Ashampoo Burning Studio is a disc-burning program for Windows that writes data, music and video to CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs. Alongside burning, it copies discs, rips audio CDs, builds video discs with menus, handles ISO and other disc images, and designs printed covers. It is a paid application with a trial period, and Ashampoo also offers a separate, more limited Burning Studio Free.
Data discs and copying
The basic data project collects files and folders and writes them to a CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc. The program can compress data so more fits on a disc. It can also protect data with a password so the contents cannot be opened without it. Rewritable media can be erased and reused.
Burning Studio also copies whole CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Intermediate buffering adds more flexibility when putting a project together.
Scheduled disc backups
Backup plans turn disc archiving into a routine. Predefined backup plans guide the process, and Ashampoo Burning Studio reminds the user when the next backup is due. Archives can be compressed and password-protected. When a backup is larger than a single disc, disc spanning splits it across several discs automatically.
Restoring an archive takes one click. The user can update an existing archive rather than recreate it from scratch.
Scratch protection
For data that has to survive on aging media, scratch protection writes several copies of the data across different areas of the disc surface. If part of the disc is later damaged, an emergency recovery tool reads the surviving copies to get the files back.
Ripping audio CDs
The ripping module extracts tracks from music CDs to audio files. It looks up the disc in an online CD database to identify artist, title and genre, fetches cover art, and uses that metadata to name the output files. Formats include MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC and WAV, with WAV available at sample rates up to 48 kHz. An option ejects the disc after each rip, which helps when working through a stack of CDs.
Music discs and car stereos
The program can burn ripped or existing audio files back to disc as audio CDs or compressed music discs. The latter hold many hours of songs. Before burning, Ashampoo Burning Studio can apply an equalizer, adjust volume and normalize tracks so loudness stays even across songs from different sources.
For in-car listening, the program includes more than 1,800 presets and profiles for common car radios. Choosing the matching profile keeps the track order and file layout in a form the stereo can play. The program also supports multi-disc CD changer emulators.
Audiobooks and podcasts
The program detects multi-part audiobooks even when their tags are incomplete or contradict each other. It groups the parts into chapters in the correct order. The user can set the length of split audio files, which matters for players that navigate by track.
Movies, slideshows and menus
The video side of Burning Studio combines photos and video clips with background music into a movie. Transitions and how long each image stays on screen can be set by hand or left to automatic settings. Photo collections can be turned into slideshows the same way.
Finished projects can be burned to disc with animated menus for navigation on a player. The program converts footage into formats that standard players accept, and supports MPEG-4, H.265 (HEVC) and AAC, with a built-in H.265 decoder for playback.
Disc image formats
Ashampoo Burning Studio creates, copies, browses and burns disc images in ISO, CUE/BIN and Ashampoo’s own ASHDISC format. A built-in preview shows an image’s contents before burning. This lets the user confirm the right files without burning a test disc.
Covers and inlays
The cover designer builds booklets, inlays and labels step by step, starting from a choice of images. An import function reads a disc, downloads its metadata from the internet and can generate the track list automatically. A cover search finds matching artwork.
Modules and skins
Each kind of job, from data and backups to audio, video, images and covers, has its own module. The interface has light and dark skins and can follow the Windows theme. A best-of function lets the user switch quickly between sources while assembling a project.
Disc menus and covers beyond the free version
Burning Studio Free covers the essentials: data discs, erasing and copying, and ISO, CUE/BIN and ASHDISC images. It also includes audio CD ripping with track recognition, audio and MP3/WMA discs with normalization, and video burning from prepared folders. It requires a one-time registration. The paid Ashampoo Burning Studio adds video discs with animated menus, the cover designer, slideshows, encryption and scratch protection, along with the movie tools described above.
