.mds

Extension: Media Descriptor Sidecar File

The .mds file, or Media Descriptor Sidecar file, isn’t a file you’ll directly interact with in the same way you would a document or image. Instead, it acts as a crucial companion file to a .bin file, which is a binary disc image. Think of it as a detailed instruction manual for the .bin file. The .mds file contains essential metadata about the disc image, such as the disc’s name, size, and track information. This metadata is vital for software that reads and writes disc images, ensuring accurate burning and playback. Without the corresponding .mds file, the .bin file might be unreadable or unusable by disc imaging software. While the creator of the .mds format isn’t publicly documented, its functionality is widely recognized and utilized in various disc imaging applications.

To open an .mds file, you don’t actually “open” it in the traditional sense. Instead, you need a disc imaging program that recognizes and uses the .mds file in conjunction with its associated .bin file. Popular programs such as Alcohol 120%, Daemon Tools, and PowerISO can handle both .mds and .bin files. These programs will use the information within the .mds file to mount the .bin file as a virtual drive, allowing you to access the contents of the disc image as if it were a physical disc. Therefore, successfully accessing the data within a disc image requires both files to be present in the same directory. Remember, deleting the .mds file will likely render the .bin file unusable.