Best Free CD-DVD Burning Software

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Introduction

When looking for the best free software program for either CD (Compact Disc) or DVD (Digitally Versatile Disc) I think it is worth the effort to consider your exact requirements.

Keep in mind that CD & DVD burning programs are designed for you to author CDs and DVDs for music, photos, movies, games, data or other digital files that will hopefully stimulate your creativity. As well as CD and DVD burning software, this category also includes Lightscribe software which enables you to produce laser-etched labels with text or graphics, as opposed to stick-on labels and printable discs.

With new free software, don't be afraid to experiment and try a few different options before you decide on the right one for you.

 

Rated Products

ImgBurn  

A very flexible burning application with advanced features

Our Rating: 
5
License: Free
A free tool that enables you to burn CD/DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-Ray images with ease. Very flexible application with several advanced features not available in other tools.
Bundled with OpenCandy - see information link in review text. Probably more suited to advanced users who will appreciate the extent of its configurability.
Read full review...

BurnAware Free  

A simple program for your burning needs

Our Rating: 
4
License: Free (Private/Educational use)
BurnAware Free is a free CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc burning software
Doesn't have the option of a floating window that features in programs such as CDBurnerXP.
Read full review...

CDBurnerXP  

A quick and easy solution for creating audio and video discs and ripping audio CDs

Our Rating: 
4
License: Free (Limited features)
Clean user friendly interface. Multi-session functionality.
Requires Microsoft .NET Framework.
Read full review...

InfraRecorder  

A respectable burning program with all common features

Our Rating: 
4
License: Free
Supports CD-R/CD-RW/DVD+R/DVD-R/DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM (double layer mediums included); burns discs from images or files, creates bootable discs, creates images from files or discs, copies discs to discs (does not seem to bypass copyright protection), adds sessions to multisession discs, fixates discs, burns on-the-fly, verifies burns, erases rewritable media; creates audio discs, creates video DVDs; command line version; multilingual; simple, easily accessible interface.
Does not support HD-DVD, Blu-Ray; lacks advanced features.
Read full review...

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Editor

This software review is copy-edited by Ian Richards. Please help edit and improve this article by clicking here.

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Comments

FYI, just downloaded and installed CDBurnerXP. Have used it for some time and had seen the Candy program before.

It's gone now. Clean install. Nice, sweet, clean install.
I suspect the users downloading it were savvy enough to simply avoid the spam.
People like me would rather donate to the company than deal with spam.

Just sayin.

The default installer very clearly lists OpenCandy. http://imageshack.us/f/89/o7h7.jpg/ However, under "more download options" there is a default installer (without open candy). Steve

11 Dec 2013 Imgburn update installed several invasive programs on my machine - even though I unticked all the extras.

Hi Anupam,

Thanks again for your help on 04/01/2013. Have a different question now. My sister has given me some DVD-Rs that she has added photos that automatically play in a sequence with music and stupid special effects (exploding stars, shrinking imagery, ect.). I wish to copy the photos from this DVD she's authored, and get the captions she's associated with these photos as well, without all the special effects and musics-Just photos and captions. Is there a free software product that will do this? If not, what software would you recommend?

It would appear that she created it with a software called Roxioplasma (2005) and there are .bup, .vob, and .ifo files that this application creates. I need something to open these files so I can pull the photos out with.

Thanks,

Tom

Hi tbriggs, you are most welcome. You should have posted this question in the forum, as this is not actually on the topic of this review. Still, I will reply here, as your query might be satisfied with my reply. If you have further queries though, please post in the forum :). .vob is a video file. The files which you described are seen in a DVD video structure. So, the software has converted the slideshow into a DVD video. Once that is done, I am afraid you cannot disintegrate it, and take out the individual photos. That cannot be done. However, something which can be done is, that you can get photos from it, like you get a screenshot. That is capture a frame of the video, which is like an image. One such free software for doing that is Video to JPG Converter, available here: http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-Video-to-JPG-Converter.htm There is also a tutorial on the page, to teach how to use the software. Do post in the forum for further queries please, as this is out of topic here, and I will remove it once you see the reply :).

When you install ImageBurn, it recommends installing the AVG toolbar and AVG Secure Search as your homepage. The "Standard Installation (recommended)" and checked by default automatically installs these.

To not install these items, you need to click on Custom Installation and uncheck both items.

Also as mentioned in previous posts, after the AVG installation page, to skip the OpenCandy installation, you need to switch from "Express Installation (recommended)" to "Custom Installation" and uncheck the recommendation given there.

Submitted by PBJ on

Thanks but I see no option with ImageBurner for a Custom Installation, or to opt out of Open Candy. Incorporating OC began in 2.5.8.0. ImgBurn Old Version of ImgBurn 2.5.7.0 is still offered at http://www.filehippo.com/download_imgburn/12006/

Avoid OpenCandy installation when installing ImgBurn:

1. Open a Command Prompt as an Administrator.

2. Copy and Paste (don't use CTRL-C/CTRL-V)one of these (no quotes) into the Command Prompt:
for Windows x86: "SetupImgBurn_2.5.8.0.exe /S /D=C:\Program Files\ImgBurn"
for Windows x64: "SetupImgBurn_2.5.8.0.exe /S /D=C:\Program Files(x86)\ImgBurn"

3. Open the x86 or x64 location above in Windows Explorer and pin or drop a shortcut of ImgBurn.exe to the location of your choice.

