How to Burn a CD on Mac OS X

Mac OS X allows you to burn CDs without installing any special software. You can burn data to CDs to store files in bulk, or audio discs to play music on your stereo, or you can burn images from other discs onto CDs. Follow the instructions below to learn how to burn discs quickly and accurately.

Table of Contents

Burn Audio CDs

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Open the iTunes app. Create a new music playlist by clicking File, then hovering New. Select Playlist from the menu.

You can rename a music playlist by tapping on the playlist name in the right pane after creating the playlist. The list name is the name of the CD and will be displayed when you insert the CD into a compatible player.

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Add songs to playlists. Click and drop the songs you want to the playlist. You can also add an entire album at once by clicking on the cover and dragging it to the playlist.

A standard audio CD has a maximum capacity of 80 minutes of music, which means your playlist will play for about 1.2 or 1.3 hours at most. (You can see this time at the bottom of the app’s window.) Since this measurement is only an estimate, a 1.3 hour playlist can sometimes be slightly shorter or longer. (You’ll know when you start burning.)

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Rearrange the song order if necessary. Above the items in the playlist and below the title is a drop-down menu. Choose how you want to arrange the playlist. To sort in the order you want, tap Manual Order and then tap and drag the song to the desired position in the list.

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Insert a blank disc into the machine. Click File, then select Burn Playlist to Disc. If the list is too long, the option to burn to multiple discs is displayed. You can do that if you want, or you can cancel the burning and then re-adjust the playlist.

If you’re not sure how to open the CD drive, go to the Contrps section of the iTunes toolbar and click Eject Disc. This will open the drive whether or not there is a disk inside.
Usually you need to use a CD to burn an audio disc. There are also DVD-based audio players, but these are quite rare.

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Select burning settings. In iTunes 10 and earlier versions, burning will start automatically. In iTunes 11, you are allowed to choose to adjust your preferred burning parameters before burning begins.

You can adjust the recording speed. The higher the speed, the faster the write, but the higher speed can cause disc failure on older systems or on inexpensive CDs.
You can choose to add a gap between songs.
You can choose the audio format. Audio discs are the most common and work well with most CD players. MP3 CDs need to be played on special players. Only do this when you are sure that your player is MP3 compatible and that the songs in your playlist are all in MP3 (not another format like AAC).

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Press Burn when ready. The iTunes screen will show the burning process. iTunes will signal when the burning process is finished. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Burn Data CD

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Insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW disc into the CD drive. CD-R discs can be written once, and then readable only. CD-RW discs allow adding and deleting data.

The following sequence of steps for burning data discs applies to both DVDs and CDs, as long as your computer supports DVD burning.

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Click the Open Finder option. When you insert a blank disc into the drive, you will usually be asked to choose how to handle it on the computer. This option will open Finder so you can drag and drop files easily when you select the CD.

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Find the blank CD icon on your desktop. It will be labeled as “Untitled CD”. Double-click it to open the CD Finder window.

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Drag and drop the folders and files you want onto the CD. Rename the folder and file you want before you start recording. Once they’ve been burned onto CDs, you won’t be able to rename them anymore.

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Start recording. Click File and then select “Burn Untitled CD”. You will be selected to name the CD. This name will be displayed whenever you insert the CD into your computer.

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Click Burn after you have named the CD. The files will be saved to the CD. This process can take anywhere from a minute to an hour depending on the size of the files you want to burn.

To reuse a CD-R disc, wipe the old data on the disc and then repeat the burning process.

Burn Photos to CD

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Open the Disk Utility utility. You can find this utility in the Utilities folder of the Applications section. A disc image is a live copy of a CD or DVD burned onto a blank CD or DVD. The burned disc will then be identical to the original disc.

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Insert a blank disc into the machine. Depending on the size of the disc image, you should use a CD or DVD. CD images are usually around 700 MB in size, while DVD’s are as large as 4.7 GB.

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Add disk image file. Find the disk image file on your computer. The file will be in ISO format. Drag the ISO file to the sidebar of the Disk Utility work window.

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Recording disk. After you drag the file into Disk Utility, click the disc image in the sidebar, and then press the Burn button at the top of the workspace.

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Set burning options. After pressing the Burn button, click the arrow button in the corner of the Burn window to open the burning options. Make sure that the “Verify burned data” box is checked. Click Burn to start the burning process. ^{[2] X Research Source}

Advice

If you burn CDs with songs in different formats, please tick “Audio CD” when setting burning options to save time. The only way to get “MP3 CD” is to convert all the songs to MP3 format, which will take more processing time.
The data-write steps also work if you want to burn information to a DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, or DVD-RAM disc. DVDs hold more data than CDs.
You can burn information multiple times onto a CD-R, but each burn is permanent and you cannot erase previously recorded information. Meanwhile, you can repeatedly burn and erase files on CD-RW discs. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Warning

Although CD players should theoretically be able to play your songs when you select Audio CD , be aware that not all disc models will work on CD players. (For example, some players do not accept CD-RW discs.)
Your computer may not be able to recognize a badly damaged or scratched CD. Make sure your CD is clean before inserting it into the machine.
Depending on the CD and the volumes, the above steps may not necessarily result in a product usable on PCs.

Steps

Burn Audio CDs

Burn Data CD

Burn Photos to CD

Advice

Warning

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