How do I bypass DRM in iTunes?

By Justin SabrinaUpdated on November 11, 2021

Summary
Do you want to watch iTunes movies on any devices offline? You'll need to remove DRM from iTunes movies. In this article, you will learn how to remove DRM from iTunes movies/ TV Shows and convert iTunes M4V movies to MP4 without any quality loss, so that you can play the purchased and rented iTunes movies on any MP4 compatible devices freely.

What's iTunes M4V movies and M4V TV shows? You bought or rented TV shows or movies from iTunes Store, you may want to watch those iTunes movies on your Android phone, Android smart TV, Plex media server, or save iTunes movies forever, you will need to remove DRM from iTunes movies. As we all know that iTunes videos, including movies and TV shows, can only be played on Apple devices due to DRM restrictions. For iTunes rental, once you start watching, the rental iTunes movie will expire within 24 hours. To break these restrictions, you need to convert DRM-ed iTunes movies to MP4. However, is it legal to remove DRM from iTunes videos/ movies? In fact, if it is only used for personal entertainment, it is legal. For example, when you plan to take a plane tomorrow, you just want to convert iTunes movies to mp4 format so that you can watch the iTunes movies while taking the plane.

In real life, many users need to convert iTunes videos into mp4 format, here are some problems encountered by iTunes users:

Q1: I have rented three movies on iTunes store, and I want to watch iTunes rented movies freely on flight without wifi, is it possible to remove DRM from iTunes movies for offline watching everywhere?

Q2: I want to watch iTunes movies on Samsung TV with my family, but the downloaded iTunes movies is M4V format and I can't convert them to MP4 format due the Apple’s FairPlay DRM policy. I puzzled on how to remove DRM from iTunes movies and convert them to MP4 format? Which is the best iTunes DRM Removal software of 2020?

Q3: Is removing DRM from iTunes movies legal? How to watch iTunes movies on popular media players like VLC? I want to save iTunes purchased movies for offline watching on PC.

CONTENTS

Have purchased or rented movies from iTunes store? You will feel quite annoying when you cannot play the iTunes downloaded movies on your Android TVs/tablets/phones or MP4 player. This happens because Apple inc. uses M4V format to encode its movies, TV shows, and other videos. In another word, all videos in the iTunes store are DRM protected, these videos are protected by the Apple’s FairPlay DRM policy that makes all M4V movies and TV shows restricted to play only on authorized Apple devices. Nothing bad, if you subscribe to the Apple Music service, you can play iTunes M4V music video with authorized iTunes/Apple Music app on PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, Android phone.
Also read: Extract Audio from iTunes Music Videos

However, how to watch iTunes movies on non-Apple devices such as MP4 player, Android devices? How to keep iTunes rented movies forever? The best solution is to remove DRM from iTunes movies/TV shows and convert M4V videos to MP4 format. Because MP4 is one of the most popular and common video format that most devices and players compatible with. The following part will tell you why it's necessay to remove iTunes movies DRM and lists the best and free ways to convert iTunes movies to MP4.

Part 1. iTunes Movies and DRM: What You Need to Know

M4V files are protected by FairPlay DRM copy protection, the Apple inc uses M4V to encode video files, such as TV episodes, movies, and music videos, in its iTunes Store, so most M4V videos including iTunes movies can only be played in Apple devices like iPhone 11/11 Pro[Max], iPhone XS, iPhone X, iPhone 8/7/6s/6, the new iPad Pro, iPad Pro, iPad 2, iPad mini, Apple TV, etc. Due to the DRM restrictions, all iTunes movies/videos/TV shows are protected by using Apple's FairPlay DRM copy protection, if you want to play iTunes protected movies on computer, the computer needs to be authorized [using iTunes] with the account that was used to purchase the movies, you can't play iTunes movies on Android devices like Samsung Galaxy S20/S10, Huawei Mate 30/Mate 20/P40/P30 or other non-Apple devices, unless getting rid of the DRM protection.

