# Brasero Manual V2.2

Brasero is an application for burning CDs and DVDs.

2008
2009
Ubuntu Documentation Project
2009
Philip Withnall (philip@tecnocode.co.uk)
Ubuntu Documentation Project

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This manual is part of a collection of GNOME manuals distributed under the GFDL. If you want to distribute this manual separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the licence to the manual, as described in section 6 of the licence.

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Milo
Casagrande
Ubuntu Documentation Project

     milo@ubuntu.com

Andrew
Stabeno
Ubuntu Documentation Project

     stabeno@gmail.com

Phil
Bull
Ubuntu Documentation Project

     philbull@gmail.com

Brasero Manual V2.2
January 2009

Milo Casagrande milo@ubuntu.com

Ubuntu Documentation Project

Brasero Manual V2.1
August 2008

Milo Casagrande milo@ubuntu.com

Ubuntu Documentation Project

Brasero Manual V2.0
February 2008

Milo Casagrande milo@ubuntu.com

Andrew Stabeno stabeno@gmail.com

Phil Bull philbull@gmail.com

Ubuntu Documentation Project

This manual describes version 2.26 of Brasero.

## Feedback

To report a bug or make a suggestion regarding the Brasero application or this manual, follow the directions in the GNOME Feedback Page.

## Introduction

Brasero is an application for burning CD-R/Ws and DVD-R/Ws, designed to be easy-to-use, while providing all the tools necessary for burning.

With Brasero you can:

- Burn data to CD-R/Ws and DVD-R/Ws

- Burn audio CDs from digital audio files (such as OGG, FLAC and MP3)

- Copy CDs and DVDs

- Create video DVDs or SVCDs

- Create image files and burn existing image files

- Erase CD-R/Ws and DVD-R/Ws

- Check the integrity of discs and disc images

## Getting Started

### Starting Brasero

You can start Brasero in the following ways:

Applications menu

  Choose Sound & Video Brasero Disc Burning.

Command line

  Type `brasero` and then press Return.

If Brasero is set as your default disc burning application, it will automatically start when you insert a blank CD-R/W or DVD-R/W in your drive.

### When You Start Brasero

When you start Brasero the following window will be shown.

#### Brasero Main Window

The Brasero main window. Shows the menu bar and the five types of project to choose from.

This window is the starting point for all of your projects. You can click on the project type you wish to start from here. If you have created other projects with Brasero, you will be able to select them from the Choose a recently opened project (see for more information).

## Creating a New Project

The following section explains the five types of project that you can create with Brasero.

### Audio Project

This section explains how to create an audio CD. This project takes selected audio files, converts them to a raw audio format and burns them to a CD which standard CD players can play.

To burn an audio CD proceed as follows:

1. Insert a blank CD-R into your drive.

2. Click on Audio project in the main window or choose Project New Project New Audio Project.

3. In the pane on the left of the window, select Browse the file system from the drop-down list at the top and browse to the music files you want to add to your project.

   You can also select the Search files using keywords option to search for music files or the Display playlists and their contents option to select music from playlists on your computer.

   If you don't see the pane on the left, choose View Show side panel or press F7.

4. Select the files you want by double-clicking on them or by selecting them and clicking the Add button at the top-left of the toolbar.

5. It is possible now to insert a pause after each of the tracks or to split the tracks.

6. When all of the files have been added, click on Burn.

7. In the text box, enter the title you want to give to the disc. This title will be shown as the name of the disc.

8. The Disc burning setup dialogue will be shown; make any desired modifications (see ).

9. Click on Burn to start the burning process.

When adding files, refer to the status bar at the bottom of the window to see how much space you are using on your CD/DVD.

To save the project for later use, choose Project Save.

#### Inserting a Pause

After you have added a track, you can insert a two-second pause after it. To insert a pause, proceed as follows:

1. Select the track after which you want to add the pause.

2. Click on Pause on the toolbar or choose Edit Insert a Pause.

#### Splitting a Track

It is possible to divide a track in multiple parts. To split a track proceed as follows:

1. Select the track you want to divide and click on Split in the toolbar or choose Edit Split Track.... The Split Track dialogue will be shown.

2. From the Method drop-down list select the splitting method. The possible values are:

   Split track manually

     Select this to select the time on the track where you wish to split it. A sliding bar is provided along with an audio preview.

