DVD authoring software allows you to create a playable DVD from videos with custom menus and chapters. WinX DVD Author, as the name conveys, is one such program. There has been a lot of talk about it, both positive and negative. So, is WinX DVD author free and safe? Does it still work well on burning a DVD? Check out our WinX DVD Author reviews and find out.
Cisdem DVD Burner
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
Free Download macOS 10.12 or later
WinX DVD Author is a DVD creator software for users who want to make a DVD-Video. It contains a few DVD authoring components, enabling you to trim videos, add external subtitles, produce a simple menu, and more. It also lets you convert videos to VOB files, burn DVD folder/VOB videos to a playable DVD for the DVD player, and download movies/music videos from YouTube.
During the period from 2006 to 2010, WinX DVD Author was priced at 39.99/lifetime, or 29.95/lifetime when discounted. But since 2011, perhaps due to poor sales, WinX DVD Author's parent company, Digiarty Software Inc. has changed its strategy and made it free to drive traffic to its other apps such as DVD Copy, DVD Ripper and Video Converter. So, WinX DVD Author is complete free now.
Since its creation in 2006, the software has undergone over 20 upgrades. All upgrades, except for the 2012 one that integrated the YouTube Downloader module, only address bug fixes. Therefore, the interface of WinX DVD Author bears a striking resemblance to its 2006 counterpart, with an outdated style and menu template. In addition, WinX DVD Author has ceased updating since 2019, and it seems that it has given up on upgrading.
Although WinX DVD Author has not been upgraded for many years, it is a safe software with no viruses or malware. You can download it on the official website https://www.winxdvd.com/dvd-author/, or download historical versions from authoritative download sites such as CNET, Softonic, FileHorse, and so on. Note that the latest version is WinX DVD Author 6.3.10.
No, it doesn’t. WinX DVD Author only available for Windows 11/10 and lower. As you can tell from the name, Digiarty Software Inc. initially focused exclusively on catering to Windows users. Later on, in response to market demand, other apps such as WinX DVD Ripper started offering support for the Mac version in 2012, while DVD Author has remained unsupported.
| Official download | Version | .exe size |
|---|---|---|
| winx-dvd-author.exe | 6.3.10 | 10.5 MB |
Get the .exe file above. Run the installer, choose a language and follow the instructions in the setup wizard to complete the installation. Once finished, the app will be launched automatically. The startup was slow. I waited for more than 20 seconds for the software to open. You can check the app size, it’s about 44.7 MB.
In its main interface, you can see that it consists of 5 modules. Now I will introduce the specific functions of each module in detail.
1. Import videos
Click the “+” button to add multiple videos that you want to burn into the software. It supports any video format. Note that it doesn’t allow direct drag and drop.
2. Add subtitles
There is a vertical "Subtitle" word next to each video thumbnail, click it to call up the "SUBTITLE PROPERTY" window. Then, you can add your downloaded .srt subtitle file and select the subtitle language.
3. Finish basic settings for DVD including editing videos
On the left side of the interface, you can edit the video by trimming the beginning and end length, choosing 4:3 or 16:9 TV standard, and enabling the “auto add letter box” option.
To do more settings, click the wrench-like icon at the bottom to enter the "Parameter settings" window, where you can pick NTSC or PAL format/DVD type, specify DVD menu duration, etc.
4. Create a DVD menu
Click the “Next step” button to move to the menu creation window. There are 4 less fashionable background picture templates on the left. You can click the button below to add a picture from your computer as a background.
In the right area, you can adjust the size and position of the title menu button and chapter menu button. If you wish to change the button image, double-click it to open the "CLIP PROPERTY" window and drag the progress bar to the frame you want.
Plus, you can add background text and music to the DVD menu. To split a chapter into more parts, choose to auto split chapter or input split chapter time.
5. Burn a DVD
Hit the “Next step” button to bring up the “DVD BUILDER” window. There are 3 encoder engines. Choose one from them.
| Quality | Converting speed | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Normal video quality | Normal | Normal |
| High video quality | Slow | Large |
| Low video quality | High | Smaller |
If you want to burn videos to a DVD disc, insert a blank DVD, click the “Start” button, and choose “Yes”. If just to make a DVD folder, specify the output location, click “Start” and select “No”.
There's not much difference between this module and "Video DVD Author", except it doesn't create DVD menus. When you click "Next step", the "VOB CONVERTER" interface will pop up. Select the output folder, output format, and encoder engine, then click "Start" to convert videos directly to VOBs.
This module only supports adding VOB videos. You can make a DVD menu, and then burn VOB videos to DVD disc or DVD folder.
When you import a DVD folder or VOB files, the app will tell you what format, size, and duration each file has, so you'll know whether to insert DVD 5 or DVD 9. Click “Next step”, the “DVD DISC COMPILER” window appears, and begin authoring a DVD disc.
Copy a URL from YouTube, in YouTube Downloader panel, click “Paste”, and the software will analyze the URL. Choose a path to save the YouTube. Click “Download”.
The original intention of designing this module was to help users burn YouTube to DVD. However, through testing, I uncovered that WinX DVD Author can't download YouTube videos successfully, making this feature purely decorative.
Although WinX DVD Author can burn DVD-Video for free, based on my experience and feedback from other users, I have summarized the following shortcomings:
It is a typical problem that WinX DVD Author is unable to detect DVDs, and I am at a loss to determine the exact cause. I can only try multiple DVD discs to see which one can be successfully detected. Since WinX DVD Author was not satisfactory, I tested many other DVD authoring software. Cisdem DVD Burner is the best alternative.
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7 Free Download macOS 10.12 or later
The app is partitioned into four main divisions, each division is easily comprehensible and user-friendly.
You can import multiple videos in various formats such as MP4, H264, HEVC, WMV, MPEG2, WebM, AVI, MKV, M2TS, FLV, etc. No matter what size or resolution, including 4K videos, all can be imported into the "Source" interface.
In the lower right corner, you can select the burning mode from “Fit to disc”, “High Quality”, or “Standard”.
If you want to edit your videos, click the “edit” button, and you will see the panel with 8 video editing tools.
On the left side, there are 30+ stylish DVD menu templates, choose one of the themes that matches your project.
On the right side, you can DIY the elements in the template, including background images, title button, menu button, and text. Also, you can import your native image and soundtrack, or use your favorite color as background.
It provides a remote control, and you can freely switch to content you want to preview. So simple!
It allows you to choose output type, TV standard, playback mode (whether to loop), copies’ number. All are easy to set. Once done, click “Burn”.
I used these 2 apps to burn video to DVD on Windows 11 Pro. Both of them can choose the burning mode. For this test, I chose the standard mode.
Input info
| Video format | Video size | Video duration | TV standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| MP4 | 498.2 MB | 00:45:22 | NTSC 16:9 |
Output result
| WinX DVD Author | Cisdem DVD Burner | |
|---|---|---|
| Burning time | 51min | 25min |
| Output resolution | 720*480 | 720*480 |
| Output quality | Good | More visually pleasing |
The DVD authoring speed of WinX is slow. I also used it to convert the same MP4 video to VOB, and it took about 31 minutes. But if you can burn a DVD with WinX DVD Author successfully, you are lucky.
Through above review, you should understand the features and shortcomings of WinX DVD Author. Whether you need an alternative, I believe you already have the answer in your mind.
Jenny is a technology editor who has been blogging since she was a student. Since joining Cisdem, she focuses on writing articles about video software and how-to guides. She loves exploring new tools and techniques.
