How To Create ISO Disc Image from CD/DVD in Mac OS X

by Vincent George

Most Mac users are not aware of taking image of a DVD/CD. In the Disk Utility there is a option to create image file, but even though it creates .cdr format which only supports Mac. So we cannot share our image file with our friends who use other operating systems like Windows or Linux. Here I am going to show you a simple method to create ISO disc image (globally used image format) without using any third party apps. Really it is possible? Yes it is. Just using Disk Utility and Terminal, we can create an ISO disc image on Mac OS X. So now you can share your ISO image file with all your friends who use other operating systems too. This tutorial is simple and clean, just follow every step and you will be done. Lets back on track.

Also Read: How to make bootable USB drive to install OS X Mavericks

All you Need:

DVD/CD which you are going to taking a image
Optical Drive/Super Drive (If you mac doesn’t have Optical Drive inbuilt, but you can use external optical drives)

Insert the CD/DVD into Optical Drive and wait for it loads.
Now Open Disk Utilities (You can get from /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility)

After Disk Utility is loaded, you can see your disk is mounted in the left side bar of the Disk Utility. Select the Disk.
Go to File->New->Disk Image and Select the Source of the Disc. (Name of the disc will be shown).

Now in the Popup box, In Save As text box, Type the Name of the image file as per your wish and select the place where to save the image file in Where section.
Select the Image Format to DVD/CD Master and Keep the Encryption option as None. Recheck the options, which should be like below image. Then hit Save button and wait till it saves the image file.

Tips: keep the name short and Save the file in Desktop or easily navigating folder, So we have to type easily again in conversion method.

How To Convert CDR File Image to ISO File Image

The output Image file will be in .cdr format. In Mac .cdr image works perfectly. However we have to change as .iso file format which is globally accepted by all operating systems. Now we are going to convert .cdr image file to .iso file image using terminal. So Now we are going to do something little bit typing in Terminal. Don’t worry i will guide you every single step.

Launch Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/)

Now my .cdr image file is located in desktop. So Lets Navigate to desktop in terminal by following command. (use proper command to navigate to your file location.)

cd desktop

and hit Enter/Return key. Now your Terminal is targeting your desktop location. Now type the following command to convert the .cdr file to .iso file. ([filename] should be replaced with your file name of cdr file. Check below image.) and hit Enter/Return key. It will start converting.

hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -o [filename].iso [filename].cdr

Now the terminal have converted your .cdr image file to .iso image file, which can be read by operating systems like Windows and Mac. This is the simple way to create iso image file from DVD or CD without using any third party apps. Now you can burn this iso to DVD/CD. To Mount this image just double click the file in Mac and In windows you need virtual drives to mount the iso image file. If you have any doubts, kindly drop us in comments.

59 thoughts on “How To Create ISO Disc Image from CD/DVD in Mac OS X”

Mattijs December 1, 2013 at 10:30 pm

Thanks! But on OS X 10.6.8 the syntax didn’t work. I had to change it to:
hdiutil makehybrid -o win7install.iso -iso -joliet win7install.cdr

“win7install” is the name I gave to the disk image
1. Jenn December 22, 2013 at 12:40 am
  
  Confirmed that hdiutil makehybrid -o [filename].iso -iso -joliet [filename].cdr works in 10.9.1.
2. Vairagya September 8, 2014 at 6:52 am
  
  Thanks for the adjusted syntax, now works a treat, the older syntax just created a blank iso 🙂
3. George wills November 15, 2014 at 11:38 am
  
  Last login: Sat Nov 15 00:41:56 on ttys000
  george-willss-imac:~ CaptainBeauregard$ cd desktop
  george-willss-imac:desktop CaptainBeauregard$ hdiutil makehybrid -o fitty.iso -iso -joliet fitty.cdr
  hdiutil: makehybrid: attach of disk image failed: 16
  hdiutil: makehybrid failed – internal error
  george-willss-imac:desktop CaptainBeauregard$
  
