What is the difference between a Top Menu, Scene Menu, Setup Menu, Audio Menu, Subtitle Menu, Bonus Menu and Pop-Up Menu on a Blu-ray disc?

 

If you have only watched commercial Blu-rays, the menu structure may appear simple. Insert the disc, select Play, choose a chapter or change the language, and start watching.

 

Behind that simple experience, however, is a carefully organized navigation structure.

 

When creating your own Blu-ray or 4K UHD Blu-ray, understanding what each menu does is important. A poorly structured disc may contain every feature you need but still feel confusing to use. A well-designed disc guides the viewer naturally from the main screen to the movie, chapters, audio tracks, subtitles or bonus material.

 

Yuhan Blu-ray Creator and Yuhan 4K UHD Creator provide customizable menu layers including Top Menu, Scene Menu, Setup Menu, Audio Menu and Subtitle Menu, together with Bonus Features and Blu-ray Pop-Up Menu support. The current menu editor also provides options such as First Play, Skip Menu, Scenes Menu Only and direct Setup-button navigation.

 

This guide explains what every major Blu-ray menu type does and how they work together.

Part 1. What Is a Blu-ray Menu Structure?

A Blu-ray menu structure is the navigation hierarchy that connects the viewer to the content on the disc.

 

It is useful to think of the disc as a small interactive application rather than a collection of video files.

 

A typical movie disc might follow this structure:

Top Menu

→ Play Movie
→ Scenes
→ Setup
→ Bonus Features

 

From Scenes, the viewer can open chapter-selection pages.

 

From Setup, the viewer can access audio and subtitle settings.

 

From Bonus Features, the viewer can select trailers, interviews, deleted scenes or other extra content.

 

During playback, a Pop-Up Menu can provide another navigation path without requiring the viewer to stop the movie and return to the Top Menu.

 

Not every Blu-ray needs every layer. The ideal structure depends on the content.

 

A simple home movie might need only Play and Scenes. A multilingual movie collection may require separate Audio and Subtitle pages. A concert disc could rely heavily on Chapter (Text) navigation, while a commercial-style project may benefit from a Top Menu, Bonus section and Pop-Up Menu.

 

The goal is not to create as many menu pages as possible.

 

The goal is to create the shortest, clearest path between the viewer and the content.

 

Part 2. Top Menu: The Home Page of the Disc

The Top Menu is the main navigation page of a Blu-ray or UHD Blu-ray.

 

It is essentially the home screen.

 

A typical Top Menu may contain buttons such as:

Play
Scenes
Setup
Bonus Features

 

The Top Menu should answer one question immediately:

 

What can I do with this disc?

 

For a movie, the most important action is usually Play. For a television collection, individual episodes may deserve more prominence. For a music or concert Blu-ray, song or track selection may be just as important as continuous playback.

 

Yuhan allows individual menu layers, including the Top Menu, to be customized. Text, thumbnails, background images, background video and background music can be adjusted according to the project.

 

A common mistake is to overload the Top Menu with too many choices.

 

If the viewer sees ten or fifteen buttons immediately, the hierarchy is probably too complicated.

 

Instead of placing every chapter or bonus video on the first screen, use the Top Menu to direct the viewer into logical sections.

Part 3. Scene Menu: Files or Chapters?

The Scene Menu controls how viewers navigate the main content below the Top Menu.

 

One important feature of Yuhan's menu structure is that a Scene Menu does not have to mean only traditional movie chapters.

 

The software currently provides four Scene Display Modes:

 

Scene Mode	What It Displays	Best For
File (Icon)	Each video as a thumbnail	Episode collections, multiple videos
File (Text)	Each video as text	TV episodes, lectures, music collections
Chapter (Icon)	Chapters as thumbnails	Movies and visual scene selection
Chapter (Text)	Chapters as text	Concerts, named chapters, long events

 

These four modes are documented in the current Yuhan authoring guide.

 

The distinction between File and Chapter is important.

 

Imagine that you import six television episodes as six individual video files.

 

If you choose File (Icon), the Scene Menu can present six episode thumbnails.

 

If you choose File (Text), it can instead display six episode titles.

 

Now imagine that you import one two-hour concert containing 22 chapter markers.

 

In that case, Chapter (Text) may work much better because each chapter can represent a song.

 

For a movie, Chapter (Icon) provides the traditional visual scene-selection interface found on many commercial discs.

 

Choosing the correct Scene mode can completely change the usability of the disc without changing the underlying video.

 

Part 4. Scene Menu Pages Do Not Have to Be Crowded

If a project contains many files or chapters, the Scene Menu can span several pages.