I ran SpyBot Portable afterward, which detected zero instances of OpenCandy. Comments on how to improve or enhance this process are welcome. =)

Running SetupImgBurn_2.5.8.0 /nocandy in the Command Prompt serves the purpose, or doesn't it?

ImgBurn installed OpenCandy (adware) in my computer. I did an online search and I found this info:

https://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=127903
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1503852

Malwarebytes did a good job removing that piece of malware.

I have uninstalled ImgBurn from my computer. I am hoping Gizmo's Tech Support Alert will soon remove this program from the list.

We do make this clear in both the review text and product details in the Quick Selection Guide. Although this practice is not something we support, any extras can be avoided by following the advice we give. Bundled components and wrapped installers are so common now and not reason enough on their own for a product to be disqualified from our reviews. MC - Site Manager.

I want to report that the Help-->Contents in InfraRecorder doesn't work. Clicking on it DOES brings up a help window, but there are no help topics. The same goes for the portable version.

There's no help to be had at SourceForge either, as evidenced by:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/infrarecorder/support?source=navbar

and...

http://sourceforge.net/p/infrarecorder/bugs/712/

I want to suggest that an appropriate note should be made against the entry in this article. Potential users will then be aware of this issue instead of wasting their time.

Just a FYI ImgBurn is bundled with OpenCandy now. Not sure if someone else has already commented on it but I figured I'd mention it since I didn't see it included with the review. On a separate note I love this web site. It's impossible to find unbiased reviews that aren't sponsored by a company. I've learned to always check here first. Thanks for all the hard work that goes into this site.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Details have now been added to the review. MC - Site Manager.

FYI: Also bundled with..
'Install Angry Birds & MyFreeGames Toolbar, set default search & new tabs to MyFreeGames Search, and set my homepage on my browser to MyFreeGames Search'.
No thanks, Declining is not obvious, typical confuse a cat gotcha for the innocent set up,...time to look for an alternative, or stay with the previous version.

Installed imgburn using download mirror from the authors site, then soon had snap.do hijack my chrome home page. I don't know for sure if imgburn was the reason but feels suspicious. New install of Win7 x64 with McAfee Enterprise 8.8, Zemana anti-logger, anti-malware bytes, and AnVir task Mgr free. I could not get AnVir task mgr window to open (even though windows task mgr showed it as a running process), so I uninstalled, re-downloaded and then re-installed it, during re-installation it gave the two message warnings of new startup items videosaver and snap.do. I opened the browser to look-up their names and found it redirected to snap.do. Maybe the AnVir download was corrupted with malware. I don't know for sure. I am reverting to a backup image from this morning before installing imgburn...

I have a problem using CDBurnerXP. I have the Beatles Stereo box set of CDs that I was wanting to copy to blank CDs. I have never seen this before but the CDs in the set have no *.cda files on it. I know these files have no musical data and only point to the music data. When I select the "audio disc" option on CDBurnerXP, it reads the CD but says it is empty. It appears that CDBurnerXP needs the *.cda files in order to produce a copy. I have ripped the Beatles CDs with iTunes without any problem. Does anyone know of a CD burner that will work with CDs that don't have the *.cda files? I'd prefer a program that copies the audio CD and burns it to a blank CD in one step rather than have to save audio files to my C drive first.

Thanks,

George

CDs may have some kind of copy protection. Try holding SHIFT key while loading CD.

I don't think the CDs are copy protected because iTunes wouldn't have ripped them if they were copy protected. The CDs simply don't have cda files which I don't think a CD player actually needs to play the disc. I suppose the act of not including the cda files may have been intended as a kind of copy protection.

If you just want to copy the disc onto a blank disc, then just make an image of the audio disc, and that burn that image on a blank disc. No need of ripping the audio files, and then burning them back again.

What software do I use to make an image of the disc and burn it?

CDBurnerXP itself will do it :). I don't use it nowadays, so I won't be able to point it out, but I am sure you will find it in the program if you look for it. If not, please post again, and I will install the program and point to you how to get to that.

Thank you for your help. I decided to install ImgBurn that receives numerous good reviews on the internet. It worked quite well. It created *.bin and *.cue files on my hard disc from which I was able to burn CDs that play well. I followed directions on this web page which are quite simple.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/computers/585878-copy-backup-music-cdrom-...

In addition to the directions, I decided to use the "Verify" option to verify the *.bin and *.cue files to the CD. I don't know how important it is to do that. If anyone else decides to try ImgBurn, be aware that you need to uncheck the option to install the Ask toolbar during the installation process.

George

Good to know you were able to successfully copy the disc using ImgBurn. Actually, any of the free burners will be able to do that job, of making an image, and then burning it on a disc, since it can be found on them all. Since you had CDBurnerXP, that's why I had told that it will do the job well. Anyways, ImgBurn is also a great program, and it's good that it was able to do the job for you. I personally use BurnAware Free, and I find it very easy to use with a simple and pleasant interface. It too has the feature to make an image and burn it. Regarding the image, there are different image formats, and .bin is one of them, which is accompanied by .cue often. Other format is .ISO, which I like to use, and it involves only a single file creation, and is the most commonly used image format. Others are also there. I save my images in .ISO format using BurnAware. Of course, there are several ways of doing the same thing, like you did.

re: cdburnerXP, with the newer updates I encountered a problem with cataloging discs with cathy.exe.
It seems like the discs all get the same serial number which causes Cathy to believe all discs are the same.

I have advised the author about this. version 4.3xx and older do not have this problem.

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