The DAA File – Everything You Need To Know
What Is a DAA File
DAA files are yet another disk image file format, invented and used by PowerISO DVD software. This means that a .daa file contains an exact copy of a CD or a DVD – whether it be a movie, a game or simply a few gigabytes of accounting data (damn my perverted imagination). Disk images are used for a variety of purposes :
- Backup DVD movies and CD disks and copy DVD.
- Store DVD rips (politically correctly – “backups”).
- Use in virtual CD/DVD emulators.
- Burn DVD copy at a later date.
- Upload and download DVD disks on the Internet.
If you’re reading this, chances are you got (that is, downloaded) a .daa file somewhere (that is, BitTorrent or the like) and are wondering what to do with it. Read on.
Sometimes, when somebody wants to put a “backup” copy of a DVD film or some other stuff online, the .daa file format is used instead of the more popular disk image formats (like ISO, BIN, CUE) because it supports certain advanced features –
- Compression – a CD/DVD copy stored in .daa file format may be slightly smaller than a corresponding .iso file.
- Multiple volume splitting – this means that you get multiple smaller DAA files instead of one huge disk image.
- Encryption/passwords – I don’t think this one is terribly useful, but you can password-protect your disk images if you use the DAA file type.
On a side note, it’s possible to get all the aforementioned benefits of DAA files by simply archiving the ISO disk copy with WinRAR. This is why you may often see .rar files in BitTorrent downloads (additional information – how to deal with RAR files).
How To Open DAA Files
There’s actually only one alternative when it comes to opening DAA files.
There are two ways to deal with DAA files – you can either convert them to another file format (e.g. the widely supported ISO) and use the converted file, or use PowerISO (shareware) to open them. I’ll discuss both possibilities.
Converting DAA to ISO
Suzanne DeAngelillis has posted a wonderful tutorial on how to convert DAA files to ISO and/or burn them to CD/DVD using only freeware Windows applications. You can find the tutorial further below on this page.
I’ve also created a graphical interface for the daa2iso converter – my DAA converter GUI. It’s a simpler, easier alternative you can use if you’re not familiar with command-line tools or find the tutorial confusing.
If you’re using Linux, check out AcetoneISO – it can extract DAA files or convert them to ISO files. AcetoneISO is free, open source CD/DVD software that integrates with KDE.
Using PowerISO
To open a file with the .daa file extension on Windows you can also use PowerISO. After you’ve installed this program you can just double-click any .daa file (which will launch PowerISO and open the file) and extract any files contained in the disk image.
PowerISO can also “mount” DAA files with an internal virtual drive it creates. This means you don’t need to burn the DAA file to a disk before you can use it. You can just mount it and play the .daa file as if it was a real CD/DVD.
The .daa file format is proprietary and is not supported by any CD / DVD burning software I know of, except PowerISO. However, if you mount the DAA file with the virtual drive, you can probably copy/rip/do whatever you like with the virtual “disk” using whichever software you prefer.
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thanks… works well, very easy, well done, appreciated…
The article’s author wrote:
“Suzanne DeAngelillis has posted a wonderful tutorial on how to convert DAA files to ISO and/or burn them to CD/DVD using only freeware Windows applications. You can find the tutorial further below on this page.”
The links to her guide do NOT work. Please post a WORKING link to her guide.
Due to how the comment paging system works, it appears impossible to correct the link. I’ll repost the tutorial here instead :
———-
I had posted the tutorial last night but for some reason it didn’t take so I repost now (I also sent this by email to Nandu who requested it above).
Suzanne DeAngelillis
As far as I know, below is the only freeware tutorial on the Internet which shows how to convert DAA archives to DVD when the original DAA files are larger than 300 kb.
QUESTION (previously not answered on the Internet as far as we can tell):
How do I convert large DAA files to DVD on Windows using freeware?
ANSWER (thanks mostly to Bjorn S., Jim S., & Luigi Auriemma):
0. Download Luigi Auriemma’s Windows freeware daa-conversion utility:
http://aluigi.altervista.org/mytoolz.htm
This contains a zip file with source code & a Windows binary:
http://aluigi.altervista.org/mytoolz/daa2iso.zip
1. Point Luigi’s dvd2iso to the *first* file in your DAA archive:
c:\> daa2iso filename.part01.daa output.iso
This will convert single or multi-part DAA files to a single ISO.
