ISO files are simply a way of packaging a lot of files and folders together into a single file with the file extension ISO. They are generally used to create an image of a CD or DVD. Having just one file containing everything is convenient for downloading or for storing on a computer. 4Easysoft DVD Copier for Mac 3.2.10. 4Easysoft DVD Copier for Mac is the best DVD Copier software Mac to copy DVD to DVD, DVD folder, ISO file and burn local contents to DVD on Mac.
My computer doesn’t have any optical drives anymore. That means CD drives, DVD drives, Floppy drives–they’ve all been cut out and done away with forever. If a particular piece of peripheral gear doesn’t have a USB interface, then it won’t be dealing with my PC. But luckily, even if you don’t have a CD or DVD drive, you can still find use in a disc by using the ISO format.
The data on an optical disc is referred to as a “disc image.” The most common format of disc image is .ISO, an internationally accepted format for archiving data onto optical discs. If you don’t have the physical copy of a specific disc, you can still obtain it in digital form by grabbing an ISO image of it. On the flip side, if you have an optical disc, you can duplicate its data by creating an ISO image of your own.
If this sounds difficult, then don’t fret. It’s really no tougher than moving files around and clicking buttons. Most ISO manipulating programs are extremely straightforward and easy to use. Here are some of the best ones you’ll find on the Internet without having to pay a single cent.
Iso File Opener Mac Free Download
WinCDEmu
Just recently I realized that my current PC didn’t have an ISO program on it, so I looked around and stumbled across WinCDEmu, an open-source one-click disc image mounting tool. I immediately fell in love with the simple interface. I don’t even need to open any programs; just right click on the .ISO file, select Mount, done.
ISO creation is just as simple. Insert a disc into your optical drive, right click on the drive, select Create, done. Name the resulting file and it’ll be ready to go instantly.
WinCDEmu is versatile in that it supports disc image formats of multiple types: ISO, CUE, NRG, MDS/MDF, CCD, and IMG. Unlike most free mounting tools, WinCDEmu can handle an unlimited number of virtual drives.
Iso File Reader Download
Available for Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
ImgBurn
Another lightweight ISO management tool in the same vein as WinCDEmu is ImgBurn. This tool packs a serious punch for its size, being able to handle the image files of CDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs, and Blurays. If I wasn’t already a WinCDEmu user, ImgBurn would be top on my list.
Iso File Reader For Mac
Out of the box, ImgBurn supports numerous image types: ISO, BIN, CUE, IMG, NRG, CCD, CDI, DVD, GI, MDS, DI and PDI. I haven’t even heard of half of those formats.
ImgBurn can create ISO images of your optical discs, create ISO images out of scratch, write ISO images to a disc, verify the integrity of a disc’s readability, and more. It’s designed so that any newbie can pick it up right away, but advanced users will prosper from ImgBurn’s configurability.
Available for Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, and 8.
Virtual CloneDrive
SlySoft’s Virtual CloneDrive is one of the better known ISO management tools out there. It mounts images with a simple double-click and supports up to 8 separate virtual drives at a time. Plus, it supports all of the common image formats, including BIN, CUE, and CDD. Unlike SlySoft’s others software packages, this one is completely free.
Available for Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, and 7.
Daemon Tools Lite
A long time ago–I’m talking nearly half a decade–Daemon Tools used to be the household name for ISO-related tools. Nowadays, there are so many free alternatives that Daemon Tools has fallen a bit by the wayside. The Lite version can be obtained for free, but it lacks in everything but the most basic of features.
If all you need to do is mount a basic image file, then it will suffice. If you want to do anything more advanced, you may run into some limitations unless you pay around 15 Euros for the premium version.
Available for Windows 98, XP, Vista, 7 and most recently, Mac OS.
AcetoneISO
AcetoneISO is an ISO management tool aimed primarily at users on Linux-based platforms. It’s an open-source software package that can handle free and proprietary disc image formats, including ISO, BIN, NRG, IMG, NDF, and more.
Many Linux gurus could probably burn entire archives full of CDs and DVDs using nothing but the terminal, but Linux newbies will find this program to be invaluable when dealing with disc images. Burn images to CDs and DVDs, convert images from one format to another, generate ISO files from scratch or from a disc–AcetoneISO can do it all and more.
Packages available for Ubuntu, Debian, OpenSUSE, Fedora, Mandriva, Archlinux, Slackware, and Gentoo.
Image Credit: DVD Image Via Shutterstock
Explore more about: CD-DVD Tool, Disk Image, Virtual Drive.