  This does not work. The file name of fitty does not compute; furthermore, it looks like the audio folder in fitty.cdr is EMPTY…
  
  Thanks!
4. Travis March 7, 2015 at 4:25 am
  
  Mattijs… you saved the day. Thank you. Your syntax worked fine.
Afscot January 18, 2014 at 11:54 pm

Does the actual file on the desktop not update to be called [filename].iso? Mine is still .cdr!
1. Liora August 18, 2014 at 2:17 pm
  
  no, it should make a copy with the same filename. Then you’ll have “Jack.cdr” and new file “Jack.iso” side by side in the same location. Just did it and had to retype the commands a couple times (without the brackets, I am a true beginner I guess) but it worked GREAT!!! THANK YOU!!!
Dliats February 6, 2014 at 11:20 pm

works perfect many thanks gays!!!!!!!
1. U2LN November 3, 2014 at 6:28 am
  
  You might want to check your spelling.
2. 1. Vincent Raja November 3, 2014 at 4:22 pm
    
    haha … Yeah
3. The Gays February 4, 2017 at 9:28 pm
  
  You are welcome!!
MArtin February 12, 2014 at 12:29 am

Great post!
Thanks for that, helped me a lot 🙂
Tanja February 12, 2014 at 2:24 am

I am a member of IEEE. THis organization allows to download windows system for free for its members. I already downloaded the system. Now I burned as an “.iso”, unfortunately I am getting a message that my disk is not bootable while trying to install :/ I tried another option and burned a dvd with “.cdr”, and again I am getting the same message (no bootable disk…). Any idea what’s wrong? Is there any special way of burning Windows system to a disk? Among the files I downloaded (from IEEE website) I can see autorun.inf/boot/ bootmgr files or folders – so files that are responsible for autorun are def there. I am trying to install Windows on my Mac via Parallels. I used to have Windows XP before, installed on my Mac, but that time I had original Win disk with me – there was no problem with installing, now it is a mess, not sure why :/ Any help would be greatly appreciated.
1. Jim March 7, 2014 at 1:41 am
  
  I believe that the iso has to be mounted before it will become bootable. Or mounted and have it’s contents burnt to a cd or a bootable usb stick (or something of the sort) to become bootable media.
Jim March 7, 2014 at 1:37 am

Thank you ever so much. This worked like a champ! Bravo!
Fahmi May 6, 2014 at 10:00 pm

Thanks so much. Exactly what i needed.
ANANDAKUMAR K July 29, 2014 at 9:11 pm

its working perfect… 🙂 thank u
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Focusrite of passge August 10, 2014 at 10:52 pm

I am running Windows 7 and followed every step in making the .iso file. But it doesn’t seem to be any file executable in Windows on the iso-file. .Cdr is only readable in OS X but I seem to have the same problem with this iso-file. Have I done something terribly wrong?

Any help appreciated.
Tanner September 8, 2014 at 3:15 am

Thanks! works on OSX 10.9.4
Steve R October 7, 2014 at 11:20 am

BEAUTIFUL!!! Saved me a ton of time and worked perfectly on OS X 10.9.4 first time. Was stumbling to install Win 8.1 from DVD in Boot Camp until I found this gem. Thanks much!
Derek October 25, 2014 at 4:31 am

Just to point out the obvious for those that have a problem…there can be no spaces in the [filename]. In case you didn’t guess, I did this the first time but it should have been obvious.
Asger November 6, 2014 at 1:36 pm

Thanks a lot for this very useful post!
I believe the info below – after conversion is OK? Image created OK?