 

Yuhan allows the number of items shown on a Scene page to be configured.

 

This is useful because displaying too many items on one television screen can make thumbnails small and text difficult to read.

 

A 24-chapter movie, for example, does not need 24 tiny thumbnails on one page.

 

It can be divided into several pages with clear Previous and Next navigation.

 

For text-heavy concert or educational projects, fewer entries per page may also improve readability from normal television viewing distance.

 

Menu design should always consider the television screen, not only how the editor looks on a desktop monitor.

Part 5. Setup Menu: A Gateway to Playback Preferences

The Setup Menu normally provides access to playback-related options rather than movie navigation.

 

The two most common categories are:

Audio

and

Subtitles

 

For a simple movie containing one audio track and no subtitles, a Setup page may not be necessary.

 

But consider an MKV containing:

English TrueHD Dolby Atmos
Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio
English subtitles
Japanese subtitles
Commentary audio

 

Now the Setup section becomes much more useful.

 

Instead of forcing the viewer to cycle through remote-control buttons after playback begins, the disc can present organized language choices before the movie starts.

 

Yuhan allows the Setup button behavior to be configured. The current Advanced menu settings can use the default Setup behavior or send the viewer directly to the Audio or Subtitle page.

 

That is useful when a disc does not need a full Setup hierarchy.

 

For example, if a project contains several subtitle tracks but only one audio track, the Setup button can be configured to open the Subtitle page directly.

 

This removes an unnecessary navigation layer.

Part 6. Audio Menu: Choosing the Soundtrack

The Audio Menu allows the viewer to select between multiple audio streams.

 

This is useful for multilingual discs, alternate mixes, commentary tracks and home-theater projects containing several audio formats.

 

For example, a movie might provide:

English — TrueHD Dolby Atmos
Japanese — DTS-HD Master Audio
Director Commentary — AC3

 

The Audio Menu presents these as understandable choices rather than forcing the viewer to know which anonymous “Audio Track 1” or “Audio Track 2” corresponds to each language.

 

Yuhan supports multiple audio tracks in Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray projects, and its menu system includes a customizable Audio Menu layer.

 

This makes audio-language labeling important during authoring.

 

A technically perfect disc can still be frustrating if every track appears with an unclear name.

 

When possible, label audio choices according to what the viewer actually needs to know: language, format or commentary type.

 

Part 7. Subtitle Menu: More Than On and Off

The Subtitle Menu performs a similar role for subtitle tracks.

 

A simple disc might contain:

Subtitles Off
English
Japanese
French

 

More complex projects may include forced subtitles, commentary subtitles or alternative subtitle translations.

 

Yuhan supports multiple subtitle streams and external subtitle import as part of its Blu-ray authoring workflow. Existing guides also show external subtitle formats being incorporated into Blu-ray projects.

 

The Subtitle Menu provides a clear place to organize these options.

 

As with audio, readable language labels matter.

 

If a multilingual disc contains several subtitle streams, the viewer should be able to understand them without trial and error.

 

Part 8. Bonus Menu: Keep Extra Content Separate

A Bonus Menu is useful when a disc contains additional material that should not appear as part of the main movie or episode list.

 

Examples include:

Behind-the-scenes videos
Deleted scenes
Interviews
Trailers
Music videos
Photo slideshows
Making-of material

 

Yuhan allows Bonus Features to be enabled as a separate menu section. The author can specify how many items at the end of the project list should be treated as bonus items and choose whether the Bonus Menu presents them as icons or text.

 

This solves an important organizational problem.

 

Suppose a project contains one main movie followed by five interviews.

 

If all six files appear together on the Scene Menu, the viewer may interpret the interviews as part of the main program.

 

Moving those five items into Bonus Features makes the disc structure much clearer:

Play Movie

Scenes

Setup

Bonus Features

 

The distinction is logical even before the viewer opens the Bonus page.

 

Part 9. Pop-Up Menu: Navigation During Playback

A Pop-Up Menu is different from the menu pages discussed above because it can be accessed while the main content is playing.

 

Instead of leaving playback and returning to the full menu structure, the viewer can call up navigation controls over the movie.

 

This is one of the features that makes professionally authored Blu-rays feel different from simple video discs.

 

Yuhan's current Advanced menu settings include Enable Pop-up Menu. When enabled, compatible Blu-ray players can display the pop-up navigation during playback. The software also allows the text of the Main button—which returns the viewer to the Top Menu—to be customized.

