Free CD and DVD burning software

In my effort to find free and open-source software around the interweb I thought it would be good to list some CD and DVD burning applications.

When it comes to burning discs there are good commercial products available. The Nero Suite has been a favourite for a long time, although I believe their software packages are starting to get a little bloated. Before I knew about free alternatives I used Nero for all my burning needs; I was especially drawn to the easy-to-use Nero Express wizard that enabled quick DVD video conversion. Many persons have expressed the superiority of Ashampoo Burning Studio which basically does everything that Nero does without the excessive bloat and system slowdown. Unfortunately, I cannot testify to this since I have never used it. Then again, why should I? There are free and open-source alternatives for doing the same thing!

Here is a list I have compiled of some common CD and DVD burning applications out there:

• CDBurnerXP Pro – “CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.”
• DeepBurner Free – “DeepBurner will be able to solve most of your burning needs: be it burning of Data/Audio/Video CDs, all types of DVDs, composing photo albums and even burning backups. Every operation starts with a simple wizard, thus virtually everyone can use DeepBurner.”
• Easy Burning – “Easy Burning is the easiest way to backup your files in a cdr(w). Integrated to the shell (send to) or used as a normal application, EASY Burning works with any CD writer. Write a folder and files, pictures and what ever you want. Easy to use. Create Data CD from a folder. Backup your MP3 collection.”
• Express Burn – “With Express Burn you can record a data or audio discs quickly and easily by dragging the files you want onto the icon and clicking Burn CD. The software then does the rest, including converting the files if required. Express Burn is also the fastest CD/DVD writing program in the world using proprietary optimizing systems.”
• ImgBurn – “ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit! ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats – including BIN, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI. It can burn Audio CD’s from any file type supported via DirectShow / ACM – including AAC, APE, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA and WV.”

Honesty, I have only used two of the above-listed software: CDBurnerXP Pro and ImgBurn. Both are great pieces of software! However, when it came to sticking to standards, ImgBurn became my favourite. Furthermore, ImgBurn will tell you when it believes that something needs to be corrected such as directory depth, for example. The result of these extra measures taken by the software is a burned CD or DVD that is able to be read by more players. I found that some discs burned with CDBurnerXP Pro would end up being unreadable perhaps because I selected something that I should not have, but this was before the recent update to CDBurnerXP Pro. Things may have changed now, although I pretty much like ImgBurn for what I do.

Check them out for yourself!