If I create an ISO file from a CD on a PC that has a CD drive then I can read that ISO file on a PC that does not have an ISO drive by using one of the aforementioned utilities - correct?
Yes, an ISO file is literally a (See what I did there; lol???) 'bit' per 'bit' virtual (an 'image', if you will) copy of the disk, so the correct (of which there are many) type of program can identify, and mount the content to a directory, that said program henceforth recodes, so as to appear to the host OS, as a physical drive.
I am not very computer literate, but my new laptop doesn't have a disc drive. How do I make an iso file of a disc if I don't have a disc drive?
The the most truthful answer is that you can't ----- natively. Just buy an external disk drive; or, if you deem that too 'costly', you could always just use a computer that has an internal disk drive, then just move the resulting ISO file to the needed location.
WinCDEmu is Simply super..
How about Mac? I use Daemon Tools on Windows, but it is not free on Mac...
Creating a single virtual dvd for fooling games into believing that Disc 1 is indeed in the drive is an excellent idea. But what about games with more than one dvd/cd installation discs?
I've never had to do that, myself, and henceforth, haven't given it much thought, but given the nature of disc emulation, I'd like to think it would just be a matter of mounting the individual images of each disc, to the same virtual drive, in the correct sequence; at the correct interval, if required.
If anybody wants to install any type of OS, Bootware..etc via USB ( Means boot iso from USB drive ) the only good option is 'Easy2Boot_v1.29' + 'RMPrepUSB'. It can boot all windows versions,( XP to 10) and Acronis and all type of recovary software iso's in a single flash drive.
There is no needs to writing any iso file , just copy and paste appropriated folder and boot the disk and select the iso in a menu. the only one problem is the site's help is messy. you can boot, recovery via ghost and acronics and all other tricky parts of computer via this softwares.What are the steps for Acronis TI iso as extracted file size is less than actual iso file .Hence pendrive is not bootable . For win OS and hirens Boot cd, yumi is a better option.
(YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator | USB Pen Drive Linux
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/)
I use ImgBurn.
I use Daemon Tools Lite. It has all the features I need and has a simple interface.
I use Daemon Tools Lite. It has all the features I need and has a simple interface.
I use Daemon Tools Lite. It has all the features I need and has a simple interface.
I use Daemon Tools Lite. It has all the features I need and has a simple interface.
If the problem is that you have a CD/DVD drive but Windows is not recognizing it, try my CD-DVD troubleshooter: http://cd-dvd-troubleshooter.com.
I was just getting along with this .ISO type files recently and I use Virtual CloneDrive. It's working fine. Wonder, what exactly is the best free tool in this category you guys think?
I use daemontools lite for mounting ISO. I used it for years/
Daemon tools is good, i have using it from the first time i know about computer, :D
7years ago i think ..The best two are Virtual CloneDrive and ImgBurn.
Being a newbie I have not had much success in using .ISO files. I will add this information to my .iso file database and hope to learn from this and other comments what to use and how to use it.
Very Nice and Fabulous Article. Step by step guide Very useful for those using Virtual drivers
Instal and Enjoy
Thk's for that I;ll have to remember that I have a Laptop with a burnt out cd/dvd player
i face this problem after i read this i solve this issue
great post :) i use WinCDEmu i think is the best for this... but i think Alcohol 120% or 52% are great and useful software for this task :)
there is also a free program called iso burn just for iso files:) i recommend it
What does mount mean? Or what is this tool for? If I mount a Linux iso, would I be able to run it like a live CD? I tried Virtual CloneDrive before but I was only able to view the contents like I would have been with 7zip. What am I missing?
To 'mount' means to perform an action in the operating system which makes a storage device or a writing device available to the operating system,such as clicking on an icon or using a command to mount a harddrive,optical drive or usb memory stick.
Thanks, guys.
Mounting disk for me is the best way to use disks specially when you are using a Netbook or an UltraBook. I use PowerISO in my opinion, is the best ;)
I use virtual clonedrive and it is working smoothly, it's light and fast and does not require a computer restart after installing the software.
Thanks Joel.
I have one question - could virtual drivees be used for OS installation, meaning can we mount an ISO image to a virtual drive and install OS, and after it restarts multiple times - where it would find the virtual DVD?I use Virtual Clone Drive and it is nice !!
powerISO really helps too, but id like to try some of the programs mentioned.
I do like Virtual CloneDrive and so much like it. And now I am testing the another tools.
