CUE / BIN and ISO are both CD/DVD image files. Theoretically, it shouldn't be too hard to convert from BIN to ISO. Apparently, though, it's hard enough that dedicated "BIN to ISO" apps get it wrong. Here's the only free app that does a perfect job converting BIN to ISO files.
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What's the deal with the BIN to ISO conversion?
ISO is the most popular file type for disc image files. CUE / BIN was widespread around 2000, but now we will hardly find it, anymore. Many apps, including Windows, won't recognize a CUE / BIN image to mount it. Here's where the BIN to ISO conversion comes in handy.
The thing is that specific free apps to convert BIN to ISO can't seem to get it right. CDburnerXP will take a CD-sized Bin file and convert it to a DVD-sized ISO image, which is also corrupted, to boot.
WinBin2Iso, an app that does nothing else other than converting BIN to ISO, gets the filesize right, but the result is the same.
So, we looked far and wide for a free app that can convert BIN to ISO and end up with a working file, without a filesize limit. And our app of choice is gBurner.
Download gBurner, but be careful
It's not the first time we are using gBurner here on PCsteps. We had also used it on the Install Windows 8.1 without a Product Key guide. It's the only free app we know of that won't restrict the file size of an ISO or CUE / BIN image, trying to sell the paid version.
The thing is, many antivirus applications hate gBurner. It gets a 16/56 in Virustotal.com.
This doesn't mean that it is dangerous, though. Like many free apps, gBurner will attempt to install unwanted software on our PC during the installation, as a revenue source. This is what some antivirus suites detect.
So, we just need to be alert during the installation. We must select "I do not accept" to the password manager...
...uncheck the "I Accept" checkbox on TuneUp Utilities...
... and select Custom installation for "RHAREit".
On your system, you might different offers, but rest assured they will be equally useless. You can also use Unchecky, to make sure the installation is safe.
Finally, it's a good idea to uncheck the "Associate gBurner with the .iso file extension", since we will be using gBurner as a 30-day trial.
How to Convert BIN to ISO with gBurner
After we start the app, we select the "Continue unregistered" option.
Unfortunately, we haven't found any unlimited free apps that can do a BIN to ISO conversion correctly. If you know any app, we'd like to hear about it in the comments section. And no, a torrented PowerISO with a crack doesn't count as "free".
On the gBurner menu, we select File -> Open and navigate to where the CUE and BIN files are. We just need to select the BIN.
This will open the contents of the disc image in gBurner. If we want, we can burn it directly to a CD or DVD.
To convert the BIN to ISO, we select File -> Save as...
...and choose "Standard ISO Images" as the type.
And that's all. The ISO file will be a couple of megabytes smaller than the BIN because gBurner does a slight compression.
Other than that, though, the ISO is perfect, and it will mount correctly on Windows or any other program.
Did you have any trouble converting BIN to ISO files?
If anything on the guide didn't work as described, and you weren't able to convert BIN to ISO files, leave us a comment.
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Anon says
just go offline while installing.. hangs for a min, then sorta gives up on installing adware
Xurbax says
Did they give up on the crapware? Version 4.1 didn't trigger my AV, and no crapware prompts came up as part of the installation...
Chris Po says
I am having a problem with the outlined method. I have no Save or Save As function. They're greyed out. It's a data disc with audio tracks I'm trying to convert. It's Battle Chess CD by Interplay for DOS.
Chris says
Yeah, They revised Gburner so you can no longer save or save as until you buy it. Might want to make a new article/tutorial with a different program.
Άγγελος Κυρίτσης says
Thank you for the information, I will look into it.
Mike R says
Anyburn is free.
Works well.
jason says
Good! Thanks
Shiokarai says
PowerISO is free. From downloading, through install, to converting the whole process probably took me 3 minutes. (Watch out for multiple sneaky junk programs during install process)