The free open source and cross-platform multimedia player VLC can plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. For people who have created ISO files from DVD disc, it would be a lengthy and unnecessary process to burn the ISO file onto a blank disc just to read the image. With VLC, the most advanced free open-source and cross-paltform multimedia player, you can get ISO files played on VLC in less than one minute by following the steps below.
Step 1: Open VLC Media Player.
Step 2: Click on "File." Choose "Open File." A window will open inside VLC.
Step 3: Click the first "Browse" button on the right side of the window. A VLC "Browse" window will open.
Step 4: Click the name of the ISO file that you want to play. The ISO file will be highlighted.
Step 5: Click "Open." The ISO file will play in VLC Media Player.
A lot of people can successfully open VLC files by following the above listed steps, however, there are still some people fail to do that just as the condition below:
"How do I get the .iso file to play thru mymovies using VLC. It will play a m4v file directly thru VLC (haven't tried it thru my movies yet) but it won't play an .iso file."
Why VLC won't play certain ISO files?
It is well known that ISO is actually an archive file which is used to backup CDs or DVDs. VLC can play ISO files as long as the DVD structure is intact (it also means that the ISO file must have the exact same folders that are in your DVD such as Video_TS folder). If the directory structure of ISO image is not similar to that of DVD, you will fail to play the file on VLC.
Convert incompatible ISO for VLC playback
If you happen to own an ISO file that doesn't meet the standards listed above, the best solution is converting the incompatible to any of VLC playable digital file formats listed as below:
Container formats: 3GP, ASF, AVI, DVR-MS, FLV, Matroska(MKV), MIDI, QuickTime File Format, MP4, Ogg, OGM, WAV, MPEG-2 (ES, PS, TS, PVA, MP3), AIFF, Raw audio, Raw DV, MXF, VOB, RM, DVD-Video, VCD, SVCD, CD Audio, DVB
Video format: Cinepak, Dirac, DV, H.263, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, HuffYUV, Indeo 3, MJPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, RealVideo 3&4, Sorenson, Theora, VC-1, VP5, VP6, VP8, VP9, DNxHD, Prores and some WMV
Audio formats: AAC, AC3, ALAC, AMR, DTS, DV Audio, XM, FLAC, It, MACE, Mod, Monkey's Audio, MP3, Opus, PLS, QDM2/QDMC, RealAudio, Speex, SCreamtracker 3/S3M, TTA, Vorbis, WavPack, WMA (WMA 1/2, WMA 3 partially).
Here, a remarkable ISO Converter program - Pavtube BDMagic for Windows/Mac is highly recommended to you. The program can easily transcode Blu-ray/DVD ISO file to most of VLC media player compatible file formats listed above.
To get the best playback settings for VLC, you can flexibly adjust the output video codec, bit rate, frame rate, resolution and audio codec, bit rate, sample rate and channels.
Besides converting ISO files for VLC playback, you can also use this program to rip ISO for viewing on Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, Xbox One, Amazon File TV, etc.
How to Convert ISO Files for VLC Media Player?
Step 1: Load ISO image file to the program.
Run the program on your computer, click "File" > "Load IFO/ISO" to load ISO image file into the program.
Step 2: Choose output file format.
Click "Format" bar, from its drop-down option, select one of VLC most playable digital file formats such as "H.264 HD Video (*.mp4)" under "HD Video" main category.
Step 3: Customize output profile parameters.
Click settings to open "Profile Settings" window, here you can flexibly adjust output video/audio codec, file resolution, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate, etc according to your own situations.
Step 4: Start ISO to VLC media player converting process.
One click the big button "Convert" on bottom-right corner to start conversion.
Once finishing conversion, you will have no problem to play converted digital files with VLC media player on both Windows and Mac.
