How to Open BIN and CUE files

Level of difficulty: Easy

BIN files are usually used together with CUE files to facilitate the running of CD and DVD images without the need for a CD or DVD or even a disk drive. A BIN file is a binary file that represents an entire disk image of a DVD or a CD disk. The BIN file possesses the data from the disk while the CUE file is the image that permits the reading of the disk. A BIN file usually requires a CUE file for it to be opened or burned. A CUE file on the other hand contains a series of instructions that can guide a user into burning the BIN image. In some instances, the CUE file may be absent or missing when the user attempts the downloading of a BIN file.

Materials Needed:
- CD/DVD Burning software
- CD-R/DVD-R Disks
- Image mounting software (Daemon Tools
- MagicISO
- Nero ImageDrive
- etc.)
Step 1
Ensure that a CUE file has been downloaded after downloading a BIN file. If the CUE file is missing, create a CUE file in order that the BIN image may be opened or burned.
Step 2
To create a CUE file, right click the mouse on a vacant space where the BIN file can be found. Click on 'New Text Document' and as soon as the document is opened, choose 'File' and then 'Save As'. When requested, the user must name the new document using a name similar to the BIN file but with a CUE extension like when the BIN file’s name is 'mygame.bin', the new document must bear the name 'mygame.cue'. Click on 'OK' once renaming has been done.
Step 3
In the new CUE file, type 'FILE'mygame.bin'BINARY' then press the 'Enter' key. Press the 'Enter' key upon typing 'TRACK 01 MODE1/2352'.Type 'INDEX 01 00:00:00' and close the document upon selecting the 'File' and 'Save' prompts.
Step 4
The user may now open any of the CD/DVD disk burning applications and browse toward the BIN file prior to burning it into a recordable DVD or CD disk. The opening and burning of the disk is usually made possible through image mounting software such as Daemon Tools, MagicISO, and Nero ImageDrive. Install any of these image mounting programs into the computer.
Step 5
Open the installed disk burning application in order that that the contents of the BIN file could be extracted.
Step 6
To load the image, look for the folder where both the CUE and BIN files are saved. Click on 'Extract' followed by 'OK' after browsing the BIN file to automatically save the contents of the image on the computer hard drive. Once saved, the image file can now be accessed just like an ordinary file.