Brief introduction of some common image file formats

Most of those resources of OS file, games, VCD, etc are image files, and image files have different format. We always confused about these formats when we use these image file. Here is the brief introduction of image file formats.

First of all, we talk about image file.

Image file is actually a separate file. It is different from other files. It is made up of multiple files through the image file burner or image file maker tools.

Now, take a look at common image format.

1. ISO

This format is named as **.iso, and this kind image file is saved as format ISO-9660. And ISO is the most common image file format. You must know the ISO international quality system that is the same thing, the name of ISO is come from the ISO-9660. ISO is a standard image file format, so most of those burner can burn this format directly, WinRAR can open it, but cannot edit, if you use WinRAR extract the file, the file will be broken, and cannot be burned.

2. BIN

BIN image file is a CD disk image file format. A disk image is a single file or storage device containing the complete contents and structure representing a data storage medium or device, such as a hard drive, tape drives, floppy disk, CD/DVD/Blu-ray Disc and key drive. Although an image of an optical disc may be referred to as an optical disc image, a disk image is usually created by creating a complete sector-by-sector copy of the source medium and thereby perfectly replicating the structure and contents of a storage device. Some disk imaging utilities omit unused file space from source media, or compress the disk they represent to reduce storage requirements. Though these are typically referred to as archive files, they are not literally disk images.

3. CUE

CUE image file is a cue sheet, or cue file, is a meta data file which describes how the tracks of a CD or DVD are laid out. Cue sheets are stored as plain text files and commonly have a ".cue" file name extension. CDRWIN first introduced cue sheets, which are now supported by many optical disc authoring applications and media players. For an audio CD, a cue sheet specifies titles and performers for the disc and its tracks as well as the names of one or more audio files to be used. MP3, WAV, and BIN files are often used, although some programs support other formats. Cue sheets are especially useful when burning or listening to live sets where all tracks are recorded in one file.

4. NRG

A .nrg file is a proprietary CD image file format used by Nero Burning ROM, a utility suite made by Nero AG, to create and burn ISO 9660 CD images. But Nero has poor ability of making image encryption NERO CD.

5. MDS

It is an optional media descriptor file that can be generated when creating a disc image from a CD or DVD. The format is a binary file with the magic number "MEDIA DESCRIPTORS" appearing in the beginning of the file. The MDS file contains metadata about the original media, specifically the position of the layer breaks or layer breach bit, a property of the copy protection feature of DVDs. An MDS file is then used in conjunction with its related disc image to re-create the DVD. It is called an MDS file because of its implemented file extension .mds. It could also be described as being an archive file of MDS format.

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