 

Pop-Up Menus are especially useful for:

movies with many chapters, concerts with individual songs, episodic content and discs where viewers frequently change navigation while watching.

 

A Pop-Up Menu should normally be simpler than the full Top Menu.

 

Its purpose is quick access, not to reproduce every layer of the disc hierarchy.

 

If the viewer needs several clicks just to reach a chapter, the advantage of having a Pop-Up Menu has largely disappeared.

 

Part 10. Top Menu vs Pop-Up Menu

These two menu types are sometimes confused, but they serve different purposes.

 

Top Menu	Pop-Up Menu
Main home page of the disc	Appears during playback
Shows the full navigation structure	Designed for quick navigation
Good for Play, Scenes, Setup and Bonus	Good for chapters and return-to-menu functions
Usually viewed before or outside movie playback	Used without completely leaving playback

 

A professional-style Blu-ray can use both.

 

The Top Menu establishes the overall organization.

 

The Pop-Up Menu provides convenience once viewing has begun.

 

If you want a complete step-by-step tutorial focused specifically on this feature, see How to Create a 4K UHD Blu-ray with a Pop-Up Menu on Windows and Mac.

Part 11. What Is First Play?

First Play is not technically another menu page, but it affects how the menu structure begins.

 

A First Play video runs automatically when the disc starts.

 

Typical examples include:

a production logo, a short introduction, a warning screen or an opening animation.

 

After the First Play content finishes, the disc can continue into its normal navigation flow.

 

Yuhan's Basic menu settings allow a First Play video to be selected.

 

This can make a personal Blu-ray feel more polished, but it should be used carefully.

 

A ten-second studio logo may improve presentation.

 

A two-minute unskippable introduction every time the disc starts will probably annoy the viewer.

 

Good authoring is often about knowing which features not to overuse.

Part 12. What Does Skip Menu Do?

Skip Menu at Startup does almost the opposite.

 

Instead of showing the Top Menu first, the disc begins playback directly.

 

The menu can still remain available for later navigation where the playback environment supports it. Yuhan includes this option in its Basic menu settings.

 

This is useful for discs where immediate playback is more important than presentation.

 

For example, a family video, demonstration disc or single-feature project may not need to stop at a menu every time it is inserted.

 

A user who wants the commercial movie experience might prefer:

First Play → Top Menu → Play Movie

 

A user who wants immediate playback might prefer:

Disc Inserted → Movie Starts

 

The underlying content can be identical.

 

Only the navigation behavior changes.

Part 13. What Is Scenes Menu Only?

Yuhan also provides a Scenes Menu Only option.

 

This allows a project to use Scene pages without building the complete Top Menu hierarchy.

 

This can be useful for collections where the selection page itself is effectively the main menu.

 

Imagine a disc containing twelve short training videos.

 

You may not need:

Top Menu → Scenes → Video List

 

The Top Menu adds another click without providing meaningful information.

 

Instead, the disc can open directly into the list of twelve videos.

 

The same approach can work well for music-video collections, short films, classroom material or other projects built around multiple independent files.

 

Again, the best menu structure is not necessarily the one containing the most layers.

 

It is the one containing the fewest layers needed to make navigation clear.

Part 14. File Menu or Chapter Menu: Which Is Better?

This depends entirely on how the source is organized.

 

Use File-based navigation when individual imported videos represent the choices the viewer needs.

 

For example:

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4

 

Use Chapter-based navigation when the viewer needs to navigate within one longer video.

 

For example:

Opening
Chapter 2
The Battle
Finale
Credits

 

This becomes especially useful for MKV and MakeMKV sources that already contain chapter markers.

 

Yuhan can import chapter information from supported files and use chapter-based Scene Menu modes during authoring.

 

If your MKV contains meaningful chapter titles, also see the dedicated guide How to Preserve MKV Chapters and Chapter Titles When Creating Blu-ray or 4K UHD Blu-ray.

Part 15. How Should You Structure a Movie Blu-ray?

A single movie is one of the easiest structures to design.

 

A practical layout is:

Top Menu

Play Movie
Scenes
Setup
Bonus Features

 

The Scene Menu contains chapter selection.

 

The Setup section provides audio and subtitles.

 

Bonus Features contains interviews, trailers or deleted scenes.

 

A Pop-Up Menu can provide chapter navigation during playback.

 

This structure is familiar because it closely matches the way commercial movie discs are organized.

 

There is little reason to make it more complicated unless the project genuinely contains additional functions.

Part 16. How Should You Structure a TV Series Disc?

A television series is different because individual files are often more important than chapters.