Most of the time i used Daemon Tools. Now, Windows 8 can mount ISO (only ISO; cue/bin and everything else doesn't seem to work) and i love it.
I use Imgburn... thnx for rest of the tools. gr8 info
ultraiso is the best alternative.... infra recorder is a nice one too
There is also OSFMount that is portable no need to install it just run it and it can also mount the image to a RAM Drive.
I use Slysoft's Virtual CloneDrive to mount images, and ImgBurn for all my cd/dvd/image writing/creating needs. I have found that WinCDEmu supports too few formats. I stopped using Daemon Tools when it wasn't compatible with Windows 7 64 bit.
There's another super easy way of accessing and/or extracting the contents in an ISO image. You can just use a popular archival programs such as Winrar or 7-Zip.
You install a virtual OS via loading it's ISO image into VirtualBox or VMware Player.
You can burn a bootable image to a disk using ImgBurn of course.
If you have no dvd drive, and would like to create a bootable USB flash drive instead, you can use the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool for the Windows 7 ISO, or use UNetbootin to create a bootable USB flash drive for GNU/Linux operating systems and other tools.I am using virtual cd which found to be more easier to use than others ..
I used to use Virtual Clone Drive to mount my .iso files that I created from DVDs. I haven't really used very many programs like that for Windows (I mostly use Linux) but Virtual Clone Drive was the best free program that I was able to find for Windows. I would still be using it if I would have kept that Windows installation installed on my laptop. If someone asked me which program I would recommend to use out of all the programs I tried; I would recommend Virtual Clone Drive.
I don't understand why but the comment I posted is not linking to my account as me being the one that posted this. Sorry, but I just recently joined this website. lol
I use MagicDisc to mount disc images in Windows. I tried Virtual Clone Drive before, I forget why I didn't like it and chose MagicDisc instead.
Updated: June 10, 2019 Home » Freeware and Software Reviews
If you’re using Microsoft Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, you do not need to download 3rd party ISO mounting software. Windows 8 and Windows 10 comes with capability to mount ISO files and burn the ISO to a CD or DVD. Below is a simple tutorial on how to mount ISO image files on Windows, while you’re at it, you might find this tutorial useful – 7 Free Tool To Create Bootable Windows 7 & 10 On A USB Drive in creating a bootable ISO image of Windows.
Alternative Article ➤ 13 Free Tools To Create Bootable USB Windows 10 & Linux With ISO Files
- Step 1 – Right click on the ISO file, select ‘Mount’
- Step 2 – A new ‘CD DVD Drive’ will appear in the Device and Drivers list. Double click on the virtual CD DVD driver to access the files.
To unmount the ISO files from the Virtual DVD Drive, right click on the drive and select ‘Eject’. To burn the files to a physical CD, right click on the original file and select ‘Burn This Image’.
For those still using Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, here are 5 free ISO mounting programs for Microsoft Windows user. They are 100% freeware with no string attached. If you’re looking at creating Bootable USB Ubuntu Linux or Bootable Windows 10, below are 5 of the best ISO mount freeware to mount the ISO files downloaded from Torrent and extract the content, download now!
↓ 01 – Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel | Mounts
Re-released in 2013, this free utility software enables users of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 to mount ISO disk image files as virtual CD-ROM drives. This can be highly useful for reading disk images to install software or recover backup files. Notes: This tool is not supported by Microsoft; use at your own risk. Windows 8 users do NOT need this tool. Windows 8 natively supports ISO files. In Windows 8, you can simply open an ISO file and Windows automatically assigns it a drive letter and reads it as a virtual drive.
↓ 02 – Virtual CloneDrive | Mounts
Virtual CloneDrive works and behaves just like a physical CD/DVD drive, however it exists only virtually. Image files generated with CloneDVD or CloneCD can be mounted onto a virtual drive from your hard-disk or from a network drive and used in the same manner as inserting them into a normal CD/DVD drive. Probably the best virtual drive software, Virtual CloneDrive allows you to enjoy the freedom of a virtual drive and is completely free. Supports all common image formats such as ISO, BIN, CCD
↓ 03 – WinCDEmu Free Iso Mounter | Features: Creates & Mounts
WinCDEmu is an open-source CD/DVD/BD emulator – a tool that allows you to mount optical disc images by simply clicking on them in Windows Explorer. If you have downloaded an ISO image and want to use it without burning it to a blank disc, WinCDEmu is the easiest way to do it. Features:
- One-click mounting of ISO, CUE, NRG, MDS/MDF, CCD, IMG images.
- Supports unlimited amount of virtual drives.