A single output.iso file image will be the result.
2. You can burn that ISO image to DVD using Windows ImgBurn freeware:
http://www.imgburn.com
This will get you a playable DVD.
3. Or you can unpack that ISO image using Windows IZArc freeware:
http://www.izarc.org
This will result in the original files that were in the DAA archive.
ALTERNATE SOFTWARE (not necessarily freeware nor Windows):
PowerISO (not freeware, especially for large DAA files):
http://www.poweriso.com/poweriso-1.1.tar.gz
AcetoneISO (this is freeware, just not windows, works only on Linux):
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/AcetoneISO-16724.shtml
REFERENCES (none of which currently outline the simple solution above):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Access_Archive
http://filext.com/file-extension/DAA
http://w-shadow.com/blog/2007/09/07/the-daa-file-everything-you-need-to-know
http://www.articlealley.com/article_170967_11.html
http://aluigi.altervista.org/mytoolz.htm
Thank you so much for the patient explanation and the software. Hand’t seen the daa. file format before and dreaded looking for something to open the file. I’m glad I opened your site first after googling ‘daa’. Managed to open my file….hooray!!
Thanks again,
Colin
I have downloaded nero to make dvds. Now I have found dvds (torrents) which are in iso format. So I downloaded poweriso but I am unsure how to turn the iso files into dvds which i can play on my dvd player. any suggestions, (question mark)
good site loving it keep them coming have a good day
Very good possibillity is GBurner – powerful and easy-to-use CD/DVD burning tool, which allows you to create and burn data/audio CDs and DVDs, make bootable data CDs and DVDs, create multisession discs. gBurner is also a disc image file processing tool, which allows you to open, create, extract, edit, convert and burn ISO/BIN image files. Main Features: 1. Create and burn data / audio CD/DVD. 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. 2. Create multisession CD/DVD. 3. Make bootable CD/DVD. 4. Burn data, audio and video image file. 5. Copy CD/DVD. 6. Erase rewritable disc. 7. Optimize file layout to save disc space. 8. Open, create, extract, edit and convert ISO/BIN Image file. gBurner can convert almost all image file formats to ISO/BIN image file format. 9. Easy and friendly interface. gBurner supports context menu, drag and drop, clipboard copy and paste…
Although free GBurner is called Trial, u can use it forever, but only an additional button must click at the beginning
daemon tools works fine and the lite version is free
Apparently PowerISO’s unregistered version will open small .daa files (source: Opening .DAA Files) So, if you have a small one, I would try the free version of PowerISO. Unfortunately, my DAA file is too big and I have to convert it somehow. Grrr. Why is everything so hard?
Thanks – great info.
Downloaded my first daa file tonight (85MB) and didn’t have a clue what to do.
So followed White Shadow (Comment 67) and downloaded Luigi Auriemma’s utility and IZArc and within 5 minutes of downloading the two softwares have an unpacked file folder!
Thanks chaps!
Wow, nice read man. Thanks for sharing! However I’m having trouble with ur rss feed. Does anyone else have problems with the rss?
another shout for http://dotwhat.net/ – great discussion there
everyone likes to watch dvd movies, i watch at least 4 dvd movies a day “*
Awesome! Thanks for the quick and easy information!
I used the daa2iso.exe, it was super simple. I have 7zip used that to convert the iso.
Many thanks for making this super simple for us masses!
Hi
Thanks so much for the help had just downloaded a series of Spiderman Animated and found they were in DAA format. had never come across this typeof file before and googled DAA and came up with your site. God bless you and Google. Have a wonderful year 2012. will post a comment again after i decode the files.
.DAA has been around very long. User sometimes mistakenly backup or copy an image of the movie, file and what not to .DAA but the downfall is when your on the round and don’t have an access for your poweriso software, the chances are some of other image backup software don’t support reading this kind of file. Just like in WMV and mp3, rather save your image to .iso since it’s more like mp3, which is widely used and also supported by other image backup tools and/or application.
I would like to suggest you to get power iso that also work perfect with dat, mdf, uif iso files and folders. http://standaloneinstaller.com/download-poweriso