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How do CD burners work?
A CD burner works by firing a focused laser at a recordable disc's dye layer, heating microscopic spots to create 'pits' that a reader later sees as the 1s and 0s of your data. A DVD or Blu-ray burner does the same with a finer laser and tighter tracks for more capacity. cdBurner drives this through Windows' built-in IMAPI2 engine on your own machine.
Knowing this helps you pick the right disc and settings the first time, so your burns read everywhere and last. When you're ready, cdBurner applies sensible defaults automatically.
Good to know
- Once the concept is clear, the burner handles the rest — open cdBurner and it picks sensible defaults for you.
- Not sure which disc to buy? Compare capacities in CD vs DVD vs Blu-ray.
Why cdBurner is different
There is no other tool on the internet that burns real, physical discs straight from a web page. cdBurner is the first of its kind.
- 100% free — no trial, no watermark, no nag screens.
- Private — files are written locally and never uploaded to a server.
- No bloatware — one small signed helper, not a heavy install.
- Built on Windows' native IMAPI2 engine, so your discs read everywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to install software to burn discs?
Not a heavy program. cdBurner runs in your browser and only adds a tiny one-time burn agent so the page can reach your drive.
Which disc should I use?
It depends on size: a CD for audio and small jobs, a DVD for video and backups, a Blu-ray for large archives. See CD vs DVD vs Blu-ray.
Is cdBurner really free?
Yes — completely free and ad-supported. No trial, no watermark and no paid tier.