It was originally developed in 2003 by Eric Petit to make ripping DVDs to a data storage device easier.

These are collected in such a manner to make their use more effective and accessible (e.g., so that a user does not have to transcode a video's audio and visual components in separate steps, or with inaccessible command-line utilities).

[3] In September 2006, Rodney Hester and Chris Long had been independently working to extract the H.264 video compression format from Apple's iPod firmware (1.2) through reverse engineering before meeting on the HandBrake forum.

Hester and Long made progress in terms of stability, functionality, and look and feel, but it was not possible to submit their patch to the HandBrake subversion repository without authorization from Petit.

[3] On February 13, 2007, Hester and Long were contacted by Petit, who informed them of his support and encouraged them to continue developing.

[citation needed] HandBrake transcodes video and audio from nearly any format to a handful of modern ones, but it does not defeat or circumvent copy protection.

In 2011, Preston Gralla of PC World praised HandBrake for its feature set: "Advanced users will be pleased at the number of options."

He concluded by calling HandBrake a "solid choice" for people who are looking for a free video transcoder.