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<br />CISO GUI (CISO is command line-based): Drag-and-drop ISO file on program, Select compression level (1 to 9 (Max)), "Compress", and choose directory for saving the new CSO file.
<br />UMDGen is a PSP ISO editor. You can save to either the CSO format with this.
→GameCube / Wii: added new rvz format
==Applicable to All Platforms==
===Audio-CD===
Sega-CD, PC-Engine, PlayStation, Sega Saturn... what do these all have in common? They all use a regular CD format! Game developers often stored music and other sounds using the Audio-CD format, but it was terribly inefficient when it comes to disc storage as it also had to store the actual game along with the sound files. To put it in perspective, a 700 MB CD containing nothing but Audio-CD data can hold at most around 80 minutes worth of sound data, meaning games that used a lot of sounds where were limited in size.
Since then developers no longer use Audio-CD format and instead prefer custom audio formats that come included in the "game data" part of the disc. By the time the PS1 generation came, the Audio-CD part was just used for messages like "Don't put this in a CD player!" and little else (exceptions exist, of course!)
* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes, using extractcd (included with MAME)
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' No.
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Only MAME , DuckStation and DEmul. Some libretro cores for other emulators are starting to add support.
* '''Can process multi track bin files?''' Yes.
PBP is the official format used by Sony for the PS1 Classics on PSP and PS3. Audio tracks may be compressed in ATRAC3 or as raw PCM (unsupported on PS3's ps1_netemu, supported on PSP only by the earliest versions of POPS or the newest ones with the [http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=41330&start=60 cdda_enabler plugin])
===CHD===
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Yes
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (better than PBP).
* '''Tools Used:''' chdman
* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes, using the same tool (chdman).
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' No.
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' libretro Beetle PSX, Avocado, DuckStation and PCSX ReARMed.
==PlayStation 2==
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' NO
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - PCSX2.
==PlayStation 3==
===Extracted files (aka JB format/GAMES)===
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Not directly (BD filesystem metadata lost).
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (any padding between files is removed).
* '''Tools Used:''' Most on-console file managers and *man homebrews, 7-Zip and other standard ISO extractors on PC.
* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes, using PS3 ISO Rebuilder and an [http://jonnysp.bplaced.net/ IRD file] representing the original file locations. Generic inaccurate JB to ISO conversions possible with makeps3iso (preferred) or genps3iso.
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' Yes - on CFW/HEN
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - RPCS3
For a long time (before the availability of Cobra and Mamba) the only playable format for PS3 backups (relying on little more than "peek and poke" CFW-provided syscalls to mount the game's folder over the currently inserted disc) but also the least accurate one, with significant compatibility issues (varying on whether the backup is stored on an internal or external drive, whether an original game disc is currently inserted, various optional hacks such as "BDMirror" moving the files to the root of the external drive on demand, ...)
==PlayStation Portable==
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (ISO dump size lowers). Substantial, depending on game. Higher compression levels generally produce decreasing space gains while potentially increasing load times. Some tools allow for leaving audio/video content uncompressed.
* '''Tools Used:''' CISO, CISO GUI, maxcso, UMDGen, PSP ISO Compressor, CISO Multi Compressor, CISO XP, ...
* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes, using the same tools and saving in ISO (uncompressed) format. No data loss.
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' Yes - most CFWs (Possibly longer load times though).
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - PPSSPP.
CISO GUI and CISO XP: Drag-and-drop ISO file on program, Select compression level (1 to 9 (Max)), "Compress", and choose directory for saving the new CSO file.
UMDGen is a PSP ISO editor. You can save to either the CSO format with this.
===DAX, JSO, ZSO===
Official format for digitally distributed PSP/minis (partially related to the one used for PS1 games), containing a compressed disc image and optionally a custom boot logo.
==PlayStation Vita==
===Trimming===
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' No, but trivially undoable.
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (ROM size lowers).
* '''Tools Used:''' None - [https://github.com/motoharu-gosuto/psvgamesd#trimming-zeroes manual process]
* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes (see above).
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' Yes - with psvgamesd.
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' ?
The psvgamesd gamecard backup creation and mounting tools supports mounting a trimmed backup (although no tools exist for dumping directly in trimmed format, or converting between full and trimmed.
Neither variant of the .psv format (unrelated to the Cobra Blackfin's .psv format) has caught on, despite being the most accurate options for physical game backups.
===Extracted files (NoNpDRM format)===
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' No for physical titles, close enough (and generally accepted as such) but no cigar for digital ones.
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (compared to ROM).
* '''Tools Used:''' NoNpDRM plugin + a file manager like VitaShell.
* '''Can be reverted?''' No.
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' Yes - with the NoNpDRM plugin.
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' ?
NoNpDRM is a Vita plugin that generates decrypted licenses (valid for any console) when running an original Vita title, as well as allowing the system to accept those licenses, allowing for playing the encrypted files directly copied from a game card or memory card (by extension the name is therefore also used for such files, or the combination of the game's files and a decrypted license).
NoPsmDRM is the equivalent for PlayStation Mobile titles.
An hypothetical NoPspEmuDRM, allowing for PSP/PS1 eboots to be natively runnable and manageable from the LiveArea/Content Manager, is currently not known to exist nor believed to be in development.
==Dreamcast==
Dolphin can't play games directly from compressed archives (7zip/zip/gzip/rar...). Instead, it utilizes its own compression method.
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Yes for GC games, Not directly for Wii games (Can can be restored with NKit).
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (ISO dump size lowers). Considerable, depending on the game.
