A free DVD burner is an essential tool for any PC. You would be forgiven for thinking that optical storage was all but dead by now, but in spite of these expectations – and competition from USB drives, cloud storage and so on – recordable CDs and DVDs live on. For basic, day-to-day needs, Windows includes support for disc burning, but if you want to anything more advanced than simply copying files from your hard drive to a DVD, you're going to need something a little more powerful.
There's no shortage of DVD burning software, but tools from the likes of Nero and Roxio can be too expensive for some people. As ever, there are plenty of free options to choose from, but you need to know that you're getting the right tool for the job. That's why we've gathered the five best completely free DVD burners for you to try. You should find that they are just as capable as their paid-for rivals, covering everything from basic disc burning to impressive video DVD creation.
1. Ashampoo Burning Studio Free
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Burning and copying made as straightforward as possible
Presets for different data types
German company Ashampoo has a huge selection of software to its name, and it's all very impressive. Ashampoo Burning Studio Free keeps the positive trend going. The program can burn and rip audio CDs, data discs and video discs (complete with Blu-ray support), and can help you out with general backup tasks.
Despite the number of options available, the focus here is on keeping things as simple as possible and the interface is approachable and easy to get to grips with. While all of the basics are covered, it's the neat, guided file backup options that help make this free utility stand out from the competition.
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Although the software is free, you will need to hand over your email address to obtain a license key, and you will notice references to other Ashampoo software. This is a small sacrifice for an excellent free DVD burner that will serve you well for years to come.
2. WinX DVD Author
Create video DVDs with custom menus and optional subtitles
Burns YouTube videos
WinX DVD Author is designed specifically for creating video DVDs. There are some tools for burning data files to disc, but if you're looking for audio CD creation, you're going to have to look elsewhere.
WinX DVD Author has everything you need for working with video, including a tool to download videos from YouTube. You can convert video files in to VOBs ready for burning to disc, or collect together a number of VOBs to create a DVD complete with menus.
There's also a DVD authoring component for basic video editing tasks like trimming. You can add subtitles, and there's support for NTSC and PAL, as well as numerous aspect ratio options. Performance is fast, and output quality is high – exactly what you need.
3. BurnAware Free
Clean and easy to use, whatever you need to burn
Presets for different data types
BurnAware Free might look simple, but there's more to it than meets the eye. There's support for CD, DVD and Blu-ray burning, and it can be used to create everything from a standard data disc, audio CDs, video DVDs and Blu-rays, disc images, bootable discs, and spanned backups.
The interface is sparse, but one of the joys of working with BurnAware Free is that it is so free of distractions – you can just focus on the job at hand without having to hunt high and low for the options you need.
Everything is delightfully straightforward, making the program ideal not only for beginners, but also anyone who just wants a tool to get things done as quickly as possible.
Keep an eye out for bundled software during the installation to ensure you don’t install any unwanted extras.
4. DeepBurner Free
Everything you need for creating audio and data discs
Can work with ISO images
DeepBurner Free is a very traditional-looking DVD burner, and is a free, cut-down version of the more comprehensive DeepBurner Pro.
Unlike the premium program, DeepBurner Free can't create video DVDs, but you can use it to burn data CDs and DVDs, audio CDs and bootable discs. You also have the option of working with ISO images.
DeepBurner Free has its limitations, but you definitely shouldn't dismiss it out of hand. For everyday burning tasks such as the manual backing up of data and so on, it's a great tool to have in your software arsenal. There's even a portable version of the program so you can pop it on a USB drive and easily take it from computer to computer.
DeepBurner Free might not be the most feature-packed DVD burner, but it's ideal for everyday audio and backup disc burning.
5. DVDStyler
Make your own video DVDs with custom menus
Great choice of menu templates
Doesn't burn audio or data discs
If you want to burn videos to disc, DVDStyler is the tool for you. There's no audio and data disc support. Instead focus is purely on the creation of video DVDs and photo slideshows with customizable interactive menus.
There are lots of menu templates to choose from, and the program is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, opening up the possibility of cross-platform work.
DVDStyler is showing its age a little, and its claims of helping you with the create of professional-looking DVDS may be slightly overblown, but it's a solid free DVD burner nonetheless, and a great deal easier to use than some of the alternatives.
The DVDStyler installer includes a bundled copy of Avast Free Antivirus, which is a superb security tool, but you can opt out if you don't want it. What is the name of the program that manages wireless network for mac os.
- Check out the best free DVD rippers
Although CDs and DVDs are a dying media in 2017 you can still easily burn a CD or DVD on Mac using iTunes. Whether you want to burn a CD to play in an old car stereo, burn an MP3 CD, burn photos to a CD on Mac or just burn some files onto DVD, it’s extremely simple using iTunes. Although there are several burning software on Mac for burning CDs and DVDs on Mac, iTunes is free and very easy to use. Here we show you how to burn a CD on Mac and burn a DVD on Mac in a matter of minutes with iTunes.
