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CD Recording FAQ
6. Creating custom DataCDs
6.3. ISO 9660 compliance
According to the ISO 9660 standard, there are certain restrictions regarding the structure of a data cd. These restrictions have to do with the length of file names (8+3 characters), and the depth of directories (up to 8 levels).
ISO 9660 compliance is a necessity, since it ensures that the final cd will be read under various platforms and provides some level of compatibility, despite it being so restrictive.
The next step was Joliet, which brought a new level of user friendliness by providing support for long filenames. However, Joliet is a Windows 95 format, and may be not understood by other platforms.
You can write a cd which is both ISO 9660 and Joliet (or other file system) compliant. In this way, two volume descriptors are written on the cd, one for ISO 9660 and one for the other file system. Under Windows, the Joliet file system is used, so you can enjoy long filenames, while under other platforms ISO 9660 ensures readability.
There are occasions you may be tempted to reject ISO compliance, for example when writing a cd with too many nested directories. However, it is better to try to design your data cd layout in such a way that ISO 9660 compliance is not lost.
ISO 9660 can be thought of as the least denominator concerning cd file
systems. Even if other file systems are present, it provides a descriptor
which can be easily recognized by the vast majority of platforms.