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Supported Consoles

The library covers 35 console and disc formats through a mix of standard file system parsers, fallback chains, signature scanning, and virtual exports.

Console reference table

Console ConsoleType File System Primary Parser Fallback Parser(s) File Tree Notes
3DO ThreeDo Opera FS ThreeDoParser ISO 9660 Yes Custom Opera FS; ISO fallback for some discs
Amiga CD AmigaCd ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660
Amiga CD32 AmigaCd32 ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660
Amiga CDTV AmigaCdtv ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660
Apple Bandai Pippin Pippin HFS / HFS+ HfsParser UDF, ISO 9660 Yes Macintosh Hierarchical FS; tries HFS first, then HFS+, UDF, ISO
CD-i CDi CD-i Green Book CDiFsParser ISO 9660 Yes Custom CD-i FS with interleaved data support
Dreamcast Dreamcast ISO 9660 + IP.BIN Iso9660Parser -- Yes Prefers track with SEGA SEGAKATANA boot signature
FM Towns FmTowns ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660
Generic ISO 9660 GenericIso9660 ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660 / High Sierra
Generic ISO Raw 2352 GenericIsoRaw2352 Raw sectors GenericIsoRawParser -- No Exposes entire image as image.iso, 2352-byte units
Generic ISO Raw 2048 GenericIsoRaw2048 Raw sectors GenericIsoRawParser -- No Exposes entire image as image.iso, 2048-byte units
NeoGeo CD NeoGeoCd ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660
Nuon Nuon UDF / ISO 9660 UdfParser ISO 9660 Yes VM Labs Nuon DVD; tries UDF first
PC Engine CD PcEngineCd Non-standard PcEngineCdParser ISO 9660, raw track Partial See PC Engine CD observations
PC-FX PcFx Non-standard PcFxIsoParser ISO 9660, raw track Partial See NEC PC-FX observations
PC-98 Pc98 ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660
Pico Pico ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660
PlayStation (Auto) PlayStation ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Auto-detect mode using ISO 9660
PlayStation 1 Ps1 ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660; CD-ROM XA aware
PlayStation 2 Ps2 ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660; CD-ROM XA aware
PlayStation 3 Ps3 UDF / ISO 9660 UdfParser ISO 9660 Yes Blu-ray uses UDF; DVD fallback to ISO
PSP Psp ISO 9660 (UMD) Iso9660Parser -- Yes UMD discs use standard ISO 9660
Sega Genesis CD SegaGenesisCd ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660
Sega Saturn Saturn ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser -- Yes Standard ISO 9660
Sharp X68000 X68000 ISO 9660 / UDF Iso9660Parser UDF Yes Tries ISO 9660 first, falls back to UDF
Xbox Xbox XDVDFS XdvdfsParser -- Yes Xbox DVD File System
Xbox 360 Xbox360 XDVDFS XdvdfsParser -- Yes Xbox 360 DVD File System
CUE/BIN (2352) GenericCueBin2352 Virtual export -- -- Virtual Virtual CUE sheet + BIN with 2352-byte raw sectors
CUE/BIN (2048) GenericCueBin2048 Virtual export -- -- Virtual Virtual CUE sheet + BIN with 2048-byte cooked sectors
CUE/ISO (2352) GenericCueIso2352 Virtual export -- -- Virtual Virtual CUE sheet + ISO with 2352-byte sectors
CUE/ISO (2048) GenericCueIso2048 Virtual export -- -- Virtual Virtual CUE sheet + ISO with 2048-byte sectors
CUE/BIN/WAV (2352) GenericCueBinWav2352 Virtual export -- -- Virtual Virtual CUE + BIN data (2352) + separate WAV audio tracks
CUE/BIN/WAV (2048) GenericCueBinWav2048 Virtual export -- -- Virtual Virtual CUE + BIN data (2048) + separate WAV audio tracks
CUE/ISO/WAV (2352) GenericCueIsoWav2352 Virtual export -- -- Virtual Virtual CUE + ISO data (2352) + separate WAV audio tracks
CUE/ISO/WAV (2048) GenericCueIsoWav2048 Virtual export -- -- Virtual Virtual CUE + ISO data (2048) + separate WAV audio tracks

