Looking for a way to burn ISO image file to CD or DVD on your Mac? Luckily, just like you can mount and burn ISO image files on Windows 8/10 without additional software, you can do the same on OS X.
There are several different ways to burn an ISO image in OS X, and it really depends on which version you have installed. For the past few years, you have been able to use Disk Utility to mount an ISO image and then burn it to disk.
However, in the latest release of OS X, 10.11 El Capitan, Apple removed the write functionality from Disk Utility. You can still burn ISO images in El Capitan, but you need to use Finder instead. The Finder method also works on older versions of OS X.
Finally, you can use Terminal and the hdiutil command to burn the ISO image to disk if you are comfortable with this tool. In this article, I’ll show you all three methods for burning ISO images on OS X.
Researcher method
The Finder method is now the most versatile ISO burning method on OS X as it is supported in almost all versions. This is also very easy to do. First open a new Finder window, navigate to the location of your ISO file and then click it with one click to select it.
Now go ahead and click File, then click Burn Disk Image at the bottom of the list.
If you do not already have a disc in your drive, you will be prompted to insert one. Then just click the “Record” button to start the recording process.
Another quick way to burn an ISO image file is to simply right-click the file and select Burn Disc Image. If there is a disc in the drive, the burning process will start immediately.
Auxiliary disk method
If you are using OS X 10.10 or earlier, you can also use the Disk Utility method to burn the ISO image. Open Disk Utility by clicking the Spotlight icon (magnifying glass) in the upper right corner of the screen and enter Disk Utility.
Now click “File” and then “Open Disk Image”.
The ISO image will appear on the left, along with a list of hard drives, etc. Click on the ISO file and then click the Burn button at the top.
Insert the disc into your drive and click the “Burn” button to start the process. As previously mentioned, this no longer works in OS X 10.11 El Capitan.
Terminal method
Finally, if you like using the terminal, you can enter a simple command to burn the ISO image file.
hdiutil burn ~ / PathToYourISO / filename.iso
I would suggest copying the file to any convenient location, such as your desktop, and renaming it something short. In my case, I copied the file to my desktop and renamed it to ubuntu.iso. I went to the desktop by typing CD Desktop and then typed in hdiutil burn ubuntu.iso.
If you have a disc in the drive before you run the command, the burning process will start automatically. Otherwise, you will be prompted to insert a disc. These are all the ways you can burn your ISO image on Mac without any third party software! If you have any questions, do not hesitate to comment. Enjoy!
–