If you want to convert DMG to ISO, it's good to learn a little about disk image file types and what they're meant for. Essentially, a disk image is a snapshot of the content on a DVD, CD, BRD or even a hard drive. It could be just a set of media files, but it can also contain software installation files. In the second case, the disk image will also need to contain boot information in order to boot from the media.

Specifically, DMG is what Apple uses for the macOS environment, while ISO is more widely used in Windows-based and Linux environment. At times, you may need to convert DMG to ISO so you can mount it as a virtual drive on a Windows machine to extract the contents, view them or burn them to create bootable media. The process to convert DMG to ISO is different based on which operating system you're using for the conversion. This article shows you how to convert DMG files to ISO files on Windows, Mac and Linux.

Method 1: How to Convert DMG to ISO on Windows 10 (DMG2IMG)

Mac OSX Terminal (command-line tips and tricks) Make things happen quickly without touching the mouse. On my Yosemite Mac, open a terminal and: cd View the file using the vi editor that comes with OSX. Hdiutil attach /path/to/diskimage.dmg.

DMG2IMG is a software utility that converts DMG files into Apple's older IMG format as well as the universally used ISO format. The process is simple, but it requires some command line work. The steps to use DMG2IMG to convert DMG to ISO have been detailed below:

Step 1. Download and install DMG2IMG on your Windows computer. Once the installation is done, open File Explorer and go to the location where you downloaded the application.

Step 2. Right-click on the folder where the software has been downloaded, and select 'Open command window here…' to launch Command Prompt.

Step 3. In Command Prompt, execute the following command (click Enter after typing in the command):
dmg2img 'C:UsersSample UserDesktopsample.dmg' 'C:UsersSample UserDocumentsConvertedRandom.iso'

Step 4. Please note that the double-quotes are required only if you have a space in your file path. In this example, there's a space between Sample and User, so the quotes are needed. If there are no spaces, you can do away with the quotes.

This method only works in 32-bit Windows versions. The conversion is usually done accurately, but you may come across errors that can corrupt the output ISO file. If you're going to be doing a lot of such conversions from DMG to ISO, we recommend getting a proper software utility.

Method 2: How to Convert DMG to ISO on macOS (Disk Utility)

Mac OS X and macOS offer an easier way to convert DMG to ISO, which is only natural because DMG is the native disk image format used by Apple. The Disk Utility that's built into Mac will help you do the conversion from DMG to ISO. Follow the steps below to convert your disk image files:

Step 1. Launch Disk Utility in Mac from Applications > Utilities.

Step 2. Open a Finder window and double-click on the DMG file to mount it. You should be able to see it on the left panel in Disk Utility.

Step 3. Right-click the DMG file in the left panel and select 'Convert'. In the new window that appears, select 'DVD/CD Master' as your output and click on Save. This will save your DMG file in a format with the extension .cdr.

Step 4. Rename the file by replacing .cdr with .iso. The file is now in the ISO format.

The exported ISO file can now be burned to a disk, or mounted within Mac as a virtual drive so you can view or extract the contents. The conversion process is quick, and it's convenient because it does not require any additional software.

Method 3: How to Convert DMG Files to ISO on Linux

In a Linux machine, you can use Terminal to convert DMG to ISO. For this, you will first need the Linux version of DMG2IMG. You can get it using a Terminal command, as shown below:

Step 1. Execute the following command in Terminal:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dmg2img

Step 2. You can now proceed with the conversion command: dmg2img example.dmg example.iso

Step 3. You can also define a specific file path for the output (converted) file, but this basic command is what you need to use for the conversion.

As with any file conversion, the process to convert DMG to ISO could present some hurdles, such as corrupted files at output. If you see this happening multiple times, it's possible that the source file itself is corrupted. In such cases, it's better to try and get an authentic download rather than struggle with a corrupt file. In any case, if you're sure the DMG file is verified, these methods to convert DMG to ISO in Windows, macOS and Linux should work for you.

Related Articles & Tips

DMG is a file of Apple Disk Image. The Apple Disk Images are disk image files commonly used by the Mac OS X operating system. When opened, an Apple disk image is 'mounted' as a volume within the Finder. Several Apple proprietary disk image formats can be used to create these images, including the Universal Disk Image Format (UDIF) and the New Disk Image Format (NDIF). Apple disk images usually have the .dmg file extension.

Apple disk images allow secure password protection as well as file compression and hence serves both security and file distribution functions; they are most commonly used to distribute software over the Internet.

Universal Disk Image Format (UDIF) is the native disk image format for Mac OS X. Disk images in this format typically have a .dmg extension. New Disk Image Format (NDIF) was the previous default disk image format in Mac OS 9, and disk images with this format generally have a .img (not to be confused with raw .img disk image files) or .smi file extension. Files with the .smi extension are actually applications that mount an embedded disk image, thus a 'Self Mounting Image', and are intended only for Mac OS 9 and earlier. A previous version of the format, intended only for floppy disk images, is usually referred to as 'Disk Copy 4.2' format, after the version of the Disk Copy utility that was used to handle these images. A similar format that supported compression of floppy disk images is called DART. Apple disk image files are published with a MIME type of application/x-apple-diskimage.

Different file systems can be contained inside these disk images, and there is also support for creating hybrid optical media images that contain multiple file systems. Some of the file systems supported include Hierarchical File System (HFS), HFS Plus, File Allocation Table (FAT), ISO9660 and Universal Disk Format (UDF).

Open/Extract DMG File on Windows

Easy 7-Zip opens/extracts DMG file easily on Windows. The Easy 7-Zip was developed based on 7-Zip. 7-Zip is a famous open source file archiver. The Easy 7-Zip is an easy-to-use version of 7-Zip. The open source freeware keeps all features of 7-Zip and adds a few useful features that makes the software more user-friendly.

Easy 7-Zip works on Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/2008/2003/XP/2000 (both 32-bit and 64-bit compatible).

1. Free Download Easy 7-Zip
2. Install Easy 7-Zip by step-by-step instructions
3. The installation will associate DMG with Easy 7-Zip automatically
4. Double-click on DMG file to open DMG file with Easy 7-Zip

You will see files or folders within the DMG file then, click button Extract to extract the DMG file.

5. Alternatively, Right-click on DMG file on Windows Explorer

And then, choose Extract files..., Extract Here, or Extract to 'folder' to extract the DMG file.

6. Done

Easy 7-Zip Download Links:

You can install and use other alternative freeware that opens/extracts DMG file without burning the DMG file to disc. For example:

• Free DMG Extractor
• HFSExplorer
• PeaZip

Open/Extract DMG File on Mac

B1 Free Archiver opens/extracts DMG file on Mac. B1 Free Archiver is a free software for creating archive folder and extracting archive file. B1 Archiver works on all platforms - Windows, Linux, Mac and Android. The freeware supports most popular formats including DMG.

B1 Free Archiver is compatible with:

• Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks
• Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
• Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Alternative freeware that opens/extracts DMG file on Mac.

• Apple Disk Utility
• Keka
• GUI Tar

Open/Extract DMG File on Linux

You can use command mount to mount DMG file as a virtual drive.

First, you must login as a root user, and then create a directory for DMG image

Use mount command as follows to mount DMG file called image.dmg:

If the DMG is HFS file system, use:

Change directory to list files stored inside an DMG image:

Unmount the DMG image, type:

Extract Dmg Online

Alternatively, you can use p7zip to extract the DMG file. p7zip is the Unix command-line port of 7-Zip, a file archiver that archives with high compression ratios.

Install p7zip-full on CentOS and Fedora

Install p7zip-full on Debian and Ubuntu

List directories and files in DMG file

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