How to burn CDs and DVDs

The history of the music industry is also inevitably the story of the development of technology. From the player piano to the vinyl disc, from reel-to-reel tape to the cassette, from the CD to the digital download, these formats and devices changed not only the way music was consumed, but the very way artists created it, Edgar Bronfman, Jr.

There are more fools in the world than there are people, Heinrich Heine.

All those who look stupid are stupid, and so are half of those who don’t look stupid, Francisco de Quevedo.

Until a few years ago, burning CDs and DVDs was very common, almost a daily routine, among many computer users. They have lost their significance and popularity over the years. Nowadays, they have been replaced by USB Flash drives.USB Flash drives are convenient, easy-to-use, portable, and cheap.

Futhermore, many computers and laptops do not come with optical drives that can read or burn CDs or DVDs. However, external DVD writers are highly affordable, portable, and are widely compatible with many operating systems. Besides, they can play CDs, DVDs, and VCDs.

How to burn ISO image to CD/DVD/Blue Ray in Windows

You can burn ISO files right from Microsoft’s Windows Explorer without the need of installing and using any third-party tools. A Burn disc image option should appear at the top of the context menu when you perform a right-click on an ISO file.

However, some users can’t find this option. Typically, this is because ISO files are not associated with the Windows Disk Image Burner program. There are two solutions:

1. Open Windows Explorer (Windows + E), right-click on the file ISO, select Open with, Choose another app, select More apps, scroll to the bottom and click Look for another app on this PC. Browse to the folder c:\Windows\System32 and select the isoburn.exe file. Finally, click Open.
2. Open Settings, Apps, Default Apps. Use the search bar under Set a default for a file type or link types to look for .iso. Click on the current default app for the file type (e.g., Windows Explorer or 7-zip), then select the app you’d like to replace it. If the app doesn’t show up, click on More apps, Look for another app on this PC, browse to the folder c:\Windows\System32, and select the isoburn.exe.  

• Insert a writable CD, DVD or a Blue Ray disk in your optical disc drive. Open Windows Explorer (Windows + E), right-clic on your ISO image file, and select Burn disc image.  
• Select your disc burner drive (e.g., DVD R Drive (D:)), check Verify disc after burning (this is just an extra reassurance to check the burning process), and smash the Burn button.

Burning a Data/Audio CD, erase CD/DVDs

Burning a data CD/DVD is quite simple. Insert a black disc into the drive. Open File Explorer (Windows + E), locate and select the files and folders that you want to burn, click the three dots near View, select Burn to disc, With a CD/DVD player, and smash the Next button.

To erase or format a CD/DVD in Windows 10/11, insert the CD/DVD into your computer. Open File Explorer, click This PC, find and right click on the CD/DVD drive icon, then select Format…, and click Start.

To burn a Music CD, open Windows Media Player, switch to the Library tab, navigate to your Music library (Music, All music), click the Burn tab in the top-right corner of the Windows Media Player, drag and drop your songs to the Burn’s right pane to create a soon-to-be-burnt list, click the Option icon (a white box with a checkmark), Audio CD, and finally smash the Start burn to begin burning your music onto an Audio CD.

Other tools are:

• ImgBurn is a lightweight CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!
• InfraRecorder is a free CD/DVD burning solution for Microsoft Windows.
• BurnAware is a fully-fledged, easy-to-use burning software which allows users to write all types of files such as digital photos, pictures, archives, documents, music, and videos to CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray Discs.

Burn a CD on macOS

1. Insert a blank CD/DVD into your external CD/DVD Writer. When you insert a blank disc, you are going to be asked how you would like it to be handled by the macOS. In the drop-down menu Action, select Open Finder.  
2. Look for the icon of the blank or untitled CD or DVD, e.g., Untitled ☢ DVD that appears on your Finder. Drag and drop the desired files and folders onto the CD, then clic Burn on the top right.  
3. Next, you are going to be asked to give your CD or DVD a name and choose a burning speed. Default settings are almost always a good choice.  

Burn an ISO image/Audio CD on macOS

1. Insert a blank CD/DVD into your external CD/DVD Writer. When you insert a blank disc, you are going to be asked how you would like it to be handled by the macOS. In the drop-down menu Action, select Open Finder.  
2. Open Finder, right-click the ISO file, then select Burn Disc Image “Windows11.ISO” to Disc.  
3. Smash the Burn button to start burning the CD or DVD, then be patience. 😄   To burn an Audio CD, open iTunes, create a new playlist (File, New, Playlist), drag and drop some songs from your library to the recently created playlist. Next, insert a blank CD, select File, Burn Playlist to Disc, choose your burn settings (select Disc Format: Audio CD), and finally click on the Burn button.

Brasero

Brasero is a feature-rich and user-friendly GNOME application to burn CDs and DVDs.To install it, open a terminal and type: sudo apt-get install brasero (Debian, Ubuntu); sudo pacman -S brasero (Arch Linux).

To burn an ISO image, open Brasero and select Burn Image on the left pane. Next, insert a blank CD or DVD. Then, select a disc image to write, i.e., navigate and select the iso image you want to burn (e.g., WinPE10.iso), and a disc to write to, e.g., Blank disc (DVD-R), the blank CD or DVD we have already inserted into our external CD/DVD Writer.

Finally, click on the Burn button. By default, Burn the image directly without saving it to disk and Use burnproof (decrease the risk of failure) are selected.

If you want to burn a Data CD or DVD, open Brasero and select Data project on the left pane. Then, open a Nautilus windows and drag and drop some files and folders into the Brasero window or click on the + button, navigate to where your files and directories are held, and clic Add to add these files and folders to the project. Next, insert a blank CD or DVD, give it a name by replacing the “Data disc” text, and click on the Burn button.