What is Windows' Mastered Disc Format?

Question

In Windows 7 and Vista, it's possible to burn CD/DVDs using the "Mastered Disc Format".
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/using-vistas-mastered-optical-disc-format/539 tells us, "other OSs" could read them. Well, I don't use Windows and am wondering if my OS would read it (and why). So, what is this "Mastered Disc Format" and how does it relate to ISO and UDF? I couldn't find any such information on microsoft.com and Wikipedia.

Answer 1

Mastered Disc Format is another name for a regular (ISO 9660 or CDFS) disc.

If you don’t use Mastered Disc Format, you are using UDF. Most modern PCs and Macs can read UDF discs, but some devices (and especially some non-computer CD and DVD players) won’t recognize UDF.

With a traditional ISO 9660 disc, you write all the files and then “finalize” the disc, after which you cannot add to or modify the disc.

With UDF, you can add, delete and modify files and the disc does not need to be finalized. It works more like a flash drive and you don’t have to go through a special burning process.