How to Remove DRM from Movies/TV Shows Purchased from iTunes.app or TV.app on macOS

Update: It’s been two years since I wrote this post. It’s unfortunate to see that we still cannot remove DRM from movies and TV shows purchased from iTunes or TV.app on Mac with macOS higher than 10.13 High Sierra. Why is it so hard to do so? We’re not sure, but obviously, Apple limits so. It is relieved that we can still do the DRM removal with the below three ways because I believe they are 100% working no matter you are running 10.13 High Sierra, 10.14 Mojave, macOS 10.15 Catalina, or the latest macOS 11 Big Sur.

With the release of Apple’s latest macOS 10.15 Catalina, iTunes is forever gone and replaced with TV.app for movies and TV shows. However, movies and TV shows purchased from TV.app are also protected by DRM. Unfortunately, there is no way to remove DRM on Mac with a system newer than High Sierra. As far as I can see, there are still no programs that can do the video DRM removal on High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, and Big Sur.

Why are DRM removers not able to remove DRM on Mac with the newer OS? Obviously, they didn’t find a direct way out so far. Luckily, I think found some other ways out. And the below guide explains THREE 100% WORKING ways to remove DRM from movies or TV shows on your Mac machine that is running High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, and possible future macOS. If you don’t want to downgrade your OS or if you are looking for a lossless way to remove DRM on Mac, this guide helps.

[100% Working] Three Ways to Remove DRM on latest macOS

I will explain three 100% working ways that are safe to go for DRM removal on High Sierra, Mojave, or Catalina as well the latest Big Sur on your Mac machine without having to downgrade the OS. And I am talking about movies and TV shows that you purchase from iTunes.app or TV.app. It’s not about music as it’s still possible remove music DRM protection even on Catalina/Big Sur.

Way No.1: VM macOS Sierra[Recommended]

I think the best option is to create and install a virtual macOS Sierra on the current High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, or Big Sur and remove DRM within the virtual Mac machine. In this way, you can run the VM Sierra and the current OS at the same time and you will still have access to all your data. You are able to access my below guide on how to install a virtual macOS Sierra:

I recommend you go for this option if you have at least 4GB of RAM installed on your Mac. Parallels Desktop is so far the most compatible tool to create a VM Sierra. Importantly, it is fully compatible with macOS Big Sur and M1 ship Macs.

Please be aware that no graphics acceleration is available in a VM machine. Since we only want to remove iTunes DRM on the virtual Mac, I suppose that won’t be a big problem.

Way No.2: Dual-boot macOS

Any NEW Mac WILL NOT BOOT 10.12 Sierra. Its NOT possible even with another partition.
THE ONLY WAY possible is to run a VM Sierra as suggested in Way No.1. Also, I don’t think you can run Sierra on Apple Silicon MACs.

Creating a dual-boot macOS on your Mac machine is what I think to be the most compatible way. It’s like you get yourself a new mac device and you can do everything on it, including DRM removal. Just make sure you install a macOS version like Sierra or El Capitan that the DRM removal program is compatible with.

There are many guides for us to create dual-boot macOS and below is a guide I found on Google.  

You can install the latest macOS Catalina or Big Sur as the main system and install macOS Sierra to the second partition so as to remove DRM. You will always have to restart to switch between the two OSs. Also, please note that if you already have Windows on your Mac machine, this may ruin your Windows after you create a new partition to install another Mac. I suggest you check carefully before you do so and always make backups first.

macOS Sierra is NOT longer available on App Store. I have a 100% clean copy on my Google Drive. Please copy it to YOUR Google Drive first and then download it from your own Google Drive.

Way No.3: Dual-boot Windows/Virtual Windows

To remove DRM from iTunes movies or TV shows on Windows seems to be easier than that on macOS as it does not seem to be as many limitations as on Mac and most DRM removal programs support the latest Windows 10. We are able to create a dual-boot Windows using macOS built-in tool called BootCamp and there is a detailed guide on how you can do so. However, for MacBook Air, Pro, or Mac Mini running M1 chip, you cannot run dual-boot Windows on them.

Also, installing a virtual Windows on your macOS High Sierra, Mojave, or Catalina so as to remove DRM in the virtual Windows is also good to go.  Parallels Desktop can install and run a virtual Windows on Mac as well.

However, Windows is NOT free and costs a lot. If you have a key, just do it! If not, I don’t think this is the best option.

Top DRM Removal Tool for PC and Mac

Generally, you don’t have to go for another DRM removal tool if you already have one. And, I think yours should be compatible with macOS Sierra. If it’s your first time to learn how to remove DRM protection from movies and TV shows you get from iTunes or TV.app on your Mac, I’d like to recommend the below program. It’s essential to install VM or dual-boot Sierra by the above guide if you are running Big Sur, or previous High Sierra, Mojave, or Catalina.

To me, DVDFab is the strongest to remove all kinds of copy protections in Bluray and DVDs. And, it is still able to remove the DRM protection in iTunes videos. 

DVDFab is an all-in-one solution and Mac DRM Removal for Apple is part of its function module. DVDFab Mac DRM Removal offers DRM encryption of all iTunes media including Apple music, audiobooks, movies, and TV shows. 