Before you start, you’ll need to make sure you have the following:
- A CD or DVD recorder. If your Mac was built before 2011, it will already have an internal Apple SuperDrive (or if it’s really old, an Apple Combo drive) which can burn CDs and DVDs. However, since the beginning of 2011, Apple phased them out and Macs no longer include an internal CD or DVD player. You’ll therefore need to purchase an external SuperDrive or CD/DVD recorder that you can connect to your Mac’s USB ports. You can buy external Apple SuperDrives for around $70 but you can also use just about any external CD/DVD burner. For example, the VersionTech USB DVD CD Burner SuperDrive does exactly the same job as the Apple SuperDrive but costs just $29.99.
- A blank CD or DVD. There are two types of blank CDs and DVDs – CD-R or CD-RW and DVD-R or DVD-RW. The RW simply means the discs are re-writable i.e. you can can burn them and reuse them as many times as you like. R means that they are record only i.e. can only perform one burn on them and after which you cannot burn them or reuse them again. Note that most modern CD and DVD players can play both R and RW discs but older ones may not be able to play RW so you should check with your CD/DVD player manufacturer or model first. If you’re unsure and want to make a music CD that plays in any CD player, play it safe by going for a CD-R disc. Note that all blank CDs can record a maximum of 80 minutes of music or 700MB of data (about 150 MP3 files) and a standard DVD records up to 4.7GB of data. There are however other types of blank DVD formats with higher capacity and features and the DVD comparison table below gives a good overview of the current market.
If you’ve got both a CD/DVD burner and some blank discs, then you’re ready to go!
For most people, the main reason they want to burn a CD is to burn a music CD on Mac that plays in any CD player so that’s the example we’ll use. However, the process is exactly the same if you want to burn an MP3 CD or a data DVD. The only difference is step 6 where you must select the appropriate type of CD or DVD you want to create. Note that you can only burn data to DVDs using iTunes – you cannot burn iTunes movies to play on DVD as they are protected by Apple’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) although there are utilities that can help you remove this.
- Open iTunes from your Application folder, Dock or by searching for it in Spotlight.
- Create a playlist in iTunes. To create a playlist go to File > New > Playlist.
- Click on Edit Playlist.
- Then just simply drag and drop the songs you want to burn to a CD. iTunes allows you to change the order of songs in the playlist by dragging and dropping them up and down. If you have a Touch Bar Mac, you can also select the songs and press the “Add To Playlist” button to add them. You can delete tracks by selecting them and pressing delete (this will not delete them from your iTunes collection, only from the playlist). The amount of songs you can add depends on whether you want to burn a music audio CD which can play in any CD player or an MP3 CD which can only play in MP3 players or computer CD drives. Be aware that a CD can only hold about 80 minutes of music so that’s going to be around 10-15 songs. If you exceed this limit, iTunes will try to record the music on two or more discs to fit them all on so make sure you don’t exceed this time limit. To view how much playing time your playlist is, go to View > Show Status Bar and you’ll see it appear at the bottom of iTunes. If you want to burn an MP3 CD, you can fit up to 700MB of songs on there which is around 150 MP3 files. Note that songs you have purchased from the iTunes store, you can burn as many times as you like as long as they are iTunes Plus songs. If they are not iTunes Plus tracks, you can only burn each track up to seven times.
- When you’re happy with your playlist, go to File > Burn Playlist To Disc.
- In the dialog that appears, leave the preferred speed on “Maximum Possible” and next to Disc Format, choose whether you want to burn an audio CD (that will play in any CD player), MP3 CD or Data CD. Note that if you select Audio CD, you can also choose how long a gap you want between songs and ensure that the sound levels are equal for each track (so that you don’t get some tracks playing loud and some too quiet) by selecting “Use Sound Check”. If the CD player or car stereo that you’ll be playing the CD in also displays text information such as the artist and song on a digital display, also select “Include CD Text”.
- When you’re ready, click Burn at the bottom and iTunes will start to create your CD.
- You will see the status of the burning process at the top of the iTunes interface. Burning the CD on your Mac may take several minutes and you can cancel the process at any time by clicking the “X” but if you’re using a CD-R disc, you won’t be able to use it again (as oppose to CD-RW discs which you can use to burn as many times as you like).
- When the CD is complete, it will appear in your iTunes menu on the left hand side. Click the eject button to remove it from the CD burner.
- That’s it you’re done! If you want to make your CDs look really professional, some printers can even print a cover onto your CD. Check out our guide to all in one printers for Mac for more.
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Note that although burning files to a CD or DVD is a perfectly legitimate way to backup your data, you’re much better off nowadays using an external hard drive for Mac. iTunes also won’t be any use if you need to burn an ISO on Mac – you’ll need one of these Nero for Mac alternatives for all other CD and DVD burning tasks.
If you have any problems burning a CD or DVD on your Mac after following this tutorial, let us know in the comments below and we’ll try to help.