What is a ISO file
ISO is the most common disc image format for both CD and DVD. The content of the ISO is an exact copy of the content of the original DVD or CD the disc image was created from. ISO files are used to create exact copies of CDs, DVDs or other media saved on discs like a CD-ROM. These copies can function as backup CDs since they do not differ from the originals when it comes to content. Much more information is saved this way than simply copying files from one disc to another where important information like the disc header information can get lost.
The ISO standard the ISO files are based in is the ISO-9660 standard. In addition to the duplicated data from a physical disk, ISO files contain all necessary filesystem information from the original medium as well. This includes the discs' directory structure, the boot code and any attributes attached to the files.
Here's a small, but not exhaustive list of programs that can open ISO documents:
- 7-Zip (Windows)
- Alcohol 120% (Windows)
- Apple Disk Utility (Mac)
- Brasero (Linux)
- Canonical Furius ISO Mount (Linux)
- Corel WinZip (Windows)
- dd (Linux)
- DT Soft DAEMON Tools (Windows)
- ISO Master (Windows & Linux)
- K3b (Linux)
- LSoft Technologies Active@ ISO Burner (Windows)
- MagicISO MagicDist (Windows)
- NeoSmart Technologies EasyBCD (Windows)
- Nero (Windows)
- Parallels Desktop (Mac)
- PowerIso (Windows)
- RARLAB RAR (Android)
- Roxio Creator NXT Pro (Windows)
- Roxio Toast (Mac)
- SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive (Windows)
- VideoLAN VLC media player (Windows, Mac & Linux)
- VMware Fusion (Mac)
- WinRAR (Windows)