DVDFab Mac DRM Removal for Apple only removes the DRM protection and saves the videos as a DRM-free MP4 file. It keeps the original video and audio quality. The tool is available here in Utilities:

DVDFab DRM Removal for Mac

Remove DRM in Sierra on any Mac

Removing iTunes DRM in VM Sierra on a Mac is almost the same as we do on a real machine. I have some suggestions as well as a guide for you here. If your DRM removal app is not working, this will also help.

DVDFab DRM Remove for Apple is one of the top solutions that are able to remove iTunes’ movie or TV shows DRM protection as well as books and music. It just removes the protection from iTunes movies, TV shows, and Books and keeps everything like the 5.1 sound, subtitle, video quality, etc, and save as an MP4 file. You can follow the below buttons to have a trial and the below guide is how I use it to remove iTunes DRM in VM macOS Sierra on any Mac!

Step 1. Sign in to iTunes and Authorize the VM

It is always required to sign in to iTunes so as to get access to iTunes movies and TV shows.

Step 2. Download/Copy iTunes Videos to VM

If you are interested in the free VM in VirtualBox, you will have to download iTunes videos. This is because the shared folder is not working without the guest extension. For Parallels Desktop, you can copy your iTunes videos to the shared folder. 

Step 3. Add iTunes Videos

Click Add Video to add your iTunes movies or TV shows. If you download the DRM videos in iTunes, Leawo is able to read and show them for you. If you have them in your shared folder or another path, you will have to manually locate them. Drag-and-drop is also supported.

Official Notice:

To remove DRM encryptions, users must allow DVDFab to access the iTunes Library XML. For that purpose, go to iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced, and then check the box before Share iTunes Library XML with other applications.
DVDFab DRM Removal for Apple Mac Main UI

Step 4. Audio/Subtitle Track[Optional]

You can edit the Edit button to choose audio and subtitle. If you leave it, it saves all audio and subtitles tracks in MP4 format.

Step 5. Remove DRM on Mac

Click the Convert button to remove the DRM protection! You will be asked to enter your Apple ID password and relaunch iTunes. Just do as it requires.

Troubleshooting

You may get errors when you try to remove DRM in the VM on your Mac. 

This may be because you don’t authorize the VM. Go Account in iTunes menu-Authorizations-Authorize This Computer. Do as iTunes requires and have another!

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Orance
Orance
5 years ago

Helpful guide to teach us how to remove iTunes DRM. To be honest, this maybe difficult for me to handle. Since I’m idiot in this filed, just prefer to user to user-friendly interface tool to remove DRM from iTunes without any hassle. After searching on the Internet, I find there are so many M4V converter for us to get rip of DRM protection and convert videos from M4V to MP4 and multiple formats with lossless quality. My option is named DRM Media Converter. You can learn its detail functions at: https://bit.ly/2qLZoSW Hope this tip is useful to you.

Ella
Ella
5 years ago

Thank you for your tips. Actually, I am the user of NoteBurner M4V Converter Plus. I noticed that NoteBurner M4V does not support macOS 10.13, and its website introduced two alternative ways, maybe I should say three. (The support team helped me to switch the license to Windows version for free.) But I am curious what is the difference between the method cretaing a VM and installing a Create Dual-boot macOS? Here is the tip NoteBurner official site offered to help run NoteBurner under macOS High Sierra: https://www.noteburner.com/faqs/install-mac-os-x-on-external-hard-drive.html
In my opinion, the method is the SAME. I am looking for the solution to just run the program and do its job right, not with other operations or settings.

Vukodlak75
Vukodlak75
5 years ago

Why is it so hard to get this type of software to work with Majove?

Thanks for this article. I opted to make a VM and it is working good.

crzyG
crzyG
3 years ago

Hi Hunk, I´m back :)

I´ve tried to remove the DRM via using the test version of DVD Fab DRm remove für Apple, but I get a notice “Failed” .

– VM Sierra 10.12.6. is running
– iTunes version is 12.8.2.3
– I`ve authorized This Computer in iTunes too
– DVDFab has access to the iTunes Library XML

Any ideas?

crzyG

crzyG
crzyG
3 years ago
Reply to  crzyG

…I am just discovering that my purchased films are shown in itunes (VM Sierra), but if I play them the screen remains black. It is exactly the same with the quicktime player. What is it? What can I do?

good2go
good2go
3 years ago
Reply to  crzyG

You can’t do anything. I’ve been trying out converters for days now and none of them can remove DRM and convert from iTunes 12+. I can’t remember which iTunes version is the “cutoff,” but you need to load an earlier version of iTunes, or just buy DVDs from now on.

good2go
good2go
3 years ago
Reply to  Hunk

The “cutoff” is iTunes 12.10.2 (the current version is 12.10.7.3). From the folks at TunesKit: “Downgrade iTunes version 12.9.0 here — 12.9.0.167. Don’t forget to re-download the iTunes movies that you want to convert. You will also need to de-authorize and then re-authorize your computer on the old iTunes.”

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