc icon and select Finish burning from there.
5. 5
   Enter the disc title and recording speed, then click Next. You'll see a progress bar that estimates how long it will take for the disc to finish.

   • Click Finish when done.
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Section 3 of 3:

Burning on Mac

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1. 
   1
   Buy and plug in an external DVD writer. Since most Macs don't have disc trays anymore, you'll need to buy an external DVD drive and attach it to your computer via a USB-C cable.

   • Make sure that the DVD reader you buy can "burn" or write DVDs before purchasing it.
   • Skip this step if your Mac desktop or MacBook already has a DVD drive with DVD writing capabilities.
2. 
   2
   Insert a blank DVD-R into your Mac's CD tray. The DVD has to be blank (e.g., brand-new) and logo-side-up for this to work.
3. 3
   Press Ctrl and click the movie file. This will open more options.
4. 4
   Select Burn to Disc. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the burning process.
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Community Q&A

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• Question

  How do I play media from my SD Card on my DVD player?

  

  Community Answer

  Try burning the media onto a CD or DVD and play it on your player.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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  Not Helpful 2 Helpful 2
• Question

  Does this process work on a Mac?

  

  Community Answer

  Very differently. The software used for piracy of movies may not be allowed to run or may not have a certificate on a Mac, and may be unverifiable. This can cause issues, slowness, or even a full-on infection of all of your system files (not like OSX wasn't full on infection to begin with). Try Windows, you won't regret it.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

  Yes No

  Not Helpful 0 Helpful 2
• Question

  How do you manage if the movie length exceeds the two hours of the DVD disc?

  

  Community Answer

  Burn it to a dual layer (DL) DVD - but you need a burner capable of burning dual layer disks.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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Tips

• If you download a movie in two parts, you can burn it to two separate DVDs.
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• It's best to download the movie in ISO format if possible.
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Warnings

• Regular DVDs only support 4.7 gigabytes of data. You can buy a DVD+R DL DVD, which supports 8.5 gigabytes, for larger videos.
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