How to burn a CD on Windows 11 and 10

Where is Windows Media Player Legacy on Windows 11 and 10?

Windows Media Player Legacy, the Windows app that burns audio CDs, opens from the Start menu: select Start and type its name. Windows has two apps with “Media Player” in the name, and the one that burns CDs is the older one. Microsoft’s own instructions for burning a CD are written for it. The newer app called just “Media Player” is the one Microsoft points people to for modern video; for burning, open the one with Legacy in its name.

• Windows 11: select Start and type Windows Media Player Legacy. Microsoft offers it as an optional feature in some editions of Windows 11. If the search finds nothing, open Settings, search for Optional features, and add Windows Media Player Legacy from the list.
• Windows 10: it’s included in clean installs. Search Start for Windows Media Player. If it’s missing, it can be added as an optional feature the same way.
• “N” editions of Windows (sold mainly in Europe) leave out media features. Microsoft’s Media Feature Pack adds them back.

You also need a CD burner. Many newer laptops have no disc drive; an external USB burner plugs in and shows up in Windows Media Player like a built-in one.

How do you burn music to a CD on Windows 11 and 10?

To burn music to a CD on Windows 11 or 10, open Windows Media Player Legacy, choose Audio CD on the Burn tab, drag in your songs and select Start burn. The steps are the same on both versions, because both use the same app.

1. 01
   Open Windows Media Player Legacy

   Select Start, type Windows Media Player Legacy and open it. On Windows 10 it may be listed as Windows Media Player.
2. 02
   Select the Burn tab

   In the Player Library, select the Burn tab in the top-right corner.
3. 03
   Choose Audio CD

   Select the Burn options button and choose Audio CD. Data CD or DVD makes a disc of files that most car stereos can't play.
4. 04
   Insert a blank CD-R

   Put a blank CD-R in the drive. If your PC has more than one CD or DVD drive, select the one you want to use.
5. 05
   Drag songs into the burn list

   Find the songs in your Player Library and drag them to the list pane on the right, in the order you want them on the disc. Keep the total under 80 minutes.
6. 06
   Select Start burn

   When the list is finished, select Start burn and wait for the disc to finish. Test it in a real CD player before labelling it with a felt-tip marker.

Microsoft lists an audio CD’s capacity as up to 80 minutes. Check the total before you burn, or paste your list into our playlist length calculator. Our page on how many songs fit on a CD explains why that comes out at 18 to 22 songs for most playlists.

How do you get songs into the Windows Media Player library?

Windows Media Player fills its library from your Music folder, and it can only burn songs that are in that library and saved on the PC. If songs are saved somewhere else, such as a Downloads folder or an external drive, either move them into Music or add that folder: select Organize > Manage libraries > Music and choose Add.

Songs bought as ordinary downloads (MP3, AAC or FLAC from a download store) and songs ripped from your own CDs burn without trouble. Songs from Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music or Amazon Music Unlimited aren’t files you can burn. If that’s where your playlist lives, our guide to burning a Spotify playlist to CD lays out the options that work.

No burner on this PC, or the songs are stuck in a streaming app? Send us the playlist and we’ll burn it to a CD, test-play it, and post it.

Which burn options should you change for a music CD?

The burn settings worth changing for a music CD are burn speed, volume leveling and gapless burning. Find them under the Burn options button, in the More burn options entry:

What should you do after burning a CD?

After burning a CD, test it in a real CD player and label it with a soft felt-tip marker. Windows Media Player Legacy finishes (closes) an audio CD for you, so the disc is ready to play as soon as it ejects:

• Test it in a real CD player, ideally the car or stereo it’s for. Skip to the last track, where burn problems show up first.
• Label it with a soft felt-tip marker, not a ballpoint pen, and skip stick-on labels if it’s going in a car. Put the artwork on the case instead.

On Windows 10, the steps on this page still apply. Microsoft ended Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025, which means no more free updates from Windows Update, but the Burn tab works the same as it does on Windows 11.

Can File Explorer burn an audio CD?

File Explorer can’t burn an audio CD: dragging music files onto a blank disc in File Explorer makes a data disc. A data disc works like a USB stick: fine for moving files to another computer, but most car stereos and home CD players won’t play it. Microsoft notes that a data CD plays on PCs and only some CD and DVD players, depending on the file types.

For an audio CD, always go through the Burn tab in Windows Media Player Legacy with Audio CD selected. The difference between audio, MP3 and data discs, and between CD-R and CD-RW blanks, is in our CD-R vs CD-RW vs MP3 CD guide.

How do you fix CD burning errors on Windows?

The most common Windows CD burning errors are protected (DRM) songs that won’t burn, a disc drive Windows doesn’t recognize, and a missing Burn tab because the newer Media Player app is open.

For a drive that Windows won’t see at all, Microsoft’s support article on CD or DVD drives that aren’t recognized goes further: checking the drive is enabled in the BIOS, reinstalling the IDE/ATAPI controller drivers, and, as a last resort, a registry fix. Back up first before touching the registry.

More on burn speed, finalizing and labelling is in our main guide to how to burn a CD. On a Mac instead? Follow how to burn a CD on a Mac.