Parsing logic per console

Standard ISO 9660 parsers

These consoles use a straightforward Iso9660Parser on the first data track found:

Console Parser Chain
Amiga CD Iso9660Parser on first data track
Amiga CD32 Iso9660Parser on first data track
Amiga CDTV Iso9660Parser on first data track
FM Towns Iso9660Parser on first data track
Generic ISO 9660 Iso9660Parser on first data track
NeoGeo CD Iso9660Parser on first data track
PC-98 Iso9660Parser on first data track
Pico (Sega) Iso9660Parser on first data track
PlayStation (Auto) Iso9660Parser on first data track
PlayStation 1 Iso9660Parser on first data track
PlayStation 2 Iso9660Parser on first data track
PSP Iso9660Parser on first data track
Sega Genesis CD Iso9660Parser on first data track
Sega Saturn Iso9660Parser on first data track

Parsers with fallback chains

Console Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
PlayStation 3 UdfParser Iso9660Parser -- --
Nuon UdfParser Iso9660Parser -- --
Sharp X68000 Iso9660Parser UdfParser -- --
Apple Bandai Pippin HfsParser (HFS) HfsParser (HFS+) UdfParser Iso9660Parser
CD-i CDiFsParser (CD-i Green Book) Iso9660Parser -- --
3DO ThreeDoParser (Opera FS) Iso9660Parser -- --

Special parsers

Console Logic
Dreamcast Scans all data tracks for the SEGA SEGAKATANA IP.BIN boot signature. Parses the track containing the signature with Iso9660Parser, preferring tracks with IP.BIN over tracks without.
Xbox / Xbox 360 Uses XdvdfsParser (Xbox DVD File System) on the first data track.
Generic ISO Raw No parsing. Exposes the entire disc image as a single file named image.iso with raw passthrough.
Generic CUE/BIN/ISO/WAV No file system parsing. Builds a virtual CUE sheet and exposes virtual .cue, .bin/.iso, and .wav files for direct extraction.

Non-standard parsers (PC Engine CD, PC-FX)

These consoles do not use a standard file system — see the observations below for details.

Console Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
PC Engine CD Locate boot signature (PC Engine CD-ROM SYSTEM, GAMES EXPRESS CD CARD, or PC ENGINE) Attempt Iso9660Parser with adjusted data area start Expose raw data tracks as TRACKnn.iso files
PC-FX Attempt PcFxIsoParser (tolerant ISO 9660 with byte-offset VD scanning) per data track Attempt standard Iso9660Parser Expose raw data tracks as TRACKnn.iso files

System observations

PC Engine CD (TurboGrafx-CD)

The NEC PC Engine CD does not use a standard file system.

Most PC Engine CD / TurboGrafx-CD games store game data as raw binary streams directly across the data sectors of the disc. Instead of a file system with directories and named files, the game code uses the CD-ROM BIOS hardware to seek directly to specific Logical Block Addresses (LBA) and read sectors into RAM.

How this library handles it:

  1. Boot signature detection — the parser scans the data track for one of three known boot signatures:
    • PC Engine CD-ROM SYSTEM (standard CD-ROM system cards)
    • GAMES EXPRESS CD CARD (Games Express titles)
    • PC ENGINE (alternative identifier)
  2. Data area start detection — identifies where the actual data begins by:
    • checking for pregap metadata (PGTYPE:V in track metadata)
    • scanning for the first non-zero sector (up to 600 sectors)
    • testing multiple candidate offsets (track start, pregap-adjusted start, first non-zero sector)
  3. ISO 9660 attempt — if a boot signature is found, the parser attempts an ISO 9660 parse starting at the detected data area. Some CD-ROM System Card discs and later Super CD-ROM² titles do include a minimal ISO 9660 structure.
  4. Raw track fallback — if ISO 9660 parsing fails, each data track is exposed as a raw file named TRACKnn.iso, allowing direct sector-level access via ReadFile().