* '''Tools Used:''' Dolphin (right-click the game(s) in the games list and select "Compress ISO..." (or "Compressed selected ISOs..." if more than one is selected)), [https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/NKit NKit], or [https://wit.wiimm.de/ wit (Wiimms ISO Tools)]
* Megaman Collection (GC): 1.4 GB (original) > 1.1 GB (GCZ) (sound data is stored as uncompressed stream to fill disk)
===RVZ (Modern Dolphin format) - GC/Wii===
The Dolphin team developed a new compression format based on WIA called RVZ. Unlike all the previous formats, RVZ is lossless and can preserve the padding data on Wii discs as well as the necessary files needed by the Wii's IOS.
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Yes.
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (ISO dump size lowers). Considerable, depending on the game.
* '''Tools Used:''' Dolphin 5.0-12188+ (right-click the game(s) in the games list and select "Compress ISO..." (or "Compressed selected ISOs..." if more than one is selected))
* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes.
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' No.
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Only Dolphin.
===Scrubbing and Trimming - GC/Wii===
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Not directly, see note about reversing.
* '''Gain:''' Not Immediate for just scrubbing (ISO dump size the same); Immediate for trimming (ISO dump size lowers).
* '''Tools Used:''' GC-Tool ("wipe garbage data..." - Scrubbing for GameCube), GameCube ISO Trimmer (scrubbing and trimming for GameCube), WiiScrubber (scrubbing /trimming for Wii, although compressing with Dolphin will scrub it anyways).
* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes, with WiiScrubber's undo file or NKit.
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' Yes for scrubbing; some games won't work trimmed.
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (ISO dump size lowers). Considerable, depending on the game.
* '''Tools Used:''' [http://www.wiibackupmanager.co.uk/downloads.html Wii Backup Manager] (after adding your game, go to "Transfer" and select "WBFS") or wit (Wiimms ISO Tools).
* '''Can be reverted?''' Maybe. WBFS files can always be converted back to ISO, but they will remain scrubbed (can be unscrubbed with NKitRestore) and, depending on settings at the time of conversion to WBFS, may be missing update/extras partitions (can be laboriously readded with wit or NKitRestore and a copy of the missing data).* '''Playable on Hardware?''' '''Yes - Preferred format by most SD/USB loaders'''
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - Dolphin
A scrubbed and sparse (gap-dropping) format directly derived from the one used in the obsolete WBFS file system.
Ideal space-saving option for Wii games to be played via an USB loader.
===CSO (aka CISO) - GC/Wii===
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' (Gamecube) Not clear; (Wii) Not directly, see note about reversing.
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (ISO dump size lowers). Less than WBFS.
* '''Tools Used:''' Wii Backup Manager (same as above, but select "CISO" - possibly Wii only), wit
* '''Can be reverted?''' Maybe. CISO files can always be converted back to ISO, but they will remain scrubbed (can be unscrubbed with NKitRestoresame caveats as WBFS).
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' Yes (on Wii/Vwii only) - Nintendont for Gamecube games, uLoader for Wii games
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - Dolphin
A scrubbed and sparse (gap-dropping) format. Unrelated to the PSP's CSO format.
Great space-saving option for Gamecube games to be played on Nintendont.
===FST (extracted File System) - GC/Wii===
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - Dolphin (both GC and Wii)
This has the advantage of easy experimenting with [[#Destructive Modification]]. Includes all disadvantages of trimming.
===WIA (Wii ISO Archive) - Wii only?===
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (ISO dump size lowers). More than WBFS.
* '''Tools Used:''' wit
* '''Can be reverted?''' Maybe. Just (same caveats as the previous formats, WIA files can always be converted back to ISO, but the conversion may be lossy (reversible with added workWBFS) depending on conversion settings.
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' No
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' No
===NKit formats - GC/Wii===
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Yes - by explicit design choice!
* '''Gain:''' Immediate or not depending on choice of - (Wii) only for GCZ- or ISO-based outputformat.
* '''Tools Used:''' NKit.
* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes!
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' (GC) Yes? - ISO-based variant only (Wii) No
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - Dolphin
Apart from its previously mentioned unscrubbing/untrimming features mentioned in the above formats' descriptions, NKit is able to convert any ISO (clean dump or otherwise) to and from an [https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/NKit/NKitFormat intermediate format applying various reversible changes] that optimize the image for lossless compression, including various options such as full decryption and optionally splitting the often non-unique update partitions to separate files. NKit-GCZ (as well as plain GCZ) is less space efficient than NKit-ISO compressed with a powerful general purpose archiver, however it is directly playable in Dolphin. NKit ISO is the ideal space-saving option for Gamecube games.
==Wii U==
* '''Can be reverted?''' No
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' Yes (after installation)
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' ?No
Consisting of a folder containing *.app, *.h3, title.cert, title.tik, and title.tmd files, this official Nintendo format is how tiles are stored on discs and some system titles are stored on the console and is very similar to how titles are stored on the CDN (on the CDN the files are named differently, .app files are encrypted with the title key and common keys and the tmd has a certificate chain on the end that is same for every tmd). This is equivalent to the files contained within a 3DS CIA file; however unlike a 3DS title, converting a disc title to digital does not require modifying the title itself, thus leaving the title's signatures valid.
Official Nintendo format for developers to install digital titles, later became the most popular format for installable homebrew and game backups owing to the relatively low marketshare of flashcards and emulators (and, for the former, strong impopularity) in favor of CFW.
Equivalent of the Wii's WAD (for digital titles only) and the DSi's TAD (again for digital titles only, and with basically no popular support due to the lack of any homebrew title installers supporting the format - not to be confused with an homonymous unofficial format nor with the files produced by the official export-DSiWare-to-SD feature)
===NCCHs (CXIs and CFAs, 3DS only)===
