Best Free CD/DVD Burning Software

Use these programs for copying, ripping, and burning CDs and DVDs

by
Mark Harris
Writer
Mark Harris is a former writer for Lifewire who wrote about the digital music scene and streaming music services in an easy to understand, no-nonsense manner.
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Mark Harris
Updated on December 21, 2019
reviewed by
Michael Heine headshot
Michael Barton Heine Jr
Lifewire Tech Review Board Member
Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years' experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries.
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Article reviewed on Aug 24, 2020
Michael Barton Heine Jr

You've probably discovered that most software media players are limited as to what they can do. Using a dedicated burning program gives you the flexibility to burn audio, data, and video files to CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.

Burning media in this way opens up a lot of possibilities for using and storing your digital media. Whether you are looking for a simple program just to burn CDs or something with a little more oomph to it, you may find it in the software programs listed here. They were selected specifically for their ease of use and variety of features when dealing with digital media. 

01
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CDBurnerXP: Burn nearly any audio or video file

CDBurnerXP window on Windows 10
What We Like

  • Focuses on the basics.

  • Verifies data after burning disc.

  • Creates a bootable disc.

  • User-friendly interface

What We Don't Like

  • Not many extra features.

  • Requires Microsoft .NET Framework.

  • Not useful for media editing.

There are some reports that one of the applications (OpenCandy) that is bundled with CDBurnerXP is malware. We strongly recommend you do a custom installation of this application and deselect ALL options except for the core CDBurnerXP application (which is safe). If you prefer not to do that, one of the other options on this list might be a better choice for you.

CDBurnerXP supports burning to several types of optical media discs, including DVD, CD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray. You can burn audio CDs or data CDs in MP3, AAC, OGG, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, and other formats. CDBurnerXP can be installed on most versions of Windows and offers a user-friendly multilanguage interface.

A neat feature of CDBurnerXP is its ability to directly add tracks to your compilation from audio CDs without having to rip the tracks first. This free burning software program also comes with a convenient integrated audio player to play your music.

The software includes a feature to burn and create ISO files to CD. An ISO file is a single file that is a perfect replica of a CD or DVD.

CDBurnerXP is compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.

02
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BurnAware Free: Burn DVDs for your media player or console

A screenshot of the Burnaware CD burning application.
What We Like

  • Offers a wide range of optical disc utility tools.

  • Attractive and easy-to-use interface.

  • Many features included in the free version.

What We Don't Like

  • Limited Blu-ray options.

  • Does not integrate with context menu.

  • No disc-to-disc copying option in the free version.

Available for Windows operating systems, hassle-free BurnAware Free is an optical disc authoring program that supports CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. It handles a wide array of audio formats as well. This lightweight but functional program supports MP3, WMA, FLAC, AAC, WAV, OGG, and M4A.

The clean interface is easy to use. The software supports high DPI monitors and low CPU usage.

If you have files in the ISO format, this program supports disk-image burning to DVDs and CDs. The program is also capable of creating video DVDs, which can then be played on a standard DVD player or games console such as Xbox One or PS4.

BurnAware is available in a free version and paid Premium and Pro editions. 

All versions of BurnAware software are compatible with Windows 10 (32- and 64-bit), 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

03
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Free Audio CD Burner: Create your own high quality audio CDs

A screenshot of the Free Audio CD Burner software.
What We Like

  • Decodes and writes compressed audio formats on the fly.

  • Handles most audio formats including MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG, and FLAC.

What We Don't Like

  • Attempts to install a spammy toolbar during the installation.

  • Limited to one purpose: burning audio CDs.

If you only want a simple program to create audio CDs, you won’t go wrong with Free Audio CD Burner. Even though it only supports the writing of CDs, it can decode MP3 and WMA files in real time, thus saving time and hard drive space. Free Audio CD Burner supports an enormous variety of audio formats.

