What Is an ISO File?

ISO image definition and how to burn, extract, and create image files

What to Know

• An ISO file is a disc image file.
• Open one with 7-Zip, PeaZip, or another archive opener.

This article explains what ISO files are and shows examples of the different ways you can use them.

What Is an ISO File?

An ISO file, often called an ISO image, is a single file that’s a perfect representation of an entire CD, DVD, or BD. The entire contents of a disc can be precisely duplicated in a single ISO file.

Think of an ISO file like a box that holds all the parts to something that needs to be built—like a child’s toy you might buy that requires assembly. The box that the toy pieces come in does you no good as an actual toy but the contents inside of it, once taken out and put together, become what you’re actually wanting to use.

An ISO file works in much the same way. The file itself is no good unless it can be opened, assembled, and used.

The .ISO file extension used by ISO images is also used for Arbortext IsoDraw Document files, which are CAD drawings used by the PTC Arbortext products; they have nothing to do with the ISO format explained on this page. Thes formats are also unrelated to SO files despite the similar extension.

Where You’ll See ISO Files Used

ISO images are often used to distribute large programs over the internet, due to the fact that all of the program’s files can be neatly contained as a single file.

One example can be seen in the free Ophcrack password recovery tool (which contains an entire operating system and several pieces of software). Everything that makes up the program is wrapped up in one file.

Ophcrack certainly isn’t the only program to use an ISO file—many types of programs are distributed this way. For example, most bootable antivirus programs use ISO, like the bitdefender-rescue-cd.iso file used by Bitdefender Rescue CD.

In all those examples, and the thousands of others out there, every single file required for whatever tool to run is included in the single ISO image. As mentioned already, that makes the tool really easy to download, but it also makes it super easy to burn to a disc or other device.

Even Windows 10, and previously Windows 8 and Windows 7, can be purchased directly by Microsoft in the ISO format, ready to be extracted to a device or mounted in a virtual machine.

How to Burn ISO Files

The most common way to make use of an ISO file is to burn it to a CD, DVD, or BD disc. This is a different process than burning music or document files to a disc because your CD/DVD/BD burning software must «assemble» the contents of the ISO file onto the disc.

Windows 10, 8, and 7 can all burn ISO images to a disc without using any third-party software—just double-tap or double-click the ISO file and then follow the wizard that appears.

If you want to use Windows to open the ISO file but it’s already associated with a different program (i.e., Windows doesn’t open the ISO file when you double-click or double-tap it), open the file’s properties and change the program that should open ISO files to be isoburn.exe (it’s stored in the C:\Windows\system32\ folder).

The same logic applies when burning an ISO file to a USB device, something that’s much more common now that optical drives are becoming much less common.

Burning an ISO image isn’t just an option for some programs, it’s required. For example, many hard drive diagnostic tools are only usable outside the operating system. This means that you’ll have to burn the ISO to some form of removable media (like a disc or a flash drive) that your computer can boot from.

While less common, some programs are distributed in ISO format but aren’t designed to be booted from. For example, Microsoft Office is often made available as an ISO file and is designed to be burned or mounted, but since it doesn’t need to be run from outside of Windows, there’s no need to boot from it (it wouldn’t even do anything if you tried).

How to Extract ISO Files

If you don’t want to actually burn an ISO file to a disc or USB storage device, most compression/decompression software programs, like the free 7-Zip and PeaZip programs, will extract the contents of an ISO file to a folder.

Extracting an ISO file copies all of the files from the image directly into a folder that you can browse through like any folder you’d find on your computer. Although the newly created folder can’t be directly burned to a device as discussed in the section above, knowing that this is possible might come in handy.

For example, let’s say you’ve downloaded Microsoft Office as an ISO file. Instead of burning the ISO image to a disc, you could extract the installation files from the ISO and then install the program like you normally would any other program.

Every unzip program requires a different set of steps, but here’s how you can quickly extract an ISO image using 7-Zip: Right-click the file, choose 7-Zip, and then select the Extract to «\» option.

If these steps don’t work for you, double-check the file extension to make sure you aren’t confusing another file for one in the ISO format. ISZ is one example of a file that can be easily confused for ISO.

