ISO image
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources (ideally, using inline citations). Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2006) |
| Filename extension | .iso |
|---|---|
| Uniform Type Identifier | public.iso-image |
| Type of format | Disk image |
| Standard(s) | ISO 9660 |
An ISO image is an archive file (also known as a disk image) of an optical disc in a format defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This format is supported by many software vendors. ISO image files typically have a file extension of .ISO but Mac OS X ISO images often have the extension .CDR. The name ISO is taken from the ISO 9660 file system used with CD-ROM media, but an ISO image can also contain UDF file system because UDF is backward-compatible with ISO 9660.
Contents |
[edit] Format
As with any other archive, an ISO image includes all the data of files contained on the archived CD/DVD. They are stored in an uncompressed format. In addition to data of the files it also contains all the file system metadata, including boot code, structures, and attributes. ISO images do not support multi-track, thus they cannot be used for audio CDs, VCD, and hybrid audio CDs.
These properties make it an attractive alternative to physical media for the distribution of software as it is simple to transfer over the Internet or via a LAN connection.
ISO image is an unattached file format (like RAR and ZIP): it merges a series of files into one single file according to a definite format. The most important feature of an ISO image is that it can be burned to a DVD, VCD, or CD by using an ISO image burner, like ISO Maker. It can also be opened using archivers such as 7-zip file manager.
[edit] Typical uses
Some of the common uses include:
- Distribution of software
- Mount "virtual drives" which emulate physical CDs or DVDs, such as virtual computers. Better performance is achieved by running an ISO image, since I/O is many times faster with a hard drive than a CD/DVD drive.
- To use software titles that are written in such a way that they require a physical disk to be present in order to run. Games are commonly in this category.
[edit] See also
Related topics
- Most optical disc authoring software (CD/DVD burning software) can write ISO files to disc.
- See a list of ISO image software for a list of software programs that can read and/or write ISO image files.
[edit] Related file formats
- BIN/CUE
- BWT, BWI, BWS, BWA (Blindwrite)
- CCD (.ccd)
- CIF from Adaptec Easy CD Creator (.cif)
- CDI from DiscJuggler (.cdi)
- Cloop image format used in Linux Live Filesystems
- CSO (.cso)
- DAA Direct Access Archive (.daa)
- DK (.dk)
- DMG Apple Disk image (.dmg)
- GI Global image used in Roxio products (.gi)
- IMA (.ima)
- IMG (.img)
- ISC MF Digital's Image Script virtual image file format (.isc)
- LCD CDSpace format (.lcd)
- MDF/MDS image format used by Alcohol 120% (.mdf/.mds)
- NRG image type used in Nero products (.nrg)
- UDIF Universal Disk Image Format used in Mac OS X (.udif)
- UIF MagicISO Universal Image Format (.uif)
- VOB DVD Video Object (.vob)
- WIM Windows Imaging Format (.wim)
[edit] References
|
|||||||||||||||||
