Theres support for CD, DVD and Blu-ray burning, and it can be used to create everything from a standard data disc, audio CDs, video DVDs and Blu-rays, disc images, bootable discs, and spanned backups.

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You would be forgiven for thinking that optical storage was all but dead by now, but in spite of these expectations and competition from USB drives, cloud storage and so on recordable CDs and DVDs live on.

For basic, day-to-day needs, Windows includes support for disc burning, but if you want to anything more advanced than simply copying files from your hard drive to a DVD, youre going to need something a little more powerful.

Theres no shortage of DVD burning software, but tools from the likes of Nero and Roxio can be too expensive for some people.

As ever, there are plenty of free options to choose from, but you need to know that youre getting the right tool for the job.

Thats why weve gathered the five best completely free DVD burners for you to try.

You should find that they are just as capable as their paid-for rivals, covering everything from basic disc burning to impressive video DVD creation.

The best DVD burner right now is: WinX Burner Master If you need to burn multiple DVDs, and you need to do it quickly, WinX Burner Master is the best tool for the job.

Unlike the tools below it isnt free, but its optimized to make the most of 64-bit CPUs and automatically detects your hardware to choose the most appropriate settings for fast performance.

Image credit: Shutterstock; Ashampoo) 1.

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Ashampoo Burning Studio Free Burning and copying made as straightforward as possible Operating system: Windows Visit site Clean, simple interface Presets for different data types Burns to DVDs, Blu-rays and CDs Requires free registration German company Ashampoo has a huge selection of software to its name, and its all very impressive.

Despite the number of options available, the focus here is on keeping things as simple as possible and the interface is approachable and easy to get to grips with.

While all of the basics are covered, its the neat, guided file backup options that help make this free utility stand out from the competition.

Although the software is free, you will need to hand over your email address to obtain a license key, and you will notice references to other Ashampoo software.

This is a small sacrifice for an excellent free DVD burner that will serve you well for years to come.

Read our full Ashampoo Burning Studio Free review (Image credit: Shutterstock; DIgiarty Software) 2.

WinX DVD Author Create video DVDs with custom menus and optional subtitles Operating system: Windows Visit site Can make custom menus Burns YouTube videos Fast performance Only for video discs WinX DVD Author is designed specifically for creating video DVDs.

There are some tools for burning data files to disc, but if youre looking for audio CD creation, youre going to have to look elsewhere.

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WinX DVD Author has everything you need for working with video, including a tool to download videos from YouTube.

You can convert video files in to VOBs ready for burning to disc, or collect together a number of VOBs to create a DVD complete with menus.

Theres also a DVD authoring component for basic video editing tasks like trimming.

You can add subtitles, and theres support for NTSC and PAL, as well as numerous aspect ratio options.

Performance is fast, and output quality is high exactly what you need.

Image credit: Shutterstock; BurnAware) 3.

BurnAware Free Clean and easy to use, whatever you need to burn Operating system: Windows Visit site Clutter-free design Presets for different data types Burns to DVDs, Blu-rays and CDs Installer contains extra software BurnAware Free might look simple, but theres more to it than meets the eye.

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