Since these are fundamentally different formats, the process requires two distinct stages. Stage 1: Decompression (Extraction)
geteltorito -o your_file.iso your_file.img
| Your Operating System | Best Tool | Difficulty | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | 7-Zip + AnyBurn | Easy | | macOS | Terminal ( bunzip2 + hdiutil ) | Moderate | | Linux | Terminal ( bzip2 + mount + mkisofs ) | Moderate to Advanced | | Any OS | Rename file (if ISO 9660 inside) | Trivial | img.bz2 to iso
ISO files use El Torito boot specification. Raw IMG files often use MBR boot sectors. These are not cross-compatible without special tools. Solution: You cannot simply convert a bootable USB IMG to a bootable ISO for burning to a DVD. You must use tools like isolinux or grub-mkrescue to repackage the bootloader.
A high-ratio compression format used primarily on Unix/Linux systems. It only compresses a single file and does not act as a multi-file archive. Since these are fundamentally different formats, the process
In many cases, an IMG file is structurally identical to an ISO file.
First, you need to extract the raw .img file from its compressed shell. These are not cross-compatible without special tools
This happens if the IMG contained empty space or if you used the wrong mkisofs syntax. Solution: Ensure you are copying the entire filesystem. Use mkisofs -r -J -o output.iso /mnt/img to enable Rock Ridge (Unix permissions) and Joliet (Windows long filenames).
A .bz2 file is a compressed archive created with Bzip2. You cannot convert it directly while it is compressed. On Windows : Use a tool like 7-Zip or WinRAR.
Bzip2 is a compression algorithm. It is similar to .zip or .gz but generally achieves better compression for large disk images. The .bz2 extension indicates the file has been compressed to save bandwidth and storage space.