A Step-By-Step Guide to Burning an MP3 CD in Windows Media Player 12

Store several albums on one MP3 CD for hours of nonstop digital music

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.
our editorial process
Mark Harris
Updated on September 26, 2020

If your computer has a CD-RW drive, you can create your own MP3 CDs containing hours of music. Here's how to burn MP3s to a CD data disc in Windows Media Player.

Information in this article applies to Windows Media Player 12.

How to Burn an MP3 CD in Windows Media Player

To burn audio CDs with Windows Media Player, follow these steps:

  1. Launch Windows Media Player and select the Burn tab in the upper-right corner.

    Burn tab in Windows Media Player

  2. The burn mode must be set to Data disc. If it says Audio CD, then it's not ready. To change the burn mode, select the Burn options drop-down menu in the upper-right corner and choose Data CD or DVD. The mode should change to Data disc.

    Data CD or DVD menu option in Windows Media Player

  3. Locate the MP3 files you want to copy to your CD in the left pane of Windows Media Player.

  4. Drag and drop single files, complete albums, playlists, or blocks of songs into the Burn list on the right side of WMP.

    Dragging one track to the Burn list in Windows Media Player

    To choose multiple tracks that aren't right next to each other, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting them.

  5. Insert a blank CD-R or rewritable disc (CD-RW) into your optical drive.

    If you want to erase the data that's already on the disc, right-click the drive letter in the left panel associated with your optical disc and choose Erase disc.

  6. Select Start burn in the right panel and wait for the burning process to complete.

    Start burn button in Windows Media Player

Some CD players can only read audio discs, not data discs. Check your sound system's documentation to see whether you can play MP3 CDs.

Was this page helpful?