Creating hybrid image…
……………………………………………………………………………………..

hdiutil: makehybrid: could not eject source disk image

OSX 10.10

/Asger
1. Missy April 9, 2015 at 2:10 pm
  
  Same problem here. Please help! 🙁
George wills November 15, 2014 at 11:48 am

This does not work. either you are not explaining EXACTLY WHAT TO TYPE, and where, or I am not putting it in right… or this whole thing is just not working…

Please, if you would, TYPE EXACTLY WHAT I NEED – so I can just drop and drag it over. The file name is

ffifty.cdr

just like that… no brackets and capital letters. Please type it in into all that gobbledy-gook if you would. I can not read what this writer (who types in broken English) is trying to tell me…

I also believe I have to first of all prep this “terminal bash” thing, whatever that it, by typing in the words:

cd desktop

RETURN

and then drop and drag gobbledy-gook statement line

RETURN

and then it should say something other than verb not found, or failed, or take a hike!!!

Thanks!!

Geo
Elio November 20, 2014 at 4:04 am

Gracias por la INFO!
Andrew November 28, 2014 at 11:52 pm

Thanks so much guys. Worked perfectly.
Diana January 1, 2015 at 12:06 am

What I learned is to skip terminal completely and just change .cdr to .iso in finder. It seems to work for me.
B.D. January 13, 2015 at 10:57 pm

haven’t written all comments, but this works for dvds which are shared over Ethernet to!
(the dvd drive was in a windows 7 computer, which was shared over ethernet)
in disk management take “disk image from folder” instead.
al January 15, 2015 at 12:33 am

Worked like a charm for me (after I remembered to remove the brackets. Love the way the writer uses the images to help guide people. Just out of curiosity, what program are the screenshots being edited in?
trfdc February 23, 2015 at 5:17 am

Does NOT worn on Mountain Lion:( See below:
MacUsers-MacBook-Pro:desktop trfdc$ hdiutil makehybrid -o Inspect.iso -iso -joliet Inspect.cdr
hdiutil: makehybrid: attach of disk image failed: 16
hdiutil: makehybrid failed – internal error
Miss April 8, 2015 at 7:41 pm

hdiutil: makehybrid: could not eject source disk image
Help please
1. Henry 3 Dogg May 29, 2015 at 11:19 pm
  
  Try writing to a different file than you’re reading from
sean April 14, 2015 at 8:59 am

Awesome! Thank you!!!!
Robin May 13, 2015 at 10:12 pm

hdiutil: makehybrid-iso-jolet-0: verb not recognized

I’m getting this comment
1. Henry 3 Dogg May 29, 2015 at 11:18 pm
  
  If you’ve got a space key on your keyboard, try using it.
2. k s June 1, 2015 at 2:05 pm
  
  you need to have a space between each command (hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -o)
Laurie May 17, 2015 at 9:20 am

Thank you, this worked perfectly!

I got stuck when my .cdr had white spaces. Make sure to save as one word, e.g. “VINCE.cdr” not “Vincent’s Great Adventure.cdr”
1. Mike June 18, 2015 at 8:49 pm
  
  Or escape the name. I believe “Vincent’s\ Great\ Adventure.cdr” or single quote the name like ‘Vincent’s Great Adventure.cdr’.
Ryan May 21, 2015 at 9:54 am

When I mount the .iso I get a file on my desktop – [Filename_DVD] and when I open that it doesn’t play like a normal DVD instead it opens up a directory with two folders: Audio_TS and Video_TS… is this what it means to mount an iso? if so, why would anyone want to do this? Is there another way to play the iso as if it were a normal DVD? Am I doing something wrong? D:
Baby It's Bedtime May 26, 2015 at 12:09 am

Thanks so much for this post! We were able to convert it to ISO using this method! Thanks again!
Martin May 27, 2015 at 1:37 am

Thanks! Very helpful!
Miles June 5, 2015 at 8:39 pm

Help!
hdiutil: makehybrid: attach of disk image failed: 16
hdiutil: makehybrid failed – internal error

I usually don’t play in terminal, is there anything that can be done?
Dan July 14, 2015 at 10:37 pm

Daniel:desktop danielmullen$ “cd desktop
> “hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -o Vanish.iso Vanish.cdr
-bash: cd desktop
hdiutil: command not found

please help!!
Adam Wakeling July 16, 2015 at 7:07 pm

Love you guys, thank you, sorted
Michelle Cesare August 2, 2015 at 7:41 am

Hi,

I’m trying to create DVD iso file to upload a film to CreateSpace on Amazon. This is what I get when trying to produce it following the instructions above. I’m having a terrible time .

