While Apple wipes off the hard drive from MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, it doesn't mean that burning DVD on Mac will become obsolete soon. In fact, there are still large number of users use CD/DVD to record their important memories, backup files and share data with friends. With an external DVD drive for Mac, you can simply burn ISO, MP4, video to DVD. What you may note is that to burn different data, you will need different methods and DVD burner for Mac. Here are all the ways on how to burn a DVD on a Mac freely from ISO files, MP4, music and more.
If you're running on MacBook Pro/Air without built-in DVD drive, you may need an external DVD drive for Mac to burn a DVD on Mac.
Basic Info on Mac DVD Burning
Before you start to learn how to burn DVD on Mac with different DVD burning software for macOS, you will need a disc at hand. Do you know what kind of disc is suitable for storing your media? If you're not sure, learn some basic information about different disc types below.
- DVD+R: this disc can be rewritable and reused for burning a DVD on Mac with new contents;
- DVD-R: Compared with DVD+R, DVD-R is a one-time recordable disc, thus it can't be reused or rewritable. You can still copy or burn the disc to new one as well. Those discs are usually cheaper than the DVD+R format;
- ROM: a read-only DVD disc used to permanently store data files;
- RW: it means that the data on a DVD-RW disc can be erased and recorded over numerous times without damaging the medium;
- Single and dual layer: single layer discs can hold 120min or 4.7GB of data, while dual-layer discs can store 8.5GB or 240 minutes. Select the right disc based on your data and purpose.
# How to Burn ISO Files to DVD on Mac
1. Insert the blank into the DVD drive.
2. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility, launch the free DVD burner for Mac.
3. Click file from the menu and Open Disk Image, or you can drag the ISO file into the left frame of the Disk Utility window.
4. Click Burn and you can start to burn ISO to DVD on Mac.
Important tips:
- Check the size of the DVD disc and the ISO image to make sure that the blank DVD has enough storage to store the data;
- In Disk Utility, select the slowest speed available (2x-4x) for the DVD burning on Mac (this also applies to other burning tasks or software). This will ensure the best quality of the burned DVD and avoid any playback errors or other problems with the disc.
To Burn DVD to DVD on Mac, You Need ISO Image First
- Homemade discs: the Disk Utility can copy ISO image from DVDs un-protected: insert DVD > open Disk Utility and select DVD > click "New Image" > click "Save As..." to set the output folder > set the "Image Format" to "DVD/CD Master" and then click Save.
- Protected discs: the free DVD burner for Mac won't support any DVD protections. If you want to burn DVD on Mac from any commercial discs, there are third-party rippers to help. For example, MacX DVD Ripper Pro, it's extremely useful to copy protected DVD to DVD, as it can rip any types of DVDs into ISO image, MPEG (other digital formats as well) within 5 minutes. Original quality reserved.
# How to Burn MP4 Video to DVD on Mac
As the Disk Utility or other Mac-built in methods (Finder or Command Line) will not accept video formats besides Image files directly, if you want to burn MP4 to DVD on Mac or other formats like avi, mov, mkv etc, you will need third-party DVD burning software for Mac to help. The 100% free MP4 video to DVD burner for Mac recommended here is Burn.
1. Free download the Mac DVD burning software and insert a blank disc. First of all, launch the burner, click the dropdown menu and change the format to DVD-Video.
2. Add the video to burn. You can freely add MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI and videos in many more digital formats by drag and drop or click the + button.
3. The free Mac DVD burner can burn MPG to DVD only, so if you're adding videos in other formats, an message will pop up asking you to convert the videos. Click Convert. If you can't convert with this burner or your source video file is too large for DVD burning, try programs like Handbrake or MacX Video Converter Pro.
4. Click Burn to start to burn mp4 videos to DVD on Mac. Before that, you can adjust the output destination, DVD format, burning speed and other settings.
# How to Burn Audio to CD on Mac
Both Disk Utility and Burn for Mac offer a feature to burn CD/DVD on Mac, but there is another method to burn audio to CD on Mac that some users may ignore: using iTunes. With iTunes serving as free dvd burning software for mac, you can either burn CD/DVD from music downloaded from Apple Music, or movies and videos purchased from iTunes Store. If you don't want to use other DVD burner for Mac to create music CD, try iTunes.
1. Open iTunes and insert the CD. Note that most CD can hold 77 minutes of music.
2. Create a new playlist and add the music you'd like to burn into the playlist.
3. Click File button and select Burn Playlist to Disc.
4. A window will pop up with CD settings. Check the Use Sound Check box to ensure that all the songs on the CD will play at the same volume. Then click Burn to start. Then you can just wait and the free DVD copy software will automatically finish the job.
# Burn DVD Mac Errors & Troubleshooting
Even if you have strictly followed the above steps on how to burn a DVD on a Mac, we understand that there are users facing with failed burn problems. After numerous searching on various forums, we find that most "unable to burn DVD on Mac" problems are caused by some common reasons. Below we gather those causes and you can check if necessary.
* Dirty optical drive - If the lens of the drive is dirty, it can't read the disc properly and will cause problems. You can try a different computer to see if it's the cause. Then you can buy a lens cleaner, or replace it, or use some compressed air to clean it yourself.
* Bad media - don't forget to try a different disc. If you have choose the right DVD type for your purpose, DVDs in bad quality won't work out either.
* Burning speed - to burn DVD on Mac at the maximum speed can be quick, but it also has problem. Some DVD-R burned at fast burning speed won't be read by some players, or result in bad quality. Try to burn disc content at a slower speed (4x or 2x).
* Repair disk permission - open Disk Utility and select the startup disk > First Aid > click Verify Disk Permissions > Repair Disk Permissions.
Bella has been working with DVD digitization for over 12 years. She writes articles about everything related to DVD, from disc drive, DVD copyright protection, physical structure, burning and backup tips. The unceasing passion of DVD movies helps her build a rich DVD library and ensure a practical solution to address almost all possible DVD issues. Bella is also a crazy fan for Apple products.
