In 2026, there are a variety of reasons why I’m personally looking to get away from mainstream movie and TV streaming services. Putting aside the industry-wide propensity for price creep, the lack of real media ownership in the streaming era gives me pause now more than ever.
Thankfully, there are solutions out there that’ll let me have my cake and eat it too. Arguably chief among the available streaming antidotes is Plex — a media platform that lets you host a free personal media server, all without the need to rely on big tech servers, and all without those pesky recurring payment fees.
In my case, I have a large collection of home movie DVD optical discs spanning the better part of three decades, most of which have been lying dormant in my closet for many, many years. With the power of Plex, I’ve been able to create a makeshift streaming service of my own — one that encompasses all my DVDs, that doesn’t cost a penny, and that I can access across all my modern devices.
Ripping personally-owned DVDs for the purposes of placing on a private Plex server is a legal gray area in most jurisdictions. Generally speaking, it’s illegal to circumvent the digital rights management (DRM) software included on many discs, and sharing your server with third-parties is considered copyright infringement. With this in mind, stick with personal home videos, as well as with media that has entered the public domain. Additionally, refrain from sharing your Plex server with anyone.
Below are the three steps I took to convert my entire DVD collection into a personal Plex server in no time flat.
Step 1
Rip the contents of your disc(s)
To start the DVD-to-Plex conversion process, you’ll need to rip the contents of each of your discs onto your computer. If your PC includes a built-in disc reader, then you can simply insert the discs directly into the slot. If you have a newer PC without a dedicated drive, you’ll need to employ the use of an external USB-powered DVD or Blu-ray drive — these can be readily found at affordable rates on digital marketplaces like Amazon.
Modern PC operating systems like Windows 11 and macOS 26 Tahoe don’t natively support the ability to rip DVDs or Blu-ray discs. As such, you’ll need a third-party tool to get the job done. Some popular options out there include:
If you happen to have a Linux-based rig, you may be able to get away with ripping your discs without the use of third-party software, but, depending on your Linux distribution, you’ll likely need to install additional packages to handle decryption.
Step 2
Organize your ripped file(s)
Next, you’ll want to organize your ripped files once the ripping process itself has completed. I’d recommend naming each digital file in a consistent, streamlined manner, and placing your files in a folder or in a set of folders that works best for you.
You can opt to store your files right on your computer, or you can choose to transfer them to an external hard disk drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD) to save on internal storage space. Video tends to take up quite a bit of storage capacity (a standard DVD can hold up to 4.7 GB of data), and so external drives are the ideal solution here.
For best-possible compatibility with Plex, consider converting your media files to the MKV video format.
For a more advanced setup, you can also set up a Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive to transfer your files onto. A NAS is a private, self-hosted ‘cloud’ drive that connects to your home network for convenient and privacy-conscious data storage. For more information on NAS drives, check out Pocket-lint’s dedicated guide on the subject.
Step 3
Add your ripped file(s) to Plex
Lastly, you’ll need to connect your ripped DVD files to the Plex service itself. To do so, download the Plex Media Server application onto your PC, or access the Plex Media Server website from a desktop web browser.
From here, tap or click on the plus button located near your Plex library list, and then select Movies or TV Shows based on the type of media you’re looking to connect to the platform. A file picker will then appear on screen — simply navigate to the folder or folders containing your ripped DVD files, and then confirm.
In order to get up and running with Plex Media Server, you’ll need to create a free account. This only takes a couple of minutes, and it doesn’t require handing over any credit card credentials or the like.
Once everything is said and done, Plex will automatically organize your uploaded media within its own interface, scraping for metadata like artwork and descriptions in the background. You can view your content on any device by downloading the (separate) Plex app onto your PC or mobile device, and then logging in with your credentials.
