Optical disc authoring v • d • e
Optical disc Optical disc image Optical disc drive Optical disc authoring Authoring software Recording technologies Recording modes Packet writing
Optical media types
Laserdisc (LD), Video Single Disc (VSD) Compact Disc (CD): Red Book, 5.1 Music Disc, SACD, PhotoCD, CD-R, CD-ROM, CD-RW, CD Video (CDV), Video CD (VCD), SVCD, CD+G, CD-Text, CD-ROM XA, CD-Extra, CD-i Bridge, CD-i MiniDisc (MD) (Hi-MD) DVD: DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-R DL, DVD+R DL, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RW DL, DVD+RW DL, DVD-RAM, DVD-D Ultra Density Optical (UDO) Universal Media Disc (UMD) HD DVD: HD DVD-R, HD DVD-RW, HD DVD-RAM, HD DVD-ROM Blu-ray Disc (BD): BD-R, BD-RE
Standards
Rainbow Books File systems ISO 9660 Joliet Rock Ridge Amiga Rock Ridge extensions El Torito Apple ISO9660 Extensions Universal Disk Format (UDF) Mount Rainier
Further reading
History of optical storage media High definition optical disc format war

An Optical disc image is an archive file that contains all the information necessary to replicate an optical disc such as a CD-ROM or DVD.

Uses

• Storage prevents loss due to physical damage to CDs and DVDs and is easy to back up.
• Portability multiple images can be carried on lightweight compact and bootable storage devices which have a higher storage capacity (e.g., a USB keydrive).
• Distribution Provides rapid access to software over the Internet.
• Virtual disks provide virtual drives to be used by emulators and virtual machines. This prevents physical wear and reduces bulk and noise. Emulation also provides a performance boost, as hard disks transfer data at much higher rates than optical disk drives.
• Universal Access As most operating systems allow images to be mounted as if they were physical discs, image formats such as .ISO may be used as a universal archive format.

Formats

- True binary Disk Image

• .BIN/.CUE (CDRWIN)

- Single track archive -

• ISO

- Multi-track archive -

• .NRG (Nero Burning ROM's proprietary format)
• .MDF/.MDS (Alcohol 120%'s proprietary format[can be read by Magic Iso, and converted to .ISO format])
• .DAA (PowerISO's proprietary format)
• .CCD/.DVD/.SUB (CloneCD's proprietary format)

Software

Note: most optical disc authoring software is capable of producing optical disc images.

Imaging Process

1. Select an appropriate format for the type of media you wish to image.

• a multi-track CD image format is required for multi-track CDs. If a single-track image format like [.ISO format|.ISO] is used, then only the first track will be retained and no other tracks would be replicated.
• Choose a format that has an appropriate level of accessibility and support, especially for distribution or long-term storage.

2. Select an optical disc authoring software application that supports that format.

See also

list of optical disc authoring software