Got an ISO file and don't know how to open it? Here's how to mount ISO images to access their contents on a Mac.

ISO images are an efficient way to store a physical CD or DVD's contents in digital form. This saves the cost of shipping and manufacturing physical discs. If you have an Apple computer running macOS, you might wonder how to mount ISO images on your Mac.

There are four ways to achieve this—using DiskImageMounter, Disk Utility, Terminal, and through third-party tools. Here, we'll walk you through the various methods to mount an ISO image on macOS.

1. Using Disk Utility to Mount ISO Images

You get lots of options to mount an ISO image on macOS. Disk Utility is one such option to mount an ISO file on macOS. To mount an ISO image using this method, follow the steps below:

If you want to unmount the ISO file, Control-click the newly created drive and select the Eject option.

Related: How to Create a Bootable USB From an ISO

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2. Using DiskImageMounter to Mount ISO Files

Some versions of macOS also feature DiskImageMounter, offering another way to mount ISO files. This software is most common on older versions of the Mac operating system, having been introduced with OS X 10.3.

To mount an ISO file on macOS using DiskImageMounter, follow these steps:

If you want to unmount the ISO file, Control-click the newly created drive, and select the Eject option. Once you're finished, you won't see the newly created drive again.

3. Using Terminal to Mount ISO Images on macOS

macOS also provides an option to mount ISO images using Terminal. Instead of browsing the file manager, you can run one command to mount ISO image files.

To mount ISO files using Terminal, follow these steps:

If you want to unmount the ISO image, here's the method to do it:

4. Using Third-Party Tools to Mount ISO Files on macOS

You may want to use some third-party tools for extracting ISO files or mounting them on your Mac. Some commonly used ISO mounting and extraction tools are:

For the purpose of this guide, we will be using Daemon Tools Lite for demonstration:

Daemon Tools Lite is a free and advanced macOS program to mount and burn disk images on macOS. To mount ISO images on macOS using Daemon Tools Lite, follow the steps below:

Mounting ISO Images on macOS Is Easy

Mounting ISO files on macOS is efficient and straightforward when you use the native tools. macOS also provides other options, such as Terminal commands, to achieve the same result.

Albeit, Disk Utility is quick in comparison to the other methods. You can choose any method you prefer to mount ISO images on macOS. The process will differ for each way, but the end result will be the same.

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Varun Kesari is the Junior Editor at MakeUseOf for the Office & Productivity and Work & Career sections. His career in tech journalism began in 2015, and he has written and edited for various well-established publications. He is passionate about all things related to technology. You can reach out to him: varunkesari@makeuseof.com

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