- Runs on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions from XP to Windows 7.
- Allows creating ISO images through a context menu in Explorer.
- Supports data, DVD-video and BD-video images.
- Does not require rebooting after installation.
↓ 04 – DAEMON Tools Lite | Creates, Modifies, Mounts, Restores & Extracts
Daemon is possibly the Best Iso Mounting Software to mount ISO. Do you need just to create or mount image file of popular format? DAEMON Tools Lite is exactly what you need. Free for home and non-commercial use, this software solution will provide you with the basic functions for operating with virtual devices. Using DAEMON Tools Lite you can create up to 4 virtual devices. Your system will recognize them like physical one, and your work will become much faster.
↓ 05 – ISODisk | Mount & Create
ISODisk is a FREE and powerful ISO disk image file tool, allows you to create virtual CD/DVD driver up to 20 drivers, mount an .ISO disk image and access the files on it as if it were burned to CD or DVD. This free program can quickly create ISO image file from CD/DVD-ROM, with ISODisk, you don’t need install any other virtual drive software. Once you map the archive to a virtual drive, you can be able to view the contents in Windows Explorer.
- Mount ISO image files to as an internal virtual CD/DVD device.
- Can mount ISO image on Local Area Network.
- Can create virtual CD/DVD driver up to 20 drivers.
- Quickly create ISO file from CD/DVD-ROM.
↓ 06 – gBurner Virtual Drive | Mount & Create
gBurner Virtual Drive is a free utility designed for creating and managing virtual CD / DVD drives. For anyone who deals with CD/DVD-based programs – it is a MUST. gBurner Virtual Drive allows you to use almost all CD/DVD image without burning them onto CD or DVD in order to easily access your favorite games, music, or software programs. It works like a real CD/DVD-ROM: You can run programs, play games, or listen to music from your virtual CD/DVD-ROM.
gBurner Virtual Drive supports all popular CD/DVD image file formats. Following is a list of all supported CD/DVD image file formats: ISO (Standard ISO File), GBI / GBP (gBurner Image Files), DAA (PowerISO Image Files), NRG (Nero Image Files), MDF / MDS (Alcohol Image Files), BIN / CUE (CDRWin Image Files), UIF (MagicISO Image Files), ISZ (UltraISO Image Files), ASHDISC (Ashampoo Image Files), DMG (Apple Mac Image Files), GI (RecordNow Image Files), BWI / B5I (BlindWrite Image Files), IMG (CloneCD Image Files), CDI (DiscJugger Image Files), PDI (InstantCopy Image Files), NCD (NTI CD-Maker Image Files), LCD (CDSpace Image Files), CIF (Easy CD/DVD Creator Image Files), P01 (Gear Image Files), PXI (PlexTools Image Files), C2D (WinOnCD Image Files), FCD (Virtual CD-ROM Image Files), and VCD (Virtual Drive Image Files).
- Create data, audio and video discs. gBurner supports the following disc types: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-R DL, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL, DVD-RAM, BD-R, BD-R DL, BD-RE, BD-RE DL.
- Create multisession discs.
- Make bootable data discs.
- Copy CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray Discs.
- Create bootable USB drive.
- Support ISO 9660, Joliet and UDF file systems.
- Support Audio CD-TEXT.
- Support Mp3, Wma, Wav, Flac, Ape and Ogg Audio formats.
- Open, create, edit, extract, convert and burn disc image files. gBurner has automatically detecting engine, so gBurner can automatically analysis almost all disc image files(iso, bin, cue, mdf, mds, img, gbi, daa, uif, cif, nrg, gi, dmg and so on).
- Support unicode file names.
- Optimize file layout to save disc space.
- Support wim, vmdk, vhd and vdi virtual disk image files.
↓ 07 – Free ISO Burner | Mount & Create
Free ISO Burner can directly burn your ISO and CD/DVD image file to CD-R,CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW,HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, no need mount any “virtual drives” which emulate physical CDs or DVDs, it write any data directly.
Free ISO Burner hide all complex settings, let this program be very simple and easy to use. Click [Open] button to choice one ISO image file (*.iso), insert a blank CD in your CD-RW drive, then click [Burn] to start the disk burning. Users can select the drivers, set the disk volume, select burn speed and change the burn cache size, during the burning user can click [Abort] to abort the burning progress. Free ISO Burner can support bootable CD image file. User can select [Finalize Disc] in main interface to finalize a disc on which data and music have already been written.
