Use DVDs, CDs, and HD-DVDs with Xbox 360

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Use CDs, DVDs, and HD-DVDs with Xbox 360

The Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system handles a range of optical media besides games, from DVD movies and audio CDs to recordable media (CD or DVD) filled with compressed-audio files (MP3 and/or WMA) and image files (JPEG). It even plays mixed-media discs containing a selection of all three of these digital media formats.

• Play DVD Movies and Audio CDs
• Play HD-DVD Movies
• Play Recordable CDs Containing MP3 and/or WMA Audio Files
• Play Recordable CDs Containing JPEG Image Files
• Play Mixed-Media CDs Containing Audio and Image Files
• Rip Music from an Audio CD

Play DVD Movies and Audio CDs

To play DVD movies and audio CDs:

1. Press the eject button on the Xbox 360 console (or select Open Tray from any area of the Xbox Dashboard) to open the disc tray.
2. Place a DVD movie or audio CD on the disc tray with the label facing up (to the right if the console is vertical).
3. Press the eject button (or select Close Tray from any area of the Xbox Dashboard) to close the disc tray. The DVD movie or audio CD will begin playing.

Play HD-DVD Movies

To play HD-DVD movies, you must connect an Xbox 360 HD DVD Player to your console.

To play HD-DVD movies:

1. Press the eject button on the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player (or select Open HD DVD Tray from the lower portion of the disc tray in any area of the Xbox Dashboard) to open the disc tray.
2. Place an HD-DVD movie on the HD DVD player disc tray with the label facing up (to the right if the player is vertical).
3. Press the eject button (or select Close HD DVD Tray from the lower portion of the disc tray in any area of the Xbox Dashboard) to close the disc tray. The HD-DVD movie will begin playing.

Play Recordable CDs Containing MP3 and/or WMA Audio Files

To play recordable CDs or DVDs containing MP3 and/or WMA audio files:

1. Press the eject button on the Xbox 360 console (or select Open Tray from any area of the Xbox Dashboard) to open the disc tray.
2. Place a data CD-R or CD-RW containing MP3 and/or WMA media on the disc tray with the label facing up (to the right if the console is vertical).
3. Press the eject button (or select Close Tray from any area of the Xbox Dashboard) to close the disc tray.
4. Go to the Media area of the Xbox Dashboard. Select Music, Current Disc.
5. To play all tracks on the CD, select either Play All or Add to Current Playlist.
   
   If you have an existing playlist open, Add to Current Playlist will append all tracks on your current CD to that playlist. Selecting Play All will clear a current playlist and create a new one consisting of all the files on the current CD. (Be sure to save your playlist, if desired, prior to selecting the Play All option.) Files are added to a playlist in alphabetical order by file name. Playlists start again from the beginning once the final track has played.
   
   To create and save a playlist of specific audio tracks in a specific order—including audio files from multiple sources—see Listen to Music.

Play Recordable CDs Containing JPEG Image Files

To play recordable CDs containing JPEG image files:

1. Press the eject button on the Xbox 360 console (or select Open Tray from any area of the Xbox Dashboard) to open the disc tray.
2. Place a data CD-R or CD-RW containing JPEG image files on the disc tray with the label facing up (to the right if the console is vertical).
3. Press the eject button (or select Close Tray from any area of the Xbox Dashboard) to close the disc tray.
4. Go to the Media area of the Xbox Dashboard. Select Pictures, Current Disc.
5. Pictures are shown alphabetically by file name. To watch a slideshow composed of all JPEG image files on the CD, select Play Slideshow. To view a specific picture, use the controller's left stick (LS) to highlight the picture you want to see and then press A.
   