Last login: Sat Aug 1 21:17:48 on ttys000
MichellaresiMac:~ michellecesare$ cd desktop
MichellaresiMac:desktop michellecesare$ hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -o A Pioneer’s Foresight.iso A Pioneer’s Foresight.cdr
hdiutil: makehybrid: multiple sources specified
hdiutil: makehybrid failed – Invalid argument
MichellaresiMac:desktop michellecesare$

Any other suggestions? I’ve tried everything.
Dean August 7, 2015 at 10:05 pm

Working great so far. let’s see if the .iso is OK for the folks on the other end. You are a life saver!
Morten Magni August 16, 2015 at 11:13 am

It seems to work OK in 10.9.5, it’s very easy to create a ISO file. BUT when I try to play the file at my XBMC media center, it only starts the first chapter (about rights), and afterwards I not able to click at the “play movie” button ?
best regards
Morten Magni (Denmark)
RJ August 25, 2015 at 10:41 am

For those of you who do not like to use terminal for things, you can do this in a MUCH simpler way. You follow the same steps in Disk Utility –> Select your DVD –> New Image –> [Filename-whatever-you-want] NO SPACES!, and make sure you beside image format and choose CD/DVD Master, and the location you want, i.e. Desktop. Let it all run and when finished SINGLE click on the new .cdr file, press enter/return and then if you would like to change the file name you have that option here again, then scroll to the end where .cdr is and change to .iso press enter. When prompted if you want to make this change press “use .iso”. and You’re done. No terminal required. I’ve used this and its how Apple instructs users to install Windows 8.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203909
SamP September 8, 2015 at 5:03 pm

Thanks a million! Your instructions are easy enough for me to follow 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Kind Regards
ibisiki October 20, 2015 at 5:14 pm

should you get the error below:

hdiutil: makehybrid: attach of disk image failed: 16

make sure the images are unmounted in the disk utility
Matt October 27, 2015 at 8:09 am

Awesome! Thanks!
nebruks December 11, 2015 at 8:00 pm

Works grate on El Capitan 10.11.1
hdiutil makehybrid -o filename.iso -iso -joliet filename.iso.cdr
Tony December 21, 2015 at 11:34 pm

Yayeee what a easy way love this method worked like a charm… i was trying to download 3rd party app for this then i found this site.

Thx 🙂
Cagy January 3, 2016 at 11:24 pm

Great post!!! It helps for a newbie like me.
Dale March 6, 2016 at 7:36 am

ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! Nice job! Thank you for posting straight-up usable directions. I had trouble with my name because it had “&” in it and terminal inturpted that as a command I am sure and error out. I renamed the file without “&” and worked perfect the first time. Can’t thank you enough!
Steve Buckley October 19, 2016 at 11:53 pm

Author’s original syntax worked fine for me using macOS Sierra v10.12 – 3 different disks converted from .cdr to .iso, installs in Windows 10 went perfectly. Thanks!

Oh, and to reinforce what others have said, spaces in your filename either need to be escaped, or rename your file(s) without spaces.
Dino July 5, 2017 at 11:24 pm

On Mac running 10.11.6 El Capitan seems working as well – thank a lot !
iMac-di-Dino:desktop dinobrusco$ hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -o Chiesa_2017.iso Chiesa_2017.cdr
Creating hybrid image…
………………………………………………………………………………………..

iMac-di-Dino:desktop dinobrusco$
Don James August 12, 2017 at 10:46 am

I tried converting a .cdr file to a .iso file. The .cdr file is a movie file. The conversion ran okay, but there is no sound in the movie. The converted .iso file is smaller than the.cdr file.

What went wrong?

Thanks,
Don James

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