Worsly, after the user rents a movie from the iTunes Store, the user can watch it for one month. If you start playing them, you can stop or finish watching within 24 hours. Besides, the rental iTunes M4V files can be viewed on a single device within limited time. After the rental period expires, the movie will automatically disappear from the iTunes library.

Part 2: Why We Need to Remove DRM from iTunes Movies?

The MP4 is a container format, allowing a combination of audio, video, subtitles and still images to be held in the one single file. Compared with the M4V, the MP4 is more widely accepted, and it can be played using various video players and hardware devices, such as iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Media Player Classic, VLC media player, PS4, Xbox, Microsoft Zune portable media player. etc.

If you like to download movies or videos in iTunes, sometimes you may get videos in M4V format which are not allowed playback on non-Apple players. So if you wish to enjoy iTunes contents [TV shows, movies, videos, etc.] on Android phones, the best solution is to remove DRM and convert iTunes M4V movies to MP4 format. You will get more benefits after converting iTunes DRM Movies, TV shows to DRM-free MP4:

• Watch iTunes movies, TV shows and music videos on multiple devices offline.
• Save iTunes rented movies as MP4 forever.
• Watch your iTunes purchased and rented movies with both Apple and non-Apple devices.
• Save iTunes movies to external hard drive or USB flash drive.
• Play iTunes movies on any smart phones, such as iOS, Android, Windows phones, BlackBerry, Nokia Symbian phone, etc.
• Sharing your favorite iTunes movies to your friends.

The following part shows you how to convert DRM-ed M4V and non-DRM M4V movies/videos to MP4 with the best two ways.

Part 3. How to Remove DRM from iTunes Movies with UkeySoft

Actually, Apple can delete purchased movies that you own without warning. If you purchase a movie through the store that a company decides to no longer feature on iTunes, that movie will disappear from your library.

Many people would ask whether it is possible to watch a downloaded iTunes movies on non-Apple devices like an Android based tablet or play them without time limitation and keep playable forever. Absolutely you can! To get around this, firstly you need to remove DRM from iTunes movies.

An Effective iTunes DRM Removal — UkeySoft iTunes M4V Converter

UkeySoft M4V Converter also is an iTunes Movies DRM Removal tool, which enables you to easily remove DRM protection from purchased and rental iTunes movies and get the DRM-free MP4 with 100% lossless quality, you can easily to convert iTunes M4V movies to MP4 for playback on Android devices, Tablet, Chromecast, Roku, Plex, Smart-TV, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, PSP, PS3, PS4, Xbox360, BlackBerry, Windows devices, game consoles, car, HD media players, etc. The converting speed is up to 30X faster with 100% original video quality preserved. And AC3 audio tracks [5.1 Dolby] and all original subtitles will be well preserved in output files, so you can watch DRM-free iTunes movies and TV shows with 5.1 audio on HDTV perfectly.

UkeySoft M4V Converter Overview

To remove DRM from iTunes videos and convert M4V files to MP4, which is the best iTunes M4V to MP4 converter? UkeySoft M4V Converter is the best iTunes Movies DRM removal tool, you can convert iTunes movies, TV shows and music videos to MP4 for playback on any devices. Let's learn more about UkeySoft M4V Converter:

UkeySoft M4V Converter - Best iTunes Video Converter for Windows / Mac

Let's learn what's benefit it will bring to you:

• Remove DRM from iTunes movies, TV shows and music videos.
• Convert iTunes purchased movie and iTunes movie rentals.
• Convert iTunes M4V video to MP4.
• 30X faster conversion speed to remove DRM from iTunes purchases and rentals.
• Keep all AC3 Dolby 5.1 Audio, AD, Audio Tracks, Subtitles and Closed Captions.
• Ultra-fast conversion speed and support for batch conversion.
• Preserves 100% original quality and all audio tracks/subtitles.
• Convert iTunes Movies/Video to MP4 with 1080P Full HD/720P HD Quality.
• Play iTunes M4V videos on any devices freely, such as iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Huawei, Sony, MP4 player, Xbox 360, PS4, etc.

