How to Copy CD to DVD

Last Updated: December 18, 2021

Moving your files from CDs to DVDs can help you save space by combining all of your data onto just a few discs. This wikiHow article will show you how to copy backups, documents, and other files from CDs to writeable or rewritable DVDs.

Steps

1
Copy your files from your CD onto your computer. You can do this by putting your CD in your disc drive, opening up "My Computer," selecting your disc drive and dragging everything from your CD into a folder on your desktop (or another preferred location). Repeat this with all of your CDs that you want to replace with DVDs.
- Make sure that you organize your files well by perhaps making a different folder for each CD. This will make it easier to avoid burning repeated material to your DVD.
- If you want to backup a game install disc or audio files, you may need to rip the CD to your hard drive. Often it's not enough to simply copy the files (because the disc may be copy protected). To do this, download a CD ripping program (like CloneDVD or any number of free ones). If you have an audio CD any media program can rip the files to your computer. To backup a game you need to rip an image to your computer, usually in the form of an .iso file. An .iso file is simply an image of the CD and can be mounted on a virtual CD drive or copied to another disc to make an exact clone of the original.
2
Put a blank DVD into your DVD-writer. Make sure that you have the correct type of DVD (DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R or DVD-RW) because not all DVD writers will write to all DVDs.

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3
Open up your DVD burning software (like Nero, Roxio, Alcohol, or any other) and select "Burn New CD" (or DVD, they're the same). A window will come up directing you to select what type of DVD you want to burn. Unless you're backing up movies, select "data." In the next window you will need to select what files you want to put on it. After you have finished selecting your files it will tell you if you've selected too many and you may need to redo this step.
4
Click "Burn CD/DVD."

Community Q&A

Question

Can I convert CD video into HD quality video?

Community Answer

No. Movies can do this because they are recorded on film, and film is scale-able. You can upload the current video to YouTube, but the quality of it won't change.
Question

How do I copy pictures on my computer to CD?

Community Answer

Make sure the CD is rewrite-able, then put the CD into your computer and it will show up under your available drives. Next, copy/drag any pictures you want from a folder into the CD, it will ask if you want to do this, then select "Yes" and it will write the pictures to the CD.
Question

How do I know what is correct letter designation for CDs or DVD discs?

Rudy Toth

Community Answer

That depends what device you are trying to work with between two players/burner? And/or a computer from D:drive (CD-ROM) to an external drive burner that could be E:\ drive or it could be an F:\ drive. If its on your computer then go to the root directory to see what you have installed all drives exists below the file folder of Windows.