 

A useful structure might be:

Top Menu

Play All
Episodes
Setup
Bonus Features

 

The Episodes section can use File (Icon) or File (Text).

 

Each episode may also contain its own chapter markers, depending on how the disc is authored.

 

For large collections, text navigation can sometimes be more efficient than thumbnails because episode titles remain clear even when many items are present.

 

The exact design depends on the number of episodes and how frequently the viewer needs chapter-level access.

Part 17. How Should You Structure a Concert Blu-ray?

For concerts, chapter naming becomes particularly important.

 

One long concert video may contain 20 or 30 song chapters.

 

A useful structure could be:

Top Menu

Play Concert
Songs
Audio
Bonus Features

 

The Songs menu can use Chapter (Text) so that each song title is immediately visible.

 

A Pop-Up Menu can then provide fast song selection during playback.

 

This is often more useful than a traditional movie-style thumbnail menu because several stage thumbnails may look almost identical.

 

The content should determine the interface.

Part 18. A Good Blu-ray Menu Should Feel Invisible

The best disc navigation rarely makes the viewer think about the navigation itself.

 

The viewer simply understands:

Play starts the movie.

Scenes finds a chapter.

Setup changes language options.

Bonus opens extra material.

Pop-Up provides quick controls while watching.

 

That clarity is the real purpose of Blu-ray menu authoring.

 

Advanced features such as motion backgrounds, customized highlights, First Play videos and continuous menu video can improve presentation, but they work best after the basic hierarchy has been designed correctly.

Part 19. Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main menu on a Blu-ray called?

The main navigation page is commonly referred to as the Top Menu. It acts as the home page for the disc and normally links to content such as Play, Scenes, Setup and Bonus Features.

What is the difference between a Scene Menu and a Chapter Menu?

A Scene Menu is the navigation section used to display playable items. In Yuhan, it can display either imported files or chapters, using icon- or text-based layouts.

What is a Blu-ray Setup Menu?

The Setup Menu provides access to playback-related choices such as audio tracks and subtitles. In Yuhan, the Setup button can also be configured to open the Audio or Subtitle page directly.

What is a Blu-ray Pop-Up Menu?

A Pop-Up Menu can be displayed during playback on compatible players, allowing the viewer to access navigation functions without completely returning to the Top Menu. Yuhan currently includes an option to enable Blu-ray Pop-Up Menu support.

Do I need a Setup Menu if there is only one audio track?

Usually not. If the disc contains one audio track and no optional subtitles, removing an unnecessary Setup path can make navigation simpler.

Can a Blu-ray menu display files instead of chapters?

Yes. Yuhan provides File (Icon), File (Text), Chapter (Icon) and Chapter (Text) Scene modes.

Can I create only a Scene Menu without a Top Menu?

Yes. Yuhan's Scenes Menu Only option allows Scene pages to be used without the complete Top Menu structure.

Can the disc start playing without showing the menu?

Yes. Skip Menu at Startup can start playback directly while keeping menu navigation available later where supported by the player.

Can I add a video before the Blu-ray menu?

Yes. The First Play option can designate a video that runs before the normal menu appears.

Part 20. Conclusion

A Blu-ray menu is not just a decorative screen placed in front of a movie.

 

It is a navigation system.

 

The Top Menu organizes the entire disc.

 

The Scene Menu helps viewers select files or chapters.

 

The Setup Menu connects them to playback preferences.

 

The Audio Menu and Subtitle Menu organize language and track selections.

 

The Bonus Menu keeps extra material separate from the main program.

 

The Pop-Up Menu provides fast navigation while playback is already in progress.

 

Features such as First Play, Skip Menu and Scenes Menu Only then control how viewers enter and move through that structure.

 

Yuhan Blu-ray Creator and Yuhan 4K UHD Creator allow these different menu layers and behaviors to be configured within the same authoring workflow, including customizable Top, Scene, Setup, Audio and Subtitle pages, Bonus Features, different Scene display modes, Pop-Up Menu support and customizable menu video behavior.

 

The most professional menu is not necessarily the one with the most pages, animations or buttons.

 

It is the one where the viewer always knows what to select next.

 

Design the navigation hierarchy first, remove menu layers that do not serve a purpose, and only then add visual customization.

 

That approach produces a Blu-ray or 4K UHD Blu-ray that is not only attractive, but genuinely easy to use.

 

If you want to learn more about Yuhan 4K UHD Creator, please click: https://yuhanmedia.com/uhd-creator

 

If you want to download and try it for free, please click the button below to download it.

 

       

 

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