Can I burn discs offline, without an account?

You can. Burn by Zaweba is free software for Windows that works entirely offline and needs no account. There's nothing to sign in to, and its disc burning, backups, audio CDs and image tools all work with no internet connection at all.

That's how disc software used to be, and for something that handles your own files and backups it's still the most sensible way.

Why offline suits disc work

Burning a disc is a job between your PC and your drive. There's no reason for it to depend on a server, a login or a connection. An offline program works in a house with poor broadband, on a laptop on a train, and on an old PC kept away from the internet on purpose. It also keeps working years from now, without relying on a service that may change or close.

Privacy is the other half. Backups often hold the most personal files on a computer. With Burn, they go from your folders to your discs and nowhere else.

It also means there is nothing to renew or keep logged in. A program you only open a few times a year, when it is time for a backup or a CD for the car, should simply open and work. With no account there is no password to remember, no email to confirm and no screen asking you to sign in before you can do anything.

Everything that works offline

All of Burn's main jobs run on your own PC. The Backup Assistant plans multi-disc backups, burns them, and checks every file against a SHA-256 fingerprint. Restore brings files back from the discs on any PC. Data discs take any files and folders. Audio CDs are made from MP3, FLAC and other formats, decoded by Burn's own built-in FFmpeg, with CD-Text titles you type or take from the files. Save audio CD as files reads your own CDs to FLAC, MP3 or WAV, naming tracks from CD-Text or names you type rather than looking them up online.

Burn uses Windows' own burning and mounting, so no extra drivers are installed. Many tasks don't even need a disc drive: making ISO images from folders, converting and mounting images, and planning backups all work on any PC.

The one part that reaches out, and only when asked

The Zaweba menu has links to zaweba.com, and Help has Report a problem and Send feedback. These are things you choose to do. When you send a report or feedback, Burn shows you the details first with personal information removed, such as user names in paths, email addresses, IP addresses and machine names. If you never use them, nothing leaves your PC.

That approach suits the kind of files a disc program handles, and it means you decide exactly what, if anything, is ever sent.

Free with no strings

Burn by Zaweba is free software under its EULA. There's no trial period and no account to create before you can burn. Install it, choose whether to add the Explorer right-click commands, and it's ready.

Burn is for your own discs, data and music, and never works around copy protection. Within that, it's a complete disc suite you can run with the network cable unplugged.