# reading a PC CD ROM on a mac **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-a-pc-cd-rom-on-a-mac/144722 "2002-12-24T15:10:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-a-pc-cd-rom-on-a-mac/144722/1 "2002-12-24T15:10:07Z")
Somebody gave me a CD ROM with lots of files (WAV etc) from their PC. However my mac (O 9.1) does not recognise the CD and wants to reinitialise it. What is odd is that I have virtual PC (W95) on the same machine that reads it OK so it must be a software problem. Is there any mac software that will allow me to read a PC CD ROM? I don’t want to go through VPC every time, or reburn every CD he gives me. thanks ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-a-pc-cd-rom-on-a-mac/144722/2 "2002-12-24T17:32:52Z")
Go to [http://www.tempel.org/joliet](http://www.tempel.org/joliet) They have an extension that should help. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-a-pc-cd-rom-on-a-mac/144722/3 "2002-12-30T21:34:01Z")
thanks, will try it out ---
**Author:** ![X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbe5ce/32.png) [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-a-pc-cd-rom-on-a-mac/144722/4 "2002-12-30T21:40:13Z")
OK Opposite direction. I _obtained_ some avis on my PC. It plays fine but I wanted to store it on CD. The only computer that has a burner is a Mac and for some reason it plays well on the original PC that I downloaded it with but when I go to an XP computer it says the CD has some strange files it cant read or that the CD was corrupted. How do I read a Mac Burnt PC file on any PC? ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-a-pc-cd-rom-on-a-mac/144722/5 "2003-01-01T20:27:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by X~Slayer(ALE) \* > \*\*OK Opposite direction. > I _obtained_ some avis on my PC. It plays fine but I wanted to store it on CD. The only computer that has a burner is a Mac and for some reason it plays well on the original PC that I downloaded it with but when I go to an XP computer it says the CD has some strange files it cant read or that the CD was corrupted. How do I read a Mac Burnt PC file on any PC? \*\* some of the products mentioned on [http://www.macwindows.com/disks2.html](http://www.macwindows.com/disks2.html) may help ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-a-pc-cd-rom-on-a-mac/144722/6 "2003-01-02T01:06:45Z")
A CD burned on a PC in ISO 9660 format should be immediately accessible on any Mac. A CD burned on a PC in ISO 9660 format using Joliet extensions (in other words, long file names) should be accessible on a Mac except under MacOS 7/8/9 it may show truncated file names in all caps, a problem which can be fixed by downloading the freeware [Joliet format extension](http://www.tempel.org/joliet/) for Macintosh. I’m pretty sure you don’t need it under MacOS X. A CD burned on a PC using proprietary formats that let you add files to an already-burned CD (multi-session CD) or which let you drag and drop files onto the CD as if it were a hard drive may or may not be accessible on a Macintosh. Most of the software that lets you use CDs in that fashion will let you “save” or convert the CDs to ISO 9660. A CD burned on a Mac using ISO 9660 format should be transparently available to a PC. A CD burned on a Mac using Toast formats such as “files and folders” or “Macintosh Volume” are actually in HFS format like a Macintosh hard drive, and will be inaccessible on a PC unless the PC is equipped with software such as MacDrive which lets the PC access HFS volumes. A CD burned on a Mac in the correct format may contain files with characters that are illegal on a PC ("", for instance) and this may cause problems trying to read the CD on the PC. A CD burned on the Mac with iTunes or by dragging files to the CD (using built-in Apple software that lets you treat CDs like hard drives) may cause problems on the PC; but, as with PC CD burning programs that let you do this, you can “save” or convert the CD to a standard format. In the later versions of Toast (Toast Titanium), the format called “Hybrid” should be readable on a PC (and is, I think, a variant on ISO 9660). Older PC formats such as High Sierra can be read on a Mac without additional help. Rewritable CDs are always a mixed bag as far as reading them on other computers / other operating systems / other drives once they’ve been erased and reburnt. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-a-pc-cd-rom-on-a-mac/144722/7 "2003-01-02T12:47:39Z")
thanks for the excellent reply Ahunter3. Joliet did indeed solve the problem, thanks seal-hunter. I don’t know why my mac didn’t originally read something on the disk, I can only imagine he used a strange format to burn it - I noticed he added some files to it after he originally burnt it (being R/W) .