How to Extract the Contents of an ISO Image File to a Folder on Your Computer

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If you have ever installed Windows, Linux or another operating system on your computer, you most likely downloaded an ISO file to do so. An ISO file is a digital copy of an entire optical disc, such as a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray, stored in a single file. It preserves the disc’s structure and content, making it useful for distribution, backup, or creating bootable media.

ISO files can be used for various purposes such as:

Software & OS Installation – Used to distribute operating systems (e.g., Windows, Linux) and large software packages.
Backup & Archiving – Creates exact copies of discs for storage or future use.
Virtual Drive Mounting – Can be mounted as a virtual disk to access files without burning to a physical disc.
Bootable Media Creation – Used to create bootable USB drives for system recovery or OS installation.

Normally, you would burn the ISO file to a CD, DVD or flash drive using a program such as Rufus or Ventoy which can make the disk or drive bootable if needed. But if you want to extract the contents of an ISO image file to a folder to maybe view the files or install some software without creating a disk, you can do that as well. In this article, we will be showing you 2 methods you can use to extract the contents of an ISO image to a folder.

Method 1 – Use the Windows Mount Option to Extract the Contents of an ISO Image

Newer versions of Windows have the option to mount ISO files as a virtual drive on your computer so you can view their contents. This comes in handy if you need to run the installation process for the software or copy a few files or folders to your computer. You can also use this method to copy the entire contents of the ISO file to another folder on your PC.

To mount an ISO file on your computer, simply right click the file and choose Mount. If you are missing the Mount option, check out this video for a possible solution to the problem

Once the ISO file is mounted, it will show up under This PC as a virtual DVD drive.

Then you can open this virtual drive to see the contents of the ISO file. From there, you can do things such as open files, run the program’s installer if applicable, or copy the files to another folder on your computer.

When you are finished, you can unmount the ISO file by right clicking on it and choosing Eject.

Method 2 – Use the 7-Zip App to Extract the Contents of an ISO Image

The second method we will be discussing involves using the free 7-Zip archiving software to extract the contents of the ISO image file to a folder on your computer. 7-Zip can be used to create and extract zip files and many other types of files such as ZIP, RAR and TAR files. It can be downloaded for free from their website and then you would install it like you would any other application.

Once you have 7-Zip installed, you will have a new right click context menu option for it. Then you can right click on your ISO file and choose one of the available options to extract the files from it.

There are three main options you have for extracting the contents of an ISO image file to a folder.

Extract files – This will give you the option to choose where to extract the files to. It will also let you create a new folder before the files are extracted from the ISO image.

Extract here – This will extract the files to the same directory where the ISO file resides.

Extract to (file name) – This will create a new folder with the same name as the ISO file and extract the files there.

Once you choose your option, 7-Zip will begin to extract the files from the ISO image, and you will be able to see the progress. You can also have it run in the background as well as pause and cancel the process.

Once the extraction is complete, you will have all the files that were part of the ISO image in the folder where they were extracted to.