Practical implications:

  • Most PC Engine CD games will show as raw track files, not a browsable directory tree.
  • To extract specific game assets, you need game-specific tools or emulator debuggers to determine which LBAs contain which data.
  • Audio tracks (Red Book CDDA) are handled separately by the CD controller and are not part of the data file system.

NEC PC-FX

The NEC PC-FX uses a non-standard executable format, even when ISO 9660 is present on the disc.

The PC-FX features a V810 RISC 32-bit processor and uses CD-ROM media. While some PC-FX discs include ISO 9660 structures, the actual game executable and data bypass the file system entirely.

How this library handles it:

  1. Tolerant ISO 9660 parsing (PcFxIsoParser) — a specialized ISO 9660 parser that:
    • scans for Volume Descriptor signatures (CD001 or CDROM) at both standard byte offsets and arbitrary positions within raw sectors (handles dumps where CD sync headers were not fully stripped)
    • tests multiple candidate LBA offsets for the root directory (track start, LBA 150, LBA 0, and a scan of up to 512 sectors)
    • uses continue-on-error directory record parsing (skips invalid records instead of aborting), matching the behavior of C++ DiscImageCreator tools
  2. Standard ISO 9660 fallback — if the tolerant parser fails, a standard Iso9660Parser is tried.
  3. Raw track fallback — if neither ISO parser succeeds, data tracks are exposed as TRACKnn.iso files.

Practical implications:

  • Some PC-FX discs will parse with a full directory tree (those with standard ISO 9660 layout for supplementary content like movie previews or bitmap images).
  • The actual PC-FX game executable (V810 binary) is loaded directly by the PC-FX BIOS using raw LBA addressing, bypassing any file system.
  • Game assets are typically packed into proprietary archive structures with offset tables embedded in the main executable. Extracting individual assets requires game-specific unpacker tools.
  • Audio tracks are standard Red Book CDDA and handled by the CD controller directly.

Why these systems are different

Most other consoles in this library (PlayStation, Saturn, Dreamcast, Xbox, etc.) use a standard file system (ISO 9660, UDF, XDVDFS, etc.) that provides a hierarchical directory tree of named files. The PC Engine CD and PC-FX are exceptions where:

  • the boot code is a raw binary at a known sector offset, not a file in a directory;
  • game assets are addressed by direct sector number (LBA), not by file path;
  • custom archive formats are used when files are grouped together, requiring game-specific knowledge to unpack.

This is why tools like Aaru Data Preservation Suite list these formats under "identification and information only" — they can read the binary header and identify the disc, but cannot extract a traditional folder structure.

Display names and CLI aliases

ConsoleTypeRegistry.All is the authoritative list used by UIs and CLIs. Abbreviated reference:

Display name Aliases
3DO 3do
Amiga CD / CD32 / CDTV amigacd, amigacd32, amigacdtv
CD-i cdi
FM Towns fmtowns
Neo Geo CD neogeocd
Nuon nuon
PC Engine CD pcengine
PC-98 pc98
PC-FX pcfx
Pico / Pippin pico, pippin
PlayStation (Auto) psauto
PS1 / PS2 / PS3 / PSP ps1, ps2, ps3, psp
ISO RAW 2352 (PS3/Xbox/Generic) isoraw2352
ISO RAW 2048 isoraw2048
Sega Dreamcast / Genesis / Saturn segadreamcast, segagenesis, segasaturn
X68000 x68000
Xbox / Xbox 360 xbox, xbox360
ISO 9660 iso9660
CUE/ISO RAW 2352 / 2048 cueiso2352, cueiso2048
CUE/ISO/WAV RAW 2352 / 2048 cueisowav2352, cueisowav2048
CUE/BIN RAW 2352 / 2048 cuebin2352, cuebin2048
CUE/BIN/WAV RAW 2352 / 2048 cuebinwav2352, cuebinwav2048

Several display names map to the same ConsoleType (e.g. "PS3 ISO RAW 2352", "Xbox ISO RAW 2352" and "ISO RAW 2352" all resolve to GenericIsoRaw2352). Alias lookup always returns the canonical type.

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