ISO image
From Mandrivausers Wiki
An ISO image (with the file extension .iso) is an informal term for a disk image of an ISO 9660 file system. More loosely, it refers to any optical disk image, even a UDF image.
This single file contains not only all the data files that are contained on the disk, it also contains all the filesystem metadata, including boot code, structures, and attributes. Some of the common uses include the distribution of operating systems, such as Linux or BSD systems, and live CDs.
[edit] Burning ISOs
After downloading an ISO for installation or for a live CD, it is worth checking the file before burning to make sure it was downloaded correctly. See checking ISOs for details on how to verify the checksums of the file.
Secondly, when burning it is important to burn it as an image and not just burn the file onto disk. See burning ISOs for how to make sure your burning program unpacks the image correctly.