It burns CD-R and CD-RW discs and erases information from rewriteable discs. You can set it to write one track at a time and leave the disc unfinalized or use it to burn an entire disc at once and finalize it.

Free Audio CD Burner is compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP SP3.

04
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DeepBurner Free: Make CDs, DVDs, and data discs simply and easily

Deepburner main window on Windows 10
What We Like

  • Easy-to-use interface.

  • Prints DVD labels and booklets.

  • Makes discs from ISO images.

What We Don't Like

  • No support for Blu-ray.

  • No backup utility in free version.

  • Few extra options.

DeepBurner Free software is lightweight but powerful software designed for the home user. You can copy any disc, make backups, burn data CDs and DVDs, and burn audio CDs. The software creates and burns ISO images and provides bootable CD/DVD support.

A paid version of the software, DeepBurner Pro, is designed for advanced and business users.

DeepBurner Free works on Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP and is compatible with all CD/DVD drives.

05
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K3b: Open source disc burning for Linux

A screenshot of the K3b CD and DVD Creator software.
What We Like

  • Rips audio CDs, video CDs, and video DVDs.

  • Formats rewritable discs.

  • Supports plug-ins and themes.

What We Don't Like

  • Overwhelming interface.

  • Tricky installation unless KDE is installed.

Linux users appreciate K3b (from KDE Burn Baby Burn) software. This open-source software burns data and video CDs and DVDs and audio CDs, Blu-ray discs, and rewriteable CDs. Use it to set up a multisession CD or work with video authoring.  

Plug-ins are available for WAV, MP3, FLAC, and Ogg Vorbis formats for audio decoding. Write audio CDs on the fly without decoding them to WAV. 

K3b is available for the Linux platform.

06
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InfraRecorder: Straightforward CD and DVD burning

Infra Recorder main window on Windows 10
What We Like

  • Record on most CD and DVD formats including dual-layer discs.

  • Several ways to erase rewritable discs.

  • Simple interface.

What We Don't Like

  • Does not support HD-DVD or Blu-ray discs.

  • Lacks advanced features.

  • Last updated in 2011.

InfraRecorder supports recording audio and data tracks in WAV, WMA, OGG, MP3 and iOS files to CDs and DVDs. (The MP3 plugin is downloaded separately). This software's last update occurred in 2011, but it is an excellent choice for computers that are running older versions of Windows.

InfraRecorder is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, and 2000.

07
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WinX DVD Author: Full featured burner for high quality DVDs

WinX DVD Author main window on Windows 10
What We Like

  • Combines video files, camcorder and webcam footage, and YouTube video into one DVD.

  • Generates DVD menu and subtitles.

  • Compatible with PAL and NTSC formats.

What We Don't Like

  • Isn't useful for working with audio CDs.

  • Doesn't support some MP4 files.

  • Slow to launch.

WinX DVD Author is specifically for creating video DVDs, but it includes some data disc tools. However, if you are looking for audio CD creation, you need to look elsewhere.

Win DVD Author includes a tool for downloading videos from YouTube and basic video editing tools and options for personalizing the DVD title menu and chapter menus. 

This free software is fast, and its output quality is high.  

WinX DVD Author is compatible with Windows 10 (32 and 64 bit) and lower.

08
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DVDStyler: Bare bones video burning

A screenshot of the DVDStyler software for burning DVDs.
What We Like

  • Good replacement for Windows DVD Maker.

  • Supports drag and drop.

  • Easy to make title screen and chapters.

What We Don't Like

  • Attempts to install malware toolbar and browser hijacker.

  • Some customization features are buggy.

DVDStyler specializes in one thing: burning videos to disc. It doesn't provide audio or data disc support. It focuses solely on video DVDs and photo slideshows and the interactive menus that accompany them.

This reliable DVD burner is easier to use than some of the alternatives while offering customizing options for backgrounds, buttons, text, images and other graphics. 

DVDStyler is free cross-platform software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. 

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