   While viewing a slideshow or a single image, use any movement of the left stick to call a toolbar with the following controls:
   • Pause (enabled only during a slideshow)
   • Skip back one picture (enabled only from the second picture to the last picture in a slideshow or on a disc)
   • Stop (enabled only during a slideshow)
   • Skip forward one picture
   • Shuffle pictures (enabled only during a slideshow)
   • Repeat slideshow (enabled only during a slideshow)
   • Rotate image clockwise
   • Rotate image counter-clockwise

Play Mixed-Media CDs Containing Audio and Image Files

To view a slideshow and listen to music from files contained on a single mixed-media CD:

1. Press the eject button on the Xbox 360 console (or select Open Tray from any area of the Xbox Dashboard) to open the disc tray.
2. Place a data CD-R or CD-RW containing a mix of JPEG and MP3 and/or WMA media on the disc tray with the label facing up (to the right if the console is vertical).
3. Press the eject button (or select Close Tray from any area of the Xbox Dashboard) to close the disc tray.
4. Perform steps 4 and 5 of Play Recordable CDs Containing MP3 and/or WMA Audio Files.
5. Once your music is playing, press B or the BACK button twice to return to the Media area.
6. Perform steps 4 and 5 of Play Recordable CDs Containing JPEG Image Files to launch your slideshow, then sit back to enjoy your custom blend of music and pictures. You might wish to set the slideshow to repeat indefinitely (as described in step 5) if your music program is longer than your slideshow.

Rip Music from an Audio CD

The process of converting tracks from an audio CD to a low-bitrate audio format and storing them as individual files is known as "ripping." The Xbox 360 console rips audio tracks to the WMA (Microsoft Windows Media Audio) format at 192 kbps. Ripping an audio CD with Xbox 360 requires an Xbox 360 Hard Drive.

Please note that existing MP3 and WMA audio files cannot be ripped or otherwise copied to an Xbox 360 Hard Drive, though you can listen to such files from recordable CDs or DVDs or from a connected storage device. For more information, see Use a Portable Audio Player with Xbox 360.

To rip music from a CD to an Xbox 360 Hard Drive:

1. Turn on your Xbox 360 console with no disc in the tray.
2. Load an audio CD. The Xbox 360 music player will launch and CD playback will begin.
3. Select Rip CD to view the Rip CD screen. By default, all the tracks on the CD will be selected. If you do not want to copy all the tracks, manually de-select the tracks that you do not want to rip.
   
   
4. When you're ready to generate your audio files, select Rip CD again to begin ripping.

   Note

   You cannot listen to music while the console is ripping a CD.

   
   

The Xbox 360 console comes preloaded with a database of artist and track information for thousands of commercial CDs. If your console is connected to Xbox Live, the system will look online for album info if it does not find it locally.

If the system cannot recognize your CD, the console will show you the Edit Album Info screen prior to ripping your disc. Use this screen and your controller to supply details like Album Name, Artist Name, and Genre.

To proceed with ripping without entering album information, select Save Changes from the Edit Album Info screen. To cancel a rip in progress, press Back (B) at the Ripping CD screen.

You can also enter track titles while a CD is ripping.

To edit track titles while ripping a CD:

1. From the Ripping CD screen, select the track title you want to enter.
2. From the Edit Song Info screen, enter the details for Song Name, Artist Name, and Genre. (If you entered artist name and genre at the Edit Album Info screen, these fields will be prefilled, but you can also edit them on a song-by-song basis here.)

Further, you can choose to rip an unknown CD now (its title will be "Unknown Album <date/time>") and update its album information later.

To edit album information after a disc has been ripped:

1. From the Media area of the Xbox Dashboard, select Music, Hard Drive.
2. Under Albums, select the album with the information you want to update.
3. Select Edit Album Info, then use your controller to supply Album Name, Artist Name, and Genre. Album names can be up to 39 characters long. When finished, select Save Changes.
   
   To edit individual song titles, repeat Steps 1 and 2, then select the track title you wish to change. From the screen for that track, select Edit Song Info to edit the Song Name, Artist Name, or Genre, then select Save Changes.
   
   Like album names, track names can be up to 39 characters long.

For More Info

If you have trouble playing certain discs, see Troubleshoot Digital Media with Xbox 360.

To restrict DVD movie viewing based on movie ratings, see Movie Ratings for Xbox 360.