   Split tracks in parts with a fixed length

     Select this to split the track into fixed-length parts with a duration that you specify.

   Split track in fixed number of parts

     Select this to decide the number of parts that you want your track to be split into. You can use the provided spin box to select the number of parts.

   Split track for each silence

     Select this to split the track where a silence is present.

3. To split the track, click on Slice. The slices will be listed in the Slices Preview table.

Once you have splitted the track, it is possible to remove or merge the slices listed in the Slices Preview table using the buttons on the right.

Once you are done with all the modifications, click OK.

#### Audio Project Options

Before starting the burning process, it is possible to modify some of the burning options.

Section Select a disc to write to:

  - Click on Properties to open the properties dialogue for the burning device. See for more information.

Section Disc options:
  - Leave the disc open to add a data session later

      Select this option to create a multisession disc, so that it will be possible to add files to the disc at a later date (without erasing it, if it is rewritable).

### Data Project

To burn a data CD, proceed as follows:

1. Insert a blank CD-R/W or DVD-R/W into your drive.

2. Click on Data project in the main window or choose Project New Project New Data Project.

3. Use the pane on the left of the window to find the files you want to add to the project. Select Browse the file system from the drop-down list at the top to browse for files or Search files using keywords to search for them.

   If you don't see the pane on the left, choose View Show side panel or press F7.

4. Select the files you want by double-clicking on them or by selecting them and clicking the Add button at the top-left of the toolbar.

5. In the text box, enter a label to identify the disc. This label will be shown as the name of the disc.

6. When all the files have been added, click on Burn.

7. The Disc burning setup dialogue will be shown; make any desired modifications (see ).

8. Click on Burn to start the burning process.

When adding files, refer to the status bar at the bottom of the window to see how much space you are using on your CD/DVD.

To save the project for later use, choose Project Save.

#### Data Project Options

Before starting the burning process, it is possible to modify some of the burning options.

Section Select a disc to write to:

  - Click on Properties to open the properties dialogue for the burning device. See for more information.

Section Disc options:
  - Increase compatibility with Windows systems

      Select this option if you intend the disc to be used on computers running Windows. Files on the disc will be checked to ensure that their filenames do not contain characters which are invalid on Windows.

  - Leave the disc open to add other files later

      Select this option to create a multisession disc, so that it will be possible to add files to the disc at a later date (without erasing it, if it is rewritable).

### Video project

This project lets you take video files (files with extensions like `.mpg`, `.mpeg` or `.avi` to name a few) and burn them to disc to create video DVDs, SVCDs or VCDs that you can watch with normal DVD/CD players.

In order to use all the potential of the video project, you need to install all GStreamer's plugins, ffmpeg, vcdimager and dvdauthor. See your operating system documentation for more information on how to install all these applications.

To create a video project, proceed as follows:

1. Insert a blank CD or DVD into your drive.

2. Click on Video project in the main window or choose Project New project New video project.

3. From the pane on the left of the window, browse the file system searching for video files.

   Select the files you want by double-clicking on them or by selecting them and clicking the Add button at the top-left of the toolbar.

   If you don't see the pane on the left, choose View Show side panel or press F7.

4. In the text box, enter the title you want to give to the disc. This title will be shown as the name of the disc.

5. When all the files have been added, click on Burn.

6. The Disc burning setup dialogue will be shown; make any desired modifications (see ).

7. Click on Burn to start the burning process.

When adding files, refer to the status bar at the bottom of the window to see how much space you are using on your CD/DVD.

To save the project for later use, choose Project Save.

#### Video Project Options

Before starting the burning process, it is possible to modify some of the burning options.

Section Select a disc to write to:

  - Click on Properties to open the properties dialogue for the burning device. See for more information.

Section Video Option:

  - From Video formats select the format of the video that will be burned. You can choose from:

    - Native format: the original format of the video file.

    - PAL/SECAM: format mainly used in European televisions.

    - NTSC: format mainly used in American, Canadian and Japanese televisions.

Section Audio Options:

  - Choose Add MP2 audio stream to add a MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 stream to the disc.

  - Choose Add AC3 audio stream to add an AC-3 Dolby Digital stream to the disc.

Section VCD type:

  - Choose Create a SVCD to create a Super Video CD.