↓ 08 – ISO Workshop | Mount & Create
ISO Workshop is a free Windows desktop application specifically designed to facilitate ISO image management and conversion, as well as CD/DVD/Blu-ray Disc burning and copying operations. The program has a very intuitive user interface and enables you to make ISO images, extract files from disc images, create disc backups, convert and burn disc images, make exact CD/DVD/Blu-ray Disc copies.
- Make standard or bootable ISO, with various file systems
- Burn ISO image or any other disc image to CD, DVD or BD
- Browse and extract files from various disc image formats
- Copy any CD, DVD or Blu-ray Disc to ISO or BIN image
- Convert various disc images to ISO or BIN
- Make exact CD, DVD or Blu-ray Disc copies on-the-fly
- Support Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 (32 and 64)
↓ 09 – OSFMount | Mount Only
OSFMount allows you to mount local disk image files (bit-for-bit copies of a disk partition) in Windows with a drive letter. You can then analyze the disk image file with PassMark OSForensics by using the mounted volume’s drive letter. By default, the image files are mounted as read only so that the original image files are not altered.
↓ 10 – Pismo File Mount | Mount Only
Pismo File Mount Audit Package is a Windows application that allows users to mount the contents of ZIP, ISO, Compact ISO, Compact File Set and Private Folder files to the file system as virtual folders. Pismo File Mount Audit Package is available free of charge for personal and business use.
- ZIP reader – Most zip archive files can be mounted as read-only folders to allow access to contents, including the ability to execute contained applications.
- CD/DVD image file reader – DVD and CD images can be mounted in place as a read-only folder to allow access to contents. ISO and CISO image formats are supported.
- Compact File Set reader – CFS files can be mounted in place as read-only folders to allow access to contents, including the ability to execute contained applications.
↓ 11 – TotalMounter | Mount & Create
TotalMounter is only free software that allows user to mount virtual CD/DVD burner that is allowing to directly burn data onto an ISO file, not to an optical disk (such as CD or DVD). After mounting virtual burner for the first time, system will recognize it and automatically install all necessary drivers to run it. After this process will finish, you can easily burn such ISO file in any burning software of your choice, including Windows 7 default burning software.
- Provides CD-RW and DVD+RW emulators that allow you to “write” data into an CD/DVD drive, you may also create ISO9660 files by using any CD/DVD burning software.
- Provides a CD/DVD-ROM emulator that mounts image files such as ISO, CDI, BIN, MDS, MDF, IMG, RAW, CCD, NRG in to a virtual CD/DVD-ROM drive.
- Provides a iSCSI Initiator for mounting iStorage Server and other iSCSI Targets.
- Provides a INetDisk client for mount INetDisk Server.
- Mounts and create Image file disk’s (img) and VHD files.
- AES 256-BIT virtual disk encryption.
- Provides Virtual Write technology, so that you can copy files into a read-only drive and do not affect other people using other clients.
- Provides as many as 8 virtual drives.
- Provides simple and banausic management tool, to manage virtual drives.
- Support for x86 and x64 machines.
- No restrictions on disk capacity, total number of hard disk installed, number of CPUs or CPU cores, and the amount of RAM.
↓ 12 – ImDisk Toolkit | Mount Only
This tool will let you mount image files of hard drive, cd-rom or floppy, and create one or several ramdisks with various parameters. This all-in-one package includes the ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver, the DiscUtils library that extends the number of supported image file formats, and adds several GUIs and features.
↓ 13 – DVDFab Virtual Drive Iso Mount [ Not Free Anymore ] | Mounts & Extracts
DVDFab Virtual Drive is a virtual DVD/Blu-ray emulator. It emulates a maximum of 18 drives and works with DVD/Blu-ray images created by DVDFab and other programs. Supported formats are DVD ISO image file, Blu-ray ISO image file and System Requirement are Windows 8/7/Vista/XP (32-bit/64-bit) X86/X64.
What Is ISO Image Filetype [ Wikipedia ]
What is an .iso file? An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, a type of disk image composed of the data contents from every written sector on an optical disc, including the optical disc file system. ISO image files usually have a file extension of .iso. The name ISO is taken from the ISO 9660 file system used with CD-ROM media, but what is known as an ISO image might also contain a UDF (ISO/IEC 13346) file system (commonly used by DVDs and Blu-ray Discs).
ISO images can be created from optical discs by disk imaging software, or from a collection of files by optical disc authoring software, or from a different disk image file by means of conversion. Software distributed on bootable discs is often available for download in ISO image format. And like any other ISO image, it may be written to an optical disc such as CD or DVD.