In addition, if you want to convert iTunes M4V video to AVI, 3GP, WMV, FLV for uploading to YouTube, Hulu, Metacafe, Vimeo and more video platform, you can also use the Video Converter to convert the output MP4 files to other video format, then you can use or play them freely.

Do you want to download videos from YouTube, Facebook and more sites? 4kFinder Video Downloader is a good choice, which carries the most complete video downloader, it able to download videos from 1000+ websites, you can save videos and audio to PC or Mac for easy playback.

How to Remove DRM from iTunes Movies and TV Shows?

Step 1.Download and Install UkeySoft M4V Converter
Free download and install the UkeySoft M4V Converter with you computer, run it and iTunes will be launched automatically. You will see the software’s main interface as below.

Step 2. Load iTunes M4V Movies
To load an iTunes movie, simply click on the "Add Files" button to preview and select the movie file you want to convert to MP4, then click the "Add" button to load the movie into the program. The software also has the advantage of batch conversion, so you don't have to worry about having too many movies to convert.

Step 3. Select Audio Tracks and Subtitles [Optional]
You can manually choose the subtitle and audio track to customize the output video and change your output folder by clicking the "Options" icon. If you don’t choose any of them, then all original subtitles and audio tracks will be saved by default.

Step 4. Remove DRM from iTunes Movies and Convert M4V to MP4
Now click on “Convert” to start removing DRM protection from purchased and rented iTunes movies and converting iTunes M4V to MP4. All converted files will be save as DRM-free MP4 files by default.

UkeySoft M4V Converter supports batch conversion, you just need to add iTunes movies, video and select video MP4 as output format. After you finish, you can freely to play your iTunes M4V movies, TV shows and music videos on any player or any device, anytime, anywhere.

Part 4. How to Convert DRM-Free iTunes Movies to MP4 by using Handbrake

If your movies are encoded in M4V but without DRM, then Handbrake would be the best option to convert the non-DRM M4V video to MP4 or other file formats for you. If you don't know how to do it, please follow our steps.

Step 1. Download, install and launch Handbrake on your PC firstly. You can get it from the official website here: Handbrake.

Step 2. You can drag & drop your M4V video file or folder into the conversion window. Or click the "Source" button and choose "Open File" from the dropdown options.

Step 3. Go to "Summary" and click "Format" to set the output format as MP4.

Step 4. Besides, you are also allowed to choose the dimensions, filters, video codec, subtitle.

Step 5. Under the “Destination” box, set output directory to save the output MP4 files.

Step 5. Then hit the “Start Encode” button to start to convert iTunes DRM-free M4V to MP4 with Handbrake.

For this method to be established, these videos must be DRM free. If your M4V video is downloaded or purchased from the iTunes Store comes with DRM encryption, Handbrake is temporarily useless, because Handbrake can't convert the DRM-ed M4V files.

Part 5: How to Convert Unprotected M4V Video to MP4 and Other Formats

As we all know that all iTunes M4V movies, TV series, and music videos added DRM protection, which is different from other unprotected M4V video files. As we mentioned above, you need to use the professional iTunes m4v to MP4 converter tool to convert the DRM protected iTunes M4V to MP4. If you want to convert unprotected M4V to MP4 for playing on mobile devices, you can use another M4V to MP4 converter software.

UkeySoft Video Converter for Windows and Video Converter for Mac is designed to convert M4V videos to MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, MP3, and many other popular video and audio formats. In addition, the program allows you edit the video with it’s built-in editor feature before conversion.