  - Choose Create a VCD to create a Video CD.

One of the main differences between a SVCD and a VCD is that the former uses the MPEG-2 video codec while the latter MPEG-1. For more information, see the Wikipedia pages for SVCD and VCD.

### Disc Copy

This project lets you take an existing disc and copy it to a blank disc or image file. To copy a disc, proceed as follows:

1. Insert the CD or DVD you wish to copy into your drive.

2. Click on Disc copy in the main window or choose Project New Project Copy Disc.

3. The CD/DVD copy options dialogue will be shown; make the desired modifications (see for more information).

4. Click on Copy to start the copying process.

#### Disc Copy Options

Before starting the copying process, it is possible to modify some of the copying and burning options.

Section Select disc to copy:

  - From the drop-down list, select the disc that you want to copy.

Section Select a disc to write to:

  - From the drop-down list, select the disc to write to.

    From this drop-down list, select File image to create a disc image, such as an ISO image.

  - Click on Properties to open the properties dialogue for the burning device. See for more information.

If you have more that one drive on your system, you can use one drive as the source drive and the other as the destination drive. If you do not, you will be prompted to remove the CD or DVD you are copying and insert a blank media.

### Burn Image

This project takes an existing file image and burns it to a CD-R/W or DVD-R/W. Brasero supports the following types of image file:

- `.iso`

- `.raw`

- `.cue`

- `.toc`

To start this project, proceed as follows:

1. Insert a blank CD-R/W or DVD-R/W into your drive.

2. Click on Burn image in the main window or choose Project New Project Burn Image.

3. The Image burning setup dialogue will be shown; make the desired modifications (see ).

4. Click on Burn to start the burning process.

#### Burn Image Options

Before starting the image burning process, it is possible to modify some of the burning options.

Section Select a disc to write to:

  - Click on Properties to open the properties dialogue for the burning device. See for more information.

Section Image:

  - Click on the button to open the Select Image File dialogue and select the image file to burn. From the drop-down list at the bottom, you can select the type of the image to burn. If unsure, select Let Brasero choose (safest).

### Burning Device Properties

Before starting the burning process, it is possible to change some of the properties for the burning device that will be used.

Section Burning speed:

  From the drop-down list, select the burning speed. For the best value, check the CD/DVD case.

  Burning a disc with a higher speed than supported could create an unreadable disc. Use lower burning speeds to reduce the chance of this happening.

Section Options:
  - Burn the image directly without saving it to disc

      Select this option if you want to burn the image directly onto the media, without saving it to the hard disk and without creating an image file.

  - Use burnproof (decrease the risk of failure)

      Select this option to prevent the buffer underrun (or buffer underflow) effect. This is when the computer is not fast enough delivering data to the burning device for the selected burning speed.

      If a buffer underrun takes place, the burned disc could be unreadable.

  - Simulate the burning

      Select this option to simulate the burning process; no real burn is performed. If this operation is successful, Brasero will actually burn the disc after pausing for 10 seconds. During this pause it will show a dialogue in which you can cancel the actual burning. This is useful for testing, if you are having problems burning discs.

  - Eject after burning

      Select this option to eject the media in the burning device once the burning process has completed.

Section Temporary files:

  From the drop-down list, select the directory to use for storing the temporary files created for the burning process.

  The default directory is `/tmp`.

#### Burning Properties with No Disc

If you start the burning process without a CD or DVD in the burning device, Brasero will create a image file on the hard disk that you can later burn.

Section Select a disc to write to:

  From this drop-down list you can only select File image.

Section Label of the disc:

  Type the name you want to give to the disc once burned.

Section Disc options:
  - Increase compatibility with Windows systems

      Select this option if you intend the disc to be used on computers running Windows. Files on the disc will be checked to ensure that their filenames do not contain characters which are invalid on Windows.

Click on Properties to open the Disc image file properties dialogue. In the Name text box, type the name of the image file, from the Image type drop-down list select the type of image to use.

Once done, click Apply.

## Opening a Saved Project

If you have recently saved a project, you can open it again in one of the following ways:

- Choose Project Recent Projects and select the project you want to open.

- From the main window, click on the project you want to open under Choose a recently opened project.

To open a project which does not appear in Recent Projects, choose Project Open and select the project file.

Once opened, you can add or remove files from the project, burn it to disc, and then save it again for later use.

