In a Q&A with members of the press in 2008, Steve Jobs commented Blu-ray as "a bag of hurt". He said that "I don’t mean from a consumer point of view. It’s great to watch movies. But the licensing is so complex. We’re waiting until things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace before we burden our customers with the cost of the licensing and the cost of the drives."

Because of Sony’s licensing policy upon Blu-ray, currently Microsoft and Apple have not included the native support for Blu-ray playback. Therefore, naturally, if you need to play Blu-ray ISO file on Mac, you need to turn to some third party Blu-ray playback solutions. This post will introduce you 2 ways on how to play Blu-ray ISO file on Mac. Some basic knowledge is also introduced here. Ready? Let’s scroll down.

Part 1: Things for Playing Blu-ray File on Mac

You need to get preparation work well done before you can play Blu-ray file on Mac. Besides source Blu-ray files, you still need to make some other preparation. The following content would show you what you need to prepare:

Blu-ray Player Software

No matter you’re going to play Blu-ray ISO file on Mac or enjoy Blu-ray movie in disc/folder on Mac, you need to first make sure you’ve got Blu-ray player software installed on your MacBook or iMac. QuickTime is not friendly with Blu-ray ISO file and other Blu-ray files, so don’t rely on it. You need to turn to some third-party Blu-ray player software. As to what Blu-ray player software to get, you could refer to Part 2 of this post. It should be noted that if your Blu-ray files are protected, you need to get Blu-ray player software that could remove the disc protection and break region code restriction so as to play Blu-ray file on Mac smoothly.

Blu-ray Disc Drive

In case you need to play Blu-ray disc on Mac, far more than simply playing Blu-ray ISO file on Mac, you need to get a Blu-ray drive connected with your MacBook or iMac. Currently, Apple hasn’t included Blu-ray drive in their MacBook or iMac, therefore you need to purchase a USB Blu-ray drive from your local stores or online retailer stores like Amazon or BestBuy. You could get as many choices as you search. Compare them and get a desired one.

Part 2: How to Play Blu-ray ISO Files on Mac for Free - Leawo Blu-ray Player

It would be quite simple to play Blu-ray ISO file on Mac free with Blu-ray ISO player freeware for Mac. The only thing you need to get ready for is free Blu-ray ISO player Mac. Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac is highly recommended. This free Blu-ray ISO player Mac is a comprehensive and free Blu-ray player for Mac users to play Blu-ray disc, DVD disc, Blu-ray folder, Blu-ray ISO files, DVD folder, DVD ISO files, 4K videos, 1080P HD videos and audio files for totally free. It offers one-click operation to play Blu-ray ISO file on Mac free.

Track down to the step-by-step guide here for playing ISO on Mac using Leawo Blu-ray player for Mac.

Step 1: Get source Blu-ray ISO file ready on your Mac computer.

Step 2: Download free Blu-ray ISO player for Mac via the links above and install it on your Mac.

Step 3: Open this free Blu-ray ISO player for Mac and then click "Open File" to browse and add source Blu-ray ISO image file.

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Step 4: Enjoy the playback. This Blu-ray ISO player freeware for Mac would automatically play Blu-ray ISO file on Mac for free then. Make sure your computer is well connected to the Internet.

Part 3: 3 Blu-ray ISO Player Alternatives

In addition to Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac, we have some other quite impressive ISO players on hand. You can take a look.

1. Free Mac Blu-ray Player

This is a compact yet powerful media player for Mac. It provides super high definition visual effects & fabulous dts5.1 audio spectacle, making the movie enjoyment more fascinating. It is capable of playing back Blu-rays, DVDs, ISO image files, and videos and audios on Mac hassle-free. Besides the free version software, it also upgrades and offers a pro version for users who have professional requirements on ISO or Blu-ray playback on Mac. By the way, it utilizes the extraordinary BluFast MX, which boots up hardware acceleration on Mac.

2. VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player for Mac is an open-source media player that supports playback of a variety of files, including but not limited to Blu-rays, DVDs, ISO image files, as well as other common video and audio files. With the intuitive user interface, VLC is easy to run and play any media files. As it is free, users do not need to pay any money for the playback service.

3. Aiseesoft Mac Blu-ray Player

Aiseesoft is another incredible Blu-ray player that has the native support of ISO playback on Mac. It lets you enjoy any Blu-ray movie or video in disc/ISO file/folder on Mac (macOS High Sierra and macOS Mojave supported) with full HD 1080p/4K and best sound quality. It is simple to play ISO files on Mac. All you need to do is browse your ISO files and click to open it on this player.

Part 4: Comparison between Leawo Blu-ray Player and VLC Player

Compared with VLC player for Mac, Leawo Blu-ray Player is far more powerful and professional. Honestly, some freeware cannot do much but just fit to the very basic application. VLC is such an example that it only supports to playback certain files but does not provide any further features to enhance user experience or fix issues on its own. On the contrary, Leawo Blu-ray Player can smoothly stream any media files, covering Blu-rays, DVDs, ISO files, and 4K or UHD videos, etc. More importantly, it can decrypt any region code or CSS protection on its own without letting users take any technical work back and forth.

Hence, we will like Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac more in terms of features, supported file formats, and user experience.

Part 5: What to Do If Your Player Can't Support ISO Playback

Not all media players can support ISO playback on Mac and we know that well. QuickTime player is one of the most notorious examples we can give on hand. It won’t play back any Blu-rays, let alone ISO files. In this case, you can consider ripping the ISO file to other common media file for playback. Leawo Blu-ray Ripper for Mac is the right software to help. It supports for Mac to rip Blu-ray DVD to 180+ video/ audio with 100% original quality and 6X higher speed. Stay tuned to the latest tutorial guide on how to rip and convert ISO to common video format with Leawo Blu-ray Ripper for Mac.

Step 1: Download and install the ripper.

Click to download and install the ripper. Launch the ripper from the Leawo Prof.Media suite once installation completes.

   

Step 2: Load the source ISO file to the program.

Click Add Blu-ray/DVD > Add iso file to load the source ISO file to the program.

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Step 3: Choose a mode to rip and convert.

Once your source file has been loaded successfully, choose a mode to rip and convert on the displayed window.

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Step 4: Change the output format.

Click Change from the format menu to select a target output format.

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Step 5: Rip and convert the ISO to common video format.

Click the green button Convert from the toolbar and set a directory to save the output file on the displayed sidebar. Then, click Convert at the bottom to start ripping and converting ISO to your target output format. Feel free to cancel or stop the process during the conversion if anything goes wrong.

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Part 6: Conclusion

To play ISO file on Mac, you may use Leawo Blu-ray Player to achieve smooth playback and in the meanwhile, you may use other freeware like VLC to do that as well. Though VLC is less powerful than Leawo Blu-ray Player, it is worth the try for common applications. For professionals or who like to enjoy more than just a media player, Leawo Blu-ray Player is the best choice.

One thing to note that not all media players on Mac will support ISO playback, for example, QuickTime player won’t support any ISO neither Blu-rays at all. In this case, you may find a way around to solve this issue. Ripping and converting your Blu-ray or ISO to another common video format will be the best solution in the world.

To do so, Leawo Blu-ray Ripper is absolutely fine with the job. It will process the source ISO files as professional as an expert and convert your ISO to any other common video format at 6X speed thanks to the advanced media processing technology.

So all in all, no matter what you want to play on Mac, either ISO file or Blu-rays, you may check on our article for detailed steps to fulfill your needs. Have fun and enjoy!