Last updated on 2023-06-25, by Vinho

10 Best External Blu-ray Drives for PC

You must know that most notebook computers are no longer equipped with DVD drives, but DVD and Blu-ray discs are still widely used in various fields. Therefore, many people will choose to buy an external DVD or Blu-ray drive, and then use it with their laptop. Through external DVD or Blu-ray drive, people can use laptops to read and write DVD or Blu-ray discs. If you also need to buy an external Blu-ray drive, read this article. This article will explain in detail the 10 best external Blu-ray drives for pc in 2023.

Part 1: Why Do You Need an External Blu-ray Drive?

As mentioned earlier, if your laptop is not equipped with a DVD drive, but you need to read the contents of a DVD or Blu-ray disc, you need a computer Blu-ray drive to help you complete this work. Although compared with ordinary external DVD drives, the popularity of Blu-ray drives is not high. However, because Blu-ray discs have excellent capacity, image quality and transmission speed, more and more people choose to use Blu-ray discs instead of DVD discs to store data. Therefore, compared to ordinary DVD external optical drive, Blu-ray drive will be your better choice.

Part 2: How to Choose External Blu-ray Drive?

Currently, there are various external Blu-ray drives on sale in the trading market. Faced with external Blu-ray drives with different performances, sizes, etc., you may not know which external Blu-ray drive to buy. Through my understanding of external Blu-ray drives, you can choose the external Blu-ray drive you need based on the following three points.

1. Disc format

At present, the formats of optical discs mainly include CD-R and CD-ROM, and Blu-ray discs are mainly divided into three types: BD-ROM, BD-R, and BD-RE. External Blu-ray drives on the market will explain the disc formats they support. Therefore, you can see which formats your Blu-ray discs belong to, and then pick out those external Blu-ray drives that can read those Blu-ray disc formats.

2. Read and write speed

Different external Blu-ray drives read and write Blu-ray discs at different speeds. This speed can be divided into 1x speed, 2x speed, 4x speed or 6x speed. If the content of the Blu-ray disc you want to read and write is large, it is recommended that you choose external Blu-ray drives with faster read and write speeds.

3. USB specifications

USB specifications are also related to the read and write speeds of external Blu-ray drives. Today’s mainstream in the external Blu-ray drives market is still USB3.0, and some of them use USB2.0. If you need external Blu-ray drives with faster read and write speed, it is better to choose external Blu-ray drives with USB3.0 specification.

Part 3: 10 Best External Blu-ray Drive

After I collected information on various current and latest external Blu-ray drives, I compared and screened them, and finally came to the following 10 best external Blu-ray drives.

1. Verbatim 43888 Ultra HD 4K External Slimline Blu‑ray Writer $173.71

Slimline Blu-ray writer is an external 4k Blu-ray drive with the function of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray playback. Also, it has 6x Blu-ray Disc writing speed and 4x Blu-ray Disc reading speed. In order to further improve the reading and writing speed, the USB specification of the Slimline Blu-ray writer is USB 3.1, and the USB port can be used to connect to the power supply.

Pros:

• Specifications of USB 3.1
• 6x write speed
• 4x read speed
• 4K Blu-ray playback

Cons:

• More expensive

2. OWC Mercury Pro 5.25″ Optical Drive External Enclosure $163

The features of this external Blu-ray drive are very obvious, for example: the writing speed of CD disc can be as high as 40 times, and it supports USB 3.0 interface. Now, users who purchase this external Blu-ray drive can also enjoy a 1-year free warranty.

Pros:

• Support USB 3.0 interface
• 1-year free warranty
• 40x CD writing speed

Cons:

• Blu-ray discs have slower read and write speeds
• Relatively large
• Heavy

3. ICY BOX IB-550StU3S External Enclosure for 5.25″ Blu-ray and DVD Drives $128.71

The design of ICY BOX IB-550StU3S is very cool, it is surrounded by blue LEDs. ICY BOX has been processed for noise reduction, you can hardly hear it working. Connected to PC via USB 3.0, ICY BOX is capable of transmission speed up to 5 Gbit/s.

Pros:

• Cool appearance
• Transfer speed up to 5 Gbit/s
• Special noise reduction technology

Cons:

• Expensive
• Large area
• Heavy

4. LG GP60NB50 SLIM PORTABLE EXTERNAL DVD-RW DRIVE $86.77

LG GP60NB50 external Blu-ray drive is compatible with Windows 7/8 and MAC, and has USB, DVD-RW respectively. In addition, the LG GP60NB50 is very small and has a small footprint, making it very convenient to use.

Pros:

• Small volume
• Small footprint
• Compatible with Windows and MAC

Cons:

• Slow reading and writing speeds to Blu-ray discs
• Requires two USB connections

5. Plextor PX-891SAF 24X SATA DVD/RW Dual Layer Burner Drive Writer $86.29

The important reason why Plextor PX-891SAF can become one of the best external Blu-ray drives in my opinion is that its transmission speed is very stable and has 24X high precision. In addition, Plextor PX-891SAF supports a full range of common DVD, Blu-ray and CD formats, including: DVD-RAM, CD-RW and CD-R, etc.

Pros:

• Supports a full range of common DVD, Blu-ray and CD formats
• Stable transmission speed
• The transmission process maintains high precision

Cons:

• Large
• Heavy
• Ordinary appearance

6. NOLYTH External Blu ray CD DVD Drive $167.62

NOLYTH External Blu ray drive is one of the best Blu-ray drive for Mac, which is perfectly compatible with Windows and Mac OS systems. What is even more surprising is that it not only supports 3D Blu-ray playback, but also does not require external drivers, just connect it to the computer, and it can be used. Users who purchase NOLYTH External Blu ray drive now can enjoy 2-year warranty and 60-day full refund.