## Erasing a CD or DVD

Erasing or blanking a CD or DVD mean deleting all the data that the CD or the DVD contains. Brasero is able to erase the following CD and DVD formats:

- CD-RW

- DVD-RW (single or dual layer)

- DVD+RW (single or dual layer)

In general, Brasero can support all of the media formats supported by your CD/DVD recorder.

Make sure that the media you want to erase is erasable. Check the media case for more information.

To erase a CD-RW or a DVD-RW:

1. Insert the erasable CD or DVD in your drive.

2. From the menu bar, choose Tools Erase.... The Disc blanking dialogue will be shown.

3. From the drop-down list Select a disc, select the disc you want to erase.

4. If you want to quickly erase the disc, select the fast blanking option (for more information, see ).

5. Click on Blank to start erasing the CD or DVD.

The blanking process will permanently destroy all of the data on the disc.

### What is fast blanking?

Fast blanking is a way of quickly erasing a disc. This method is much faster than fully erasing the disc and is sufficient to allow the disc to be written to again.

The full erasing procedure is slower but is more secure, as it removes all traces of previous data. Data removed from fast blanked media can still be recovered with special tools.

## Checking the Integrity of a CD or DVD

Checking the integrity of a CD or DVD makes sure that the files written to the disc are intact and have not been corrupted during the burning process.

The integrity check is done using the MD5 digest algorithm, which creates a fingerprint of the data on the media. Each time you burn a CD or DVD, and the Image checksum plugin is enabled (see for more information), Brasero adds a MD5 file to the disc in order to perform integrity checks at a later date.

Brasero performs an integrity check after each burning session, checking the automatically generated file. Usually this process is longer than using an external MD5 file.

To check the integrity of a disc:

1. Insert the CD or DVD to be checked into the drive.

2. From the menu bar, choose Tools Check Integrity, or press CtrlF.

3. You can check the integrity by using a MD5 file or by letting Brasero automatically perform a check on the media.

   - Select the Use a md5 file to check the disc option to use an MD5 file.

   - Click on the None button under the previously-mentioned option and select an MD5 file, usually ending with the `.md5` extension.

4. Click on the Check button to start the integrity check.

If the integrity check is successful, Brasero will notify you with a File integrity check success dialogue; otherwise, the File integrity check error dialogue will be displayed.

## Cover Editor

Brasero has a cover editor for creating covers for your CDs or DVDs. To open the cover editor, choose Tools Cover Editor.

The cover editor lets you select the font, the alignment and the colours for all the text and the background properties of the front and the back cover.

To set the properties of the covers, right-click on one of the covers and choose Set background properties to open the Background Properties dialogue.

It is possible to fill the background with an image, or with a solid colour or gradient.

To set an image as the background:

- From Image path select the image from your hard disk.

- From the Image style drop-down list select how you want the image to be positioned.

To fill the background with a colour or gradient:

- From the Colour drop-down list select the kind of fill you want to use for the background.

- Use the button on the right to open the Pick a Colour dialogue to select the colour.

If you select a gradient, there will be two buttons for the colour chooser. The one on the left is the starting point of the gradient, the one on the right the end point.

## Plugins

Brasero can use different plugins to perform different tasks. There are several plugins you can choose from.

To view the available plugins, choose Edit Plugins. The plugins that you can use are:

### Plugins

Plugin Name | Description
--- | ---
CD/DVD Creator Folder | Enalbes Brasero to burn files stored in the `CD/DVD Creator` folder of Nautilus.
File Checksum | Enables Brasero to check the integrity of files.
File Downloader | Enables Brasero to burn files which are not stored locally.
Image Checksum | Enables Brasero to perform integrity checks on discs after they have been burnt. Also enables the writing of a small file which holds the MD5 sum of all the files on the disc.
Normalise | Enables Brasero to set consistent sound levels between tracks.

To enable or disable a plugin, select the check box next to its name in the Enabled column.

With the File Checksum and Image Checksum plugins you can choose which algorithm to use:

1. Select one of the two plugins and click on Configure.

2. From the Hashing algorithm to be used drop-down list select the algorithm you want to use. The possible values are:

   - MD5

   - SHA1

   - SHA256

In order to use some of the plugins listed here, it may be necessary to install further applications on your system. See your operating system documentation for more information.