How to Create ISO Files

Several programs, many of them free, let you create your own ISO file from a disc or a collection of files you’ve chosen.

The most common reason to build an ISO image is if you’re interested in backing up a software installation disc or even a DVD or Blu-ray movie.

How to Mount ISO Files

Mounting an ISO file that you’ve created or downloaded from the internet is sort of like tricking your computer into thinking that the ISO file is a real disc. This way, you can «use» an ISO file just like it was on a real CD or DVD, only you didn’t have to waste a disc, or your time burning one.

One common situation where mounting an ISO file is helpful is when you’re playing a video game that requires the original disc be inserted. Instead of actually sticking the disc in your optical drive, you can just mount the ISO image of that game disc that you previously created.

Mounting an ISO file is usually as simple as opening the file with something called a «disc emulator» and then choosing a drive letter that the ISO file should represent. Even though this drive letter is a virtual drive, Windows sees it as a real one, and you can use it as such, too.

One of our favorite free programs for mounting ISO images is WinCDEmu because of how easy it is to use (plus it comes in this portable version). Another one is Pismo File Mount Audit Package.

If you’re using Windows 10 or Windows 8, you’re lucky enough to have ISO mounting built in to your operating system! Just tap-and-hold or right-click the ISO file and choose Mount. Windows will create a virtual drive for you automatically—no extra software required.

Although mounting an ISO file is very useful in some situations, please know that the virtual drive will be unreachable anytime the operating system isn’t running. This means it’s entirely pointless to mount an ISO file that you want to use outside of Windows (like what’s required with some hard drive diagnostic tools and memory testing programs).

Open ISO Files in Windows 10/7/XP with ISO Viewer

By Petty Madison | Last Updated: Sep. 10, 2018

ISO file can be extremely useful when you need to install an operating system or even a software utility. Essentially, an ISO file is a copy of all the content from a DVD/CD/BD in archived format. The files inside can be anything: media files like music and videos, installation files and so on. The image file itself is uncompressed, and the structure it uses to store the data will be based on the file system that was on the disk that contained the original data.

The problem with ISO files is that you can’t view the contents or even open the file without special utilities or native support. In Windows, native support for ISO files only came with Windows 8, which means older versions like Windows 7 require tools to be able to do this. In Windows 10 there is native support, but you also have other utilities that allow you to view the contents of an ISO file without having to burn it to a disk or drive.

The easiest way to view the files of an ISO file on Windows 10 is to use its virtual drive mounting capability. This feature allows you to mount the ISO file on a virtual drive rather than a physical drive or a disk. The advantage is that you don’t have to burn the file to a disk to see the content, so no diskc would be wasted for this purpose.

However, there are often problems with mounting the file on Windows 10. It could show an error if the ISO image wasn’t created properly in the first place. If you’re facing such an issue, then a third-party application may be required to see inside the ISO file.

Method 1: How to Quickly Open ISO Image with ISO Editor

Opening ISO file on Windows 10 is not a rocket science. Actually, there are many free and paid applications that can complete this task. However, some of them are extremely hard to use and have compatibility issues with latest Windows 10 update. So in here, we will go with the one that has works well on all versions of Windows 10.

UUByte ISO Editor is a cross-platform ISO toolkits that has several core functions to deal with ISO image files. It can open any ISO image files in a quick way on both Windows PC and Mac.

Why Choose UUByte ISO Editor

• Open all kinds of ISO image files.
• Load ISO image file instantly.
• Create bootable USB for OS installation.
• Freely edit ISO image.
• Create new ISO image from folders or files.

Step 1: Get Prepared

Please install UUByte ISO editor on your Windows 10 PC where the ISO image file sits. There is an installtion wizard that comes with the program. Just follow the prompt and install it on your computer.

Step 2: Load ISO Image

Open UUByte ISO Editor from desktop shortcut and click «Extract» tab on the welcome screen. Now, click the «Load ISO» button from upper right corner and you will be asked to import the ISO file into the program.

Step 3: Open ISO File Directly

Now, check the little squre bot at the left side of File Name field. This action will select all the files and folders compressed in ISO image. Then click «Extract» button to save all the content into local folder. Wait a few seconds and the ISO file is opened.

