With the development of digital media, DVD-RW becomes one of the most popular tools to create and store your own videos or even other media files. For everyone's need, DVD-RW can also help record television shows, either as permanent keepsakes or temporary files. You can also convert your old home movies into digital video and then store them for centuries. Before jumping into the process of rewriting data onto a new disc, one thing you should make sure is that the DVD-RW is formatted. We have introduced how to format DVD-RW on a Mac previously, and as for Windows 7, luckily, Windows 7 allows you to do this without the need to install a third-party utility. Here we are going to introduce you simple steps to solve your problem that how to format DVD-RW in Windows 7.

Part 1: How to format a DVD in Windows 7

Just 5 easy steps to format DVD-RW in windows 7!

Step 1. Insert the DVD-RW disc into a DVD burner drive. Make sure that your drive has the ability to write DVD-RWs, otherwise, you won't be able to format, reformat, or write new data the disc.

Step 2. Format the existing data. If the DVD-RW has data on it, you may first need to erase what's there. Click "Start"->"Computer".

then right click on the DVD-RW icon. In the toolbar, click "Erase this disc" and follow the instructions.

Step 3. Access the "Burn files to disc" window. This appears when you either insert a blank disc or double-click the blank disc in the computer window. If no window appears automatically after erasing