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

Disk Utility tool

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:

  1. Open Finder and choose the Applications option from the left sidebar.
  2. From the listed folders and files, double-click the Utilities folder.
  3. Now, double-click the Disk Utility option to open the tool.
  4. Once Disk Utility opens up, click on the File option in the menu and select the Open Disk Image option.
  5. Find and open the ISO file that you want to mount.
  6. Head over to your desktop. You’ll find a new drive there.
  7. Open the drive and you’ll see the contents of your ISO image file.

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

2. Using DiskImageMounter to Mount ISO Files

How to burn disk image in macOS

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:

  1. Open a Finder window and navigate to the location of the ISO image.
  2. Control-click on the ISO image, select Open With, and choose DiskImageMounter from the context menu.
  3. Head over to your desktop. Here you’ll find a new drive.
  4. Open the drive and you’ll see the contents of your ISO image file.

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

Terminal app mount ISO image

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:

  1. Open Terminal on your Mac by heading to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
  2. Once you are inside the Terminal, type the following code:
            hdiutil mount ~/ISOPath/filename.iso
        
  3. Make sure to rename ISOPath with ISO’s location and filename.iso with the ISO’s file name.
  4. For example, if the ISO image is located in /Downloads/Files, and the File name is example.iso, then the code will be:
            hdiutil mount ~/Downloads/Files/example.iso
        
  5. Copy or note down the destination folder (required for unmounting) that you’ll see after mounting the ISO image. For example: /Volume/Example
  6. Hit Enter.
  7. You can visit the location in Finder to explore the contents of the ISO file.

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

  1. Run the following command:
            hdiutil unmount /DestinationFolder
        
  2. Replace the destination folder with the folder location you copied in Step 5.
  3. For example, if the Destination folder is /Volume/Example, the command will be:
            hdiutil unmount ~/Volume/Example
        
  4. Hit Enter.

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:

Mount Images Using Daemon Tools Lite on macOS

Daemon tools mount ISO image macOS

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:

  1. Download and install Daemon Tools Lite on your Mac.
  2. Open Daemon Tools and click on the Quick Mount option located at the bottom left.
  3. Choose an ISO image from the images tab.
  4. Control-click on the ISO image and select the Mount option.
  5. Once done, the ISO image will be mounted as a separate drive on the desktop.
  6. If you want to unmount the ISO file, Control-click the newly created drive, and select the Eject option.
  7. Once this is completed, you won't be able to see the newly created drive again.

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.