This is one of the best ways to open ISO image file on Windows 10 computer. It is fast and powerful! Most importantly, it comes with an easy-to-understand user interface. No hassle at all when using this great application.

Method 2: Open ISO File with Pismo File Mount Audit Package

Pismo File Mount Audit Package is a favorite of many developers because it is non-invasive and easy to use. It is also free. The utility is called PFMAP for short, and allows you to mount ISO images quickly, extract the files and then unmount them. It does this by converting the ISO file into a file folder that you can double-click to open and view. Let’s see how PFMAP works:

Step 1 : Download the PFMAP software on your Windows 10 PC and install it.

Step 2: Once the installation is done, you can simply right-click on the ISO file in File Explorer and click on «Mount». You’ll notice that the ISO icon for the file is now replaced with another, meaning that it is now a file folder. Double-click on this and the file will open, showing you the contents of the ISO file.

Step 3: If you don’t need to copy or extract anything, simply right-click on the main file folder and select «Unmount» to change it back into the ISO format.

A lot of people prefer this utility over the next one — WinRAR — because the latter is known to create some issues while extracting files from an ISO image. Nevertheless, it’s a popular tool for the purpose.

Method 3: How to View ISO Image in Windows via WinRAR

WinRAR is essentially a paid utility, but there’s a long trial period before you need to pay anything. In certain countries like China there’s also a fully free edition available. It’s basically an archiving tool for compressing files, but it allows you to view the contents of an ISO file so you can copy or extract it.

Step 1 : Download and install WinRAR on your Windows 10 PC.

Step 2: Navigate to the file and right-click on it, then «Open with…» and select «WinRAR».

Step 3: You should now be able to see the contents of the image file in the form of subfolders and files. Just close the WinRAR application when you’re done.

As mentioned, there are certain issues you may come across while using WinRAR. The problem is generally seen when the files in the ISO image are corrupted, but it can also be because of the software application itself. If WinRAR doesn’t work for you, then try the method described below.

Method 4: Unzip ISO File on Windows 10/7/XP with 7-Zip

7-Zip is an open source archiving and file compression software utility that has gained tremendous popularity among Windows users. There’s also a modified version called Easy 7-Zip that has the same features but is easier to use. You can use either of them to view the contents of an ISO file.

Step 1: Download 7-Zip or Easy 7-Zip on your Windows 10 PC and install the application.

Step 2: Launch the program, after which you will see a navigation windows similar to Windows Explorer.

Step 3: Find the ISO file that you want to view, right-click on it, go to 7-Zip and then click on ‘Open archive’. This will open the ISO file and you will be able to see the folders and files inside.

There are also other things you can do with Easy 7-Zip, such as delete archive files after extraction, have the software open the output location and even close the program automatically once the extraction is complete.

Bonus: How to Open ISO Files on Mac Computer

Disk Utility is extremely useful for Mac users because it lets you view the contents of ISO files without having to burn them on a CD first. It works by creating a disk image of the ISO file that you can open and view like it was on a CD or DVD. The process is simple, but the files need to be extracted to the disk image. Here’s how that happens:

Step 1: Go to «Applications» in the Mac Finder and select «Utilities». Double-click on «Disk Utility». You can also get there by clicking on the «Go» menu in Finder and then clicking on Disk Utility from there.

Step 2: Once it’s open, go to the File menu and look for the Open Disk Image option that you see there.

Step 3: This will open a navigation window where you need to find the ISO file and select it. Then click on ‘Open’ on the bottom right hand corner of this window.

This will extract the contents of the ISO file and copy it to a disk image on your desktop. Go to your desktop, double-click the disk image and you’ll see all the contents of the ISO image there.

Conclusion:

You can try using 7-Zip for Mac if the Disk Utility method doesn’t work for you. There are also several alternatives to this software, such as The Unarchiver, WinZip for Mac, Zipeg and so on. All of these are for the macOS environment and their usage is very similar to how it works on Windows, although you may see significant UI differences.

Petty is editor in chief at UUByte and writes various topics about Windows and Mac to help people make the most of current technology.