ISO refers to a leading standards organization, but here we are talking about DVD ISO image file which is an archive file of an optical disc and it is with an extension of .iso. To dig out where this file extension comes from, you will find it's a full name of the CD-ROM and DVD-ROM file system specification, ISO 9660.

Thanks to variety of identical properties, ISO is a true digital copy of the original DVD disc, which contains full content of the disc, including every single track, directory, file and information about the structure of the disc. Under below circumstances, you will find this particular file format is very useful:

1. Duplicate original DVDs to prevent them from scratching or loss. And the output DVD ISO file can be easily burned to disc.
2. You can transfer ISO image through Internet!
3. ISO image is cross-platform format, in other word, you can play ISO image flexibly on Windows, Mac.
4. With some DVD ISO ripping software, you can convert ISO to mobile devices like iPhone, iPad, etc.

Method 1 to Playback ISO file

The easiest method is to use VLC player, DAPlayer, KMPlayer, or SPlayer, the versatile, light media player that we recommend for most video and audio playback. All media players above are free and fully competent for ISO image playback.

Method 2 to Playback ISO file

Some of you may prefer using native media players packed with Windows PC, like Windows Media Player. If you want to play ISO file with it, then you can Rip your ISO to PC friendly formats like AVI or MP4 format (Learn to Rip ISO to AVI or ISO to MP4). You need a tool to finish this task: BDlot DVD Ripper.

Step 1: Load your ISO image by clicking ISO Image table

Step 2: Choose one output format you need

Step 3: Set the output folder

Step 4: Start your ISO Conversion.

Method 3 to Playback ISO file

With an ISO mounter program, you can load your ISO file as physical disc by emulating a Virtual Drive (BDlot DVD Clone Ultimate will get this new feature on in near future). And at that time, you can play and watch ISO image file via computer DVD players.