With the right free tool, you can easily create an ISO file from a DVD or other disc. It's a great way to back up DVDs, BDs, or CDs to your hard drive.

It is a smart plan to create and store ISO backups of your essential software installation discs and even your operating system installation discs.

ISO images are great because they are self-contained, perfect representations of the data on a disk. Because they are separate files, they are easier to store and organize than outright copies of the folders and files on a disk.

Windows doesn’t have a built-in way to create ISO images, so you’ll need to download a program that does it for you. Fortunately, there are several freeware tools available that make creating ISO images a simple task.