Converting a BIN disc image to an ISO file in Linux requires 2 things. A program named bchunk and a matching CUE sheet for the BIN file. Firstly install bchunk using whatever method you would like. I recommend using your distributions package manager to do this.

Creating a CUE File if You Don't Have One

Assuming the BIN file is an image of a single track disc with no other data then you can get around this otherwise showstopping problem. You need to create a plain text file following the same format naming as your existing BIN file, so if you have a BIN file named MyDisc.bin then use MyDisc.cue. You now need to populate this file with a few basic lines, simply copy and place the following text into the CUE file you have just created:

FILE "MyDisc.bin" BINARY TRACK 01 MODE2/2352 INDEX 01 00:00:00

Obviously replacing MyDisc.bin with the exact name of your BIN file. Again this will only work if the disc was a single track but most were so lets hope yours was too.

Converting to ISO

This is nice and easy and only requires a single command. Simply chdir into the folder that contains your BIN and CUE files and then run the following command:

bchunk MyDisc.bin MyDisc.cue MyDisc

Replacing MyDisc with the real files names. Above you will notice 4 arguments: The application (bchunk), the BIN file, the CUE file and then another. The last argument is what you would like the generated ISO file to be called so it's always best to stick with the same name as the BIN file had. Running the above command will show you something similar to the output below with a progress bar at the bottom.

binchunker for Unix, version 1.2.0 by Heikki Hannikainen <hessu@hes.iki.fi> Created with the kind help of Bob Marietta <marietrg@SLU.EDU>, partly based on his Pascal (Delphi) implementation. Support for MODE2/2352 ISO tracks thanks to input from Godmar Back <gback@cs.utah.edu>, Colas Nahaboo <Colas@Nahaboo.com> and Matthew Green <mrg@eterna.com.au>. Released under the GNU GPL, version 2 or later (at your option). Reading the CUE file: Track 1: MODE2/2352 01 00:00:00 Writing tracks: 1: MyDisc01.iso 519/519 MB [********************] 100 %

bchunk will create a file named MyDisc01.iso once the process has completed.


Congratulations, you have now converted your BIN file to a usable ISO file. You can now mount this if you wish using the command below:

mount -o loop /path/to/MyDisc.iso /mnt/MyDisc

Replacing the first path with the location of the ISO file and the second path with the location you'd like to mount the disc image to.


If the CUE image you created above didn't work for your disc image then a program named bin2iso may give you more luck but unfortunately most distributions don't ship with this app anymore. The source code for the program is still available if you would like to have a shot at compiling it yourself.