To copy video files and image slideshows to DVD or Blu-ray, you need three things: a DVD or optical disc drive, blank DVD discs, and DVD burner software. While the optical disc drive writes data to a blank disc, the burning software helps you modify, edit, and curate content and menu options before the disc is written. This is true no matter what kind of media you’re adding to a disc—be it home movies, photos, or personal data.

Below are our picks for the best DVD burning software. Some are free for a trial period, so it’s a good idea to download and try the products out before purchasing the full application.

Nero Video

Intended for the “best resolution and highest video quality,” this relatively inexpensive DVD burner from Nero is a great choice for anyone interested in creating simple yet professional videos and slideshows. Nero lets you burn 4K, full HD, and SD videos, and it includes a disc menu creator to help you create a navigation screen for the disc’s content.

  • Hundreds of transitions and enhancements.

  • Burns 4K, HD, and SD.

  • Disc menu creator.

  • Affordable.

  • Substantial learning curve.

  • No 3D or 360 support.

  • Dated interface.

Creators will appreciate the suite of editing tools—including an old movie effect, slow motion, transitions, and keyframe animation, and the ability to remove black bars from the sides of a video file.

Nero Video also supports vertical video from smartphones, and can create movie titles and posters for your content. There’s dozens of built-in movie templates and galleries to help streamline the video creation process for those included to edit everything themselves.

Nero has a number of software suites as well. Nero Platinum, for example, includes Nero as well as Nero Burning ROM, Nero MediaHome, Nero Recode, and others.

Roxio Creator NXT

Roxio’s line of powerful, easy-to-use CD and DVD burning software is a solid fit creators and professionals who would prefer a full suite of editing tools. Roxio Creator NXT offers CD and DVD burning, video capture, video editing with motion tracking, photo editing, sound manipulation, and DVD authoring. The package includes 15 other software tools and apps—all for a surprisingly affordable price. Roxio is definitely a more hands-on option for DV burning and creation.

  • Modern user interface.

  • Motion tracking and 360 video conversion.

  • DVD labeling options.

  • Live screen capture.

  • Difficult to install in Windows 10.

  • Some features are buggy.

  • Unresponsive tech support.

Adobe Premiere Elements

Adobe Premiere is a high-end video editing program. Premiere Elements is a pared down version of the same software, offering both video editing and DVD burning in one package. It’s a great program for novice-to-intermediate video editors, as well as budget-conscious buyers.

  • Clear, easy-to-use interface.

  • 4K support.

  • Solid audio editing.

  • Supports HEVC and HEIF file formats.

  • No 360-degree VR or 3D editing.

  • Renders slowly.

  • Unresponsive customer support.

  • No support for multi-cam editing.

Premiere Elements includes step-by-step instructions for all kinds of tasks, making it accessible even if you’re new to video editing. There are transitions, themes, effects, video collage tools, and a GIF maker. Some of the more advanced tools include a shake reducer for unstable videos, motion titles, face detection with pan and zoom, and photo blending.

Because Adobe has so many similar creative tools, you can expect tight integration with their other programs. If you already use other Adobe Photoshop or Flash, we recommend Premiere Elements for video editing and DVD burning.

Roxio Easy Video Copy & Convert

Another DVD burner from Roxio, Easy Video Copy & Convert is more of a video converter tool. It’s a bit easier to use than other programs on this list, but it’s also one of the least expensive.

  • Copies to DVD in three steps.

  • Handles overnight DVD burning.

  • Menu themes for DVD compilations.

  • Burns data discs and disc images.

  • Large file download size.

  • Doesn’t offer as many output file formats as its competitors.

This DVD burner can convert to and from many different video file format, allowing you to play video on your phone, computer, or tablet. You can add multiple video files or video sources to the queue (including YouTube), adjust the video compression to work with your DVD size, alter audio settings, and create a DVD menu.

If you’re using Roxio Easy Video Copy & Convert to burn a DVD movie, you can schedule it to run at a specified time so that it doesn’t hog your CPR load when you need it for other tasks.

Finally, it’s also capable of ripping discs—that is, copying Blu-rays, audio CDs, data discs, S-VCDs, and DVDs to your computer. Another option is to share your video creations on Facebook and YouTube from inside the software.

VideoStudio Pro

VideoStudio Pro is a basic but affordable video editing and disc burning tool for casual editors and home video enthusiasts. It works with Blu-ray, DVD, and other disc types, and allows you to rip (copy) disc media to your computer.

  • Step-by-step workflow.

  • Burns HD video.

  • Basic disc authoring tools.

  • High-quality results.

  • Editing tool are difficult to understand.

If you’re looking for a really quick way to burn videos to a disc, you can use the included Quick-Drop desktop gadget. Just drag and drop the videos, music, and other data you want to burn and VideoStudio will do it for you.

You can import HD video from pretty much any disc or file format, including HD, 4K, and 360 videos. Some of the DVD menu options allow you to add reflections, rotating objects, animated icons, and masked text. The auto-align feature makes it easy to structure your menu to look professional.

Vegas DVD Architect

Vegas DVD Architect is definitely a professional video editing tool with a steep learning curve. And its price shows it. That said, if you have the patience and don’t mind a little trial-and-error, you can make some exceptional videos, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.

  • Professional presets for DVD and Blu-ray projects.

  • Lots of HD templates.

  • Easy DVD preview.

  • Online tutorials.

  • Steep learning curve.

  • Doesn’t support some popular formats.

  • A bit pricier than other DVD burners.

As with most DVD burners, DVD Architect tries to make the whole process easy: Import videos to the timeline and edit them as needed, drag menus and buttons to the preview area, and burn the DVD or Blu-ray when you’re ready.

You can make this DVD burning program as advanced or as simple as you’d like. Use one video and a simple menu and you can get a DVD burned in no time, or edit sections of the video into clips, crop the video, edit the background media, and change colors. It’s up to you.

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