Features:

• Convert general M4V files to AVI, FLV, MP4, MKV, MOV, 3GP, 3G2, SWF, WMV, ASF, AAC, AC3, AIFF, FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA and more.
• Convert almost all video files, convert almost all the popular video formats from Internet, digital camcorders, capture cards, etc.
• Convert video or audio to various audio formats, such as MP3, MP4, M4A, WMA, WAV, AC3 and DTS.
• Convert video to most popular mobile devices, such as iPhone, iPad [The New iPad, iPad Pro], Android devices, PSP, Zune, Nokia phone, BlackBerry, PVP, PDA, NDS, Apple TV, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, etc.
• Convert videos to an HTML5 compliant format [OGG, H264, WEBM].
• Convert any video format to 4K or Convert 4K videos to WMV, MOV, AVI and other formats./li>
• Edit video before converting, you can merge several video files or clip your favorite sections of a video and merge before conversion.

Steps to Convert M4V to MP4 & Vice Versa

This tutorial shows you how to convert unprotected M4V video to MP4 on Mac, you can also follow the same steps to complete the M4V to MP4 conversion task in Windows 10/8/7/XP.

Step 1. Install UkeySoft Video Converter on Mac
After you’ve downloaded the installation file for UkeySoft Video Converter, run it and install the software on your Mac.

Step 2. Add the M4V Videos You Want to Convert
To add M4V files for conversion, click the + button and then import the selected video files to UkeySoft. The files you add will appear in the list of input files. Note that you can convert multiple files simultaneously using UkeySoft’s batch conversion function.

Step 3. Select MP4 as Output Format
At the bottom of the software interface, please select MP4 as output format.

You can also click the Devices tab and choose your specific device model supports format.

Step 4. Start to Convert M4V to MP4
All converted files are saved by default to the UkeySoft Library folder. If you want to change the default folder, click the Output to button at the bottom of the program window and choose another folder or create a new one.
Then, just click the “Convert” icon in the lower right corner of the software interface, UkeySoft start converting M4V video to MP4. After the conversion is done, the folder containing the converted MP4 files will open automatically.

Now you can transfer the converted M4P videos to your any mobile device or watch them on your PC or Mac whenever you want.

Above is the most simple steps on how to convert M4V to MP4 on your Mac quickly! With UkeySoft Video Converter and UkeySoft M4V Converter, you can convert iTunes M4V video to MP4, or converting unprotected M4V vide to MP4, as well as MP4 to M4V conversion.

Download UkeySoft Video Converter and try to convert any video files.

Final Verdict

After reading above contents, you knew that why Apple add FairPlay DRM to encrypt all iTunes video contents, whether you have purchased or rented Movies, TV episodes from iTunes store, you cannot watch these iTunes files on any MP4 devices or media players, unless unlocking FairPlay DRM.

iTunes video is M4V format, there are tons of M4V converter in the market that can convert M4V to MP4, but not all M4V converter can convert DRM protected iTunes movies. If you want to bypass FairPlay DRM from iTunes video files, UkeySoft M4V Converter is the best choice. Above, we here list top 3 reliable iTunes DRM removers and M4V converters to help you convert protected and unprotected M4V to MP4.

Helping users understand the functions, pros and cons of 3 different iTunes DRM remover and M4V converter more clearly, we list the following comparison table

Comparing UkeySoft iTunes M4V Video Converter, UkeySoft Video Converter and Handbrake

Tips to Transfer the DRM-free iTunes Moives to iOS/Android Devices

After you getting the DRM-free iTunes movies and saving them on the computer, if you want to import the converted iTunes movies to iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy, Huawei Mate/P, Sony, HTC, Google Pixel, etc. for playback offline.

In this party, we will recommend you a userful iOS & Android Manager tool, just connect your iOS/Android devices to the computer via USB cable, then using this mobile phone manager to add the converted iTunes movies/TV shows/music videos to your smart phone directly. What's more, this mobile phone manager also can help you transfer music, videos, photos, contacts, SMS between iOS, Android and computer.
Also read: Transfer iTunes Media [Music and Video] to Huawei

After downloading, converting and saving your iTunes purchased or rented movies as local MP4 video files, you can enjoy your iTunes movies on any devices without limitation.

Remove DRM from iTunes Movies

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