Pros:

• Compatible with Windows, Mac OS systems
• Support 3D Blu-ray playback
• Small footprint

Cons:

• Expensive
• Requires two USB connections

7. External 3D Blu-ray DVD Burner Portable PHIXERO $198.39

This best external Blu-ray drive is very convenient to use, no need for users to install any program drivers, and it can be plug-and-play. Moreover, it has wide compatibility and can be compatible with Vista, Linux, Windows and all versions of Mac OS systems. Besides, the size of this best external Blu-ray drive is small and very portable.

Pros:

• Plug and play
• Wide compatibility
• Portable size

Cons:

• Expensive
• Requires two USB connections

8. Slimline Blu-ray Drive for Mac MacBook Air Pro Apple iMac PC $175.21

This Blu-ray Drive is capable of 3D Blu-ray playback and 6x Blu-ray reading speed. And, it reads the content of CD faster, can reach 24 times speed. This Blu-ray Drive has a lot of ports, including: independent SD/TF card slot, 2 USB ports and micro USB port. In addition, it is also the best Blu-ray drive for Mac, which is perfectly compatible with all versions of Mac OS system.

Pros:

• Best Blu-ray drive for Mac
• 3D Blu-ray playback
• 6x Blu-ray reading speed

Cons:

• Expensive
• Cannot play 4K UHD discs

9. PHIXERO External 3D Blu-ray DVD Writer $242.16

PHIXERO External 3D Blu-ray DVD Writer is not only plug and play, but also compatible with Vista, Linux, Windows and all versions of Mac OS. What’s more, it uses a high-quality recording technology that can maintain a stable data transfer speed without delay or distortion when playing Blu-ray Disc-heavy music and movies.

Pros:

• Wide compatibility
• plug and play
• Stable Data Transfer Speed

Cons:

• Expensive
• Requires two USB connections
• Cannot play 4K UHD discs

10. NOLYTH External USB 3.1 UHD 4K Blu ray Drive $241.74

The appearance of NOLYTH External Blu-ray Drive is like a laptop, it looks very thin, small and light. It can read and write Blu-ray discs at 6x speed, and has 128 GB of internal memory for data storage. As an external 4k Blu-ray drive, it can play 4K Blu-ray discs.

Pros:

• Small and light
• 4K Blu-ray playback
• Read and write Blu-ray Disc at 6x speed

Cons:

• Expensive
• Cannot play 3D Blu-ray
• Requires multiple USB ports

Part 4: How to Install External Blu-ray Drive?

The method of installing external Blu-ray drive is actually very simple. When you buy a new external Blu-ray drive, the merchant will give you a USB data cable for connecting the external Blu-ray drive to your laptop. When installing the external Blu-ray drive, connect the power cord to the power supply, and then use this USB cable to connect the external Blu-ray drive to your laptop. Finally, start the external Blu-ray drive and your laptop separately. After your laptop shows that the external Blu-ray drive has been connected to your computer, you can use this external Blu-ray drive to read and write Blu-ray discs.

Part 5: How to Rip Blu-ray Discs via External Blu-ray Drive?

When you want to rip Blu-ray discs to your computer, you not only need best external Blu-ray drive for ripping, but also third-party Blu-ray ripping software. Therefore, here introduces Leawo Blu-ray Ripper. As the best Blu-ray ripping software at present, Leawo Blu-ray Ripper can not only crack the disc protection program easily, but also rip Blu-ray disc very fast. The following are the specific steps to use Leawo Blu-ray Ripper to rip Blu-ray discs via external Blu-ray drive:

• 

• Leawo Blu-ray Ripper

  ☉ Decrypt and rip Blu-ray/DVD discs with disc protection and region code
  ☉ Convert Blu-ray/DVD to MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, FLV, and other 180+ HD/SD formats
  ☉ Convert Blu-ray/DVD main movie to videos for space saving
  ☉ Convert 2D Blu-ray/DVD movies to 3D movies with 6 different 3D effects
  ☉ Fast conversion with NVIDIA CUDA, AMD APP and Intel Quick Sync acceleration technologies

  DownloadDownload

△Step 1: Run Leawo Blu-ray Ripper

Run the program of Leawo Blu-ray Ripper, then click the “Convert” button or the middle “Blu-ray Ripper” icon to enter the function page of Leawo Blu-ray Ripper.

△Step 2: Import the source Blu-ray file

On the converting interface, click the “Add UHD/Blu-ray/DVD” button to import the source Blu-ray files into Leawo Blu-ray Ripper.

△Step 3: Choose an Output Profile

After the file is imported, click the “Output Profile” label to the left of the green “Convert” button, and click the “Change” button in the small panel that pops up automatically. Then select the format of the output file in the “Profile” panel, such as: 4K MP4, etc.

△Step 4: Start Ripping Files

Click the green “Convert” button to start ripping the source Blu-ray file to a normal video file.

If you frequently read DVD and Blu-ray discs, you may need to frequently connect the external Blu-ray drive for PC to your laptop. It would be a lot easier if you could rip DVDs and Blu-ray discs to your computer. Therefore, you can consider using Leawo Blu-ray Ripper to help you rip DVD or Blu-ray disc content to your laptop.