Convert Anything To ISO
I’ve written a few articles about converting files from one format to another. For future reference, here’s a list of free tools for converting from various proprietary disk image formats to the universally supported ISO format. Most of these converters are for Windows, though some also have versions for Linux.
Convert From…
BIN to ISO
IMG to ISO
DMG to ISO
UIF to ISO
NRG to ISO
DAA to ISO
MDF to ISO
Converting BIN to ISO
BIN is a very popular disk image format that stores the CD/DVD image in pure, raw form. Typically the .bin is accompanied by a .cue file – you will need both of them to convert the .bin to .iso. You can use one of these free converters :
- CDBurnerXP, a very good CD/DVD burning application with lots of additional features.
- BIN2ISO, a simple no-frills bin-to-iso converter.
- BIN to ISO Converter, an old – no, ancient – converter from the days of Win2K.
Converting IMG to ISO
I’ve looked far and wide but couldn’t find any .img to .iso converters that would be truly freeware. So you’ll have to settle for using a shareware application to convert this format to ISO. Either of these will work : WinISO or UltraISO.
Converting DMG to ISO
DMG files are basically “ISO for Macs”, a different way to store disk images because OS X just Thinks Different™. How to convert DMG to ISO :
- dmg2iso, an old command-line utility (freeware). Here’s the command syntax :
dmg2iso file.daa file.iso
- IsoBuster, shareware. You can open a DMG file using this program and then use the Extract command (right click) to get the contents as ISO.
- If you’re on a Mac, use Disk Utility or hdiutil:
hdiutil convert /path/to/filename.dmg -format UDTO -o /path/to/savefile.iso
Converting UIF to ISO
UIF (a.k.a Universal Image Format) is a propiertary format used by MagicISO. I’ve already written about converting UIF to ISO before, so check out this post : UIF To ISO Converter.
Converting NRG to ISO
NRG files are another proprietary CD/DVD image format used by the Nero Burning ROM software. You can download a free trial of Nero and use that to convert NRG to ISO, or use one of the freeware utilities listed below :
- CDBurnerXP, a disk-burning app with a multitude of additional functions, .nrg to .iso conversion included.
- NRG2ISO – a popular tool, but doesn’t support all NRG files.
- nrg4iso – a more versatile and up-to-date NRG converter.
Converting DAA to ISO
DAA files by PowerISO DVD software. See one of my previous posts to find out how to convert DAA to ISO. Also, here’s a bit more info about the DAA file format.
Converting MDF to ISO
MDF is yet another proprietary format, used by the Alcohol 120% disc emulator/burner (shareware). Notable for the fact that most of the copy-protection info can be correctly saved when ripping a disc in this format. You can convert MDF files to ISO with mdf2iso (might be a bit tricky) or the Iso Analyzer Tool. Both tools have versions available for pretty much any popular operating system.
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I’ve used your GUIs for daa2iso and uif2iso over the past few months, thanks for making them available!
I had started backing up some of my software disks, and wanted an image format that offered compression. I tried daa and uif, but i finally decided to archive/compress with the isz format (used by UltraISO). For me, the main difference was i could mount isz images with DAEMON Tools 4.10.
Since I didn’t see isz listed here, I wanted to mention there is a free isz2iso converter offered by the makers of UltraISO. You can download it here:
http://www.ezbsystems.com/isz/unisz.zip
via http://www.ezbsystems.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=2&t=1540&st=
Maybe we’ll see an isz2iso GUI in the near future?
Thanks again!
Ah, the isz filetype seems pretty obscure, so probably no GUI 😛
Thanks for including a link to the converter though, it might be useful to other visitors.
you said you couldn’t find freeware IMG to ISO converter.
How about “mkbiso” from Terabyte. it’s free for sure.
Al
@Al – Thanks for the info.
Edit: From the description on the developers page it appears that mkbiso will only work in certain special cases. It’s not a 100% solution.
well, it works for my limited uses and it can’t be simpler to use.
Incidentally, Terabyte is one of the most responsible, responsive creator of excellent software, and no, I am not in any way affiliated with them. I have used their disk imaging and their boot manager software for quite a while, and find them to be top-notch. Where some of their software is not free, it surely is reasonable. Tech support is unequalled.
Good, good. Noted.
Now, I’d like to ask a question which I cannot find an answer for-either free or paid software.
Why doesn’t “someone” develop all-in-one software to go from image creation, to ISO, to CD burn (bootable or otherwise); and then be able to reverse the process so you can extract files from CD, edit them and then re-burn. Also, this process should be just as versatile from a command line as from the GUI.
Take just one pretty useful piece of shareware-WinImage–it does NOT have the same command line and GUI capabilities! Why not?
I have never seen such a niche area of software tools where it takes as many as four or five different small sub-sets, which don’t necessarily play nice with each other, to do what I am suggesting. It’s ridiculous!
Maybe I’m being naive, so I’m off the soapbox now.
Thanks
There are probably several reasons.
For one, it would be incredibly hard to develop such an application, and do it well. For example, take the Nero Suite (my personal favorite). It is obvious that it took a huge amount of work to create it, and that probably wasn’t a one-man project. And Nero only deals with the burning part (+ some misc stats/testing tools).
Then there’s the business perspective. The above mentioned “huge amount of work” will have apropriately huge costs, whether it be time or money, or most likely both. Single developers probably won’t attempt it because it would take years to get any payoff.
Large software companies that could theoretically pull off such a project wouldn’t have enough economical incentive to do so. It might seem that an all-in-one tool would be more attractive to users (=profitable), but this is not necessarily true. Firstly, it is often more profitable to sell complementary applications separately. Second, you can’t please everyone.
I don’t have the stats to back this up, but I suspect that if you create an all-in-one solution, you would miss out on a significant number of users that only need 1-2 features and figure out it is more financially wise to get a different (cheaper; and it will be cheaper) tool that does only those things. Also, you can’t please everyone. If the application is all-in-one, there are more failure points, and you may end up in a situation when the public opinion is “That app ABC is pretty good at X, but it sucks at Y. Now, app JKL is also decent at X, and it’s cheap, so I’ll get JKL and use the freeware UIO for Y.”
Or some such.
VERY intelligent answer. And I thank you for that.
At this moment I have gotten so damned frustrated trying to find the right pieces to the puzzle, and cost is an object, so I don’t want to have to pay for multiple pieces.
For example I am trying to find the simplest way to extract an ISO file from a CD and then edit/add files and then create a new (bootable) ISO, so it can be re-burned. All from the command line.
My other gripe is that I am not smart enough to figure out how to use some these paid products (which tend to be more richly endowed with options), and so may be missing the capabilities I need. Oh well.
The hardest part would probably be finding something that can edit an ISO from the command line.
You can probably do all those things – and with free tools only, too – in *nix but that would hardly be the “simplest” way, hmm? 😉
Oh well indeed.
Didn’t mean to edit the ISO directly. I am content with the idea that I must first convert (to image?) (Extract files from?) the ISO to an IMG/IMA or whatever.
I have tried to use just WinImage for the chores, even though I am unhappy with their giving use of command lines short shrift. But, I can’t figure how to go from ISO to IMA in WinImage yet. Got the ISO extraction part down.
Ah, can’t help with that.
[…] tutorials that will let you convert your disk image files from various proprietary formats (e.g. Convert BIN to ISO IMG to ISO, DMG to ISO and so on) to the universally supported ISO format. DVD Ripping and Mac-a […]
Hi all,
I have downloaded a .uif file and i tried to burn in CD using magiciso but the got a message “can’t find the file or file isn’t CD image file” i have already tried some progams like ultraiso and poweriso but still cannot extract the said .uif file in the CD.
Thanks in advance to all expert..
More power to all of you…
http://www.crystalidea.com/anytoiso
This utility works fine with mdf/bin/dmg/nrg to iso conversion.
Download
Thanks for mentioning Iso9660 Analyzer.. it’s cool and tiny (I mean really tiny, just 20KB !!).
It can also handle NRG and BIN files, so you might want to add it among the alternatives for those formats.
It can also handle these exotic formats PDI, CDI and B5I which I have never heard of.
I have downloaded the IAT and ran it. But there is nothing appear on the screen. Where did I go wrong? Please advise. Thank you.
IAT? Sorry, I don’t follow.
reading property list…ERROR: Property list is corrupted.
Sorry about the last comment and nothing else I have a bad habit of pushing buttons before I am done. Anyway why would I get this error when I try to convert any dmg to iso? Thanks