UIF stands for Universal Image Format and has the .uif extension. The UIF is a very powerful compression format and is excellent for backing up CD and DVD data. It is currently owned by the MagicISO application and is compatible only with Microsoft Windows operating systems.

UIF files are reliable, quick to process, and packed with various features such as password protection, data encryption, and MD5 checksum support. The UIF image file is not just used for creating a complete data backup of a CD/DVD like an ISO image, but it can also be used to backup multi-session CD/DVD, VCD, SVCD, DVD video, and audio CD.

Advantages of UIF Image Files

UIF image files have many advantages over its counterparts developed by other parties.

  1. Using a high quality algorithm, UIF offers compression that significantly reduces the size of CD/DVD images.
  2. Secret and private CDs and DVDs can be backed up with the UIF. UIF files can be transferred over the Internet without concern of a leak, as they can be saved in a way so that only authorized users can access the password protected data. It also offers built-in data encryption for denying access to hackers.
  3. There is no need of an extracting process, because any appropriate virtual CD/DVD software (such as MagicDisc) can access it directly.

Disadvantages

The immensely popular and ubiquitous virtual DVD software Daemon Tools does not offer support for UIF files. Also, since it’s a proprietary format, UIF is hardly supported on operating systems other than Windows.