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Sep 21, 2026
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PowerISO 9.5 creates, edits, mounts and burns ISO and other disc images and builds bootable USB drives, with a free trial that works until an image you create or edit passes 300MB - where the same developer's free AnyBurn steps in.
PowerISO 9.5 is a disc image toolbox for Windows that opens, creates, edits, mounts and burns ISO files and builds bootable USB drives from one window.
It is shareware rather than freeware - the trial never expires, but it nags at every start and will not create or edit an image larger than 300MB.
That one limit decides whether PowerISO is worth paying for, so most of this page is about when it is and when a free tool does the same job.
What PowerISO Actually Does
A disc image is a single file holding the complete contents of a CD, DVD or Blu-ray - every file, every folder and the layout that makes the disc bootable. ISO is the common one, and PowerISO handles it along with nearly every other format still in circulation.
- Disc images: ISO, BIN/CUE, NRG, IMG and Apple's DMG.
- Virtual machine disks: VHD, VHDX, VMDK and VDI.
- Windows install images: WIM and ESD, the files inside a Windows ISO.
- Archives: ZIP, RAR and 7Z, which it can open like a disc image.
- DAA: PowerISO's own compressed format, which can be split and password-protected.
With any of those it can open the file and pull things out, mount it as a virtual drive, burn it to a disc, convert it to another format, or change what is inside without rebuilding it from scratch.
One word of caution on DAA. Very little else reads it, so an image saved in DAA can only be opened with PowerISO later - stick to ISO unless you have a reason not to.
What the Free Trial Will and Will Not Do
PowerISO's own FAQ names two limits on the unregistered version: a dialog asking you to register every time it starts, and a 300MB cap on creating or editing an image.
The 300MB cap is tighter than it sounds. A Windows 11 install ISO runs to several gigabytes and most Linux ISOs sit well above 300MB, so building or editing any real system image needs the licence.
The FAQ lists nothing else as restricted, so mounting, burning and extracting are worth trying in the trial before you decide.
A licence is $39.95 for one user, bought once, with free updates for life and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Free Tools That Cover the Same Jobs
Most people who land here want one of these jobs done, not all of them, and each one has a free tool that does it without a size limit.
| The job | Free tool that does it |
|---|---|
| Open an ISO as a drive | Windows itself - right-click the ISO and choose Mount |
| Mount BIN/CUE, NRG and other formats | ImgDrive |
| Burn an image to disc | ImgBurn or BurnAware Free |
| Create, convert or burn images, and make bootable USBs | AnyBurn |
| Make a bootable USB drive | Rufus or Ventoy |
| Pull files out of an ISO | 7-Zip |
| Rip an audio CD accurately | Exact Audio Copy |
AnyBurn deserves a special mention. It comes from Power Software, the same company that makes PowerISO, and it gives away the burning, image creation, conversion and bootable USB features for free - what it does not do is mount images or edit them in place.
Our guide to mounting a disc image in Windows covers the mounting side in detail, format by format.
If burning is new to you, the guide to burning an ISO to DVD with ImgBurn walks through it step by step, and the Burning Tools category lists every burner we carry.
Where PowerISO Earns Its Licence
The case for paying is editing. Adding, removing or replacing files inside an existing ISO without extracting and rebuilding the whole thing is the one job the free tools above do not do, and it is what PowerISO is best at.
- Editing images in place. Drop a file into an ISO, delete one, rename one, and save.
- Customising a Windows ISO. Change what a Windows installer does before you ever boot it, a feature added in 9.2 and extended in 9.3.
- Converting between formats. BIN to ISO, NRG to ISO, DAA to ISO, in either direction.
- Everything in one place. One installer instead of four, for someone who does all of these jobs regularly.
The only close rival is UltraISO, which edits images the same way and is also paid software with its own trial limit.
Bootable USB Drives
PowerISO writes an ISO to a USB stick and can make it bootable, including Windows install drives with setup options customised before you start. Since 9.4 it can also build one straight from an image packed inside a ZIP, RAR or 7Z file.
For a one-off Windows or Linux stick, though, Rufus is smaller, free and faster to use, and balenaEtcher is the simplest choice if you only ever write Linux images.
If you want several systems on one stick, Ventoy boots any ISO you copy onto the drive, and for a Windows repair stick there is a guide to making a USB recovery drive.
Audio CDs, Too
PowerISO rips audio CDs to MP3, FLAC, WAV and other formats, converts between audio formats, and burns MP3 CDs and DVDs that older car stereos can play.
Support for Opus and AIF files arrived in 9.1. For rips you want to be bit-perfect, Exact Audio Copy checks every track against an online database, which PowerISO does not.
What Changed Recently
Power Software has not yet published release notes for 9.5, which shipped on 20 September 2026. The releases just before it added these:
- 9.4, May 2026: bootable USB drives straight from ZIP, RAR and 7Z files.
- 9.3, March 2026: more options for customising a Windows installation.
- 9.2, October 2025: Windows ISO customisation, ISO files made from a USB drive, bootable USBs from ZST, BR and LZIP compressed images, and a font setting for the interface.
- 9.1, May 2025: Opus and AIF audio support, and MP3 CD and DVD burning.
Before You Install
- Two editions. One installer covers 64-bit and 32-bit Windows at about 8.2MB, and a separate ARM64 edition runs natively on Windows on Arm laptops.
- Windows 7 through 11. Older systems are listed by the developer too, but that is not a setup worth testing today.
- Read each setup screen. Download sites have reported third-party offers in the installer, so decline anything you did not come for.
Command-line builds for Linux and macOS exist as well, on the developer's own site rather than here.
Who Should Look Elsewhere
- Anyone who only needs to open an ISO. Windows 8, 10 and 11 mount ISO files on their own with a right-click.
- Anyone making one bootable stick. Rufus or Ventoy do it free, and the job is over in minutes.
- Anyone who burns discs but never edits images. AnyBurn or ImgBurn cover burning with no size limit.
- Anyone archiving a collection long-term. Keep it in ISO, not DAA, so any tool can open it in ten years.
Quick questions
Is PowerISO free?
The download is free and the trial never runs out, but it shows a register prompt at every start and will not create or edit an image over 300MB. Removing both costs $39.95.
Can the free version mount a large ISO?
PowerISO's FAQ only restricts creating and editing, so try it in the trial. If all you need is to open an ISO, Windows can mount it without any extra software.
Is there a free version with no size limit?
AnyBurn, from the same developer, is free and has no 300MB cap. It burns, creates and converts images and makes bootable USBs, but it cannot mount or edit them.
What is a DAA file?
PowerISO's own compressed image format. It saves space, but almost nothing else opens it, so convert it to ISO if you need to share or archive it.
Does PowerISO run on Windows on Arm?
Yes. There is a separate ARM64 edition that runs natively rather than through emulation.
PowerISO is worth its licence if you edit ISO files often, because nothing free does that as well. For mounting, burning or a single bootable stick, AnyBurn and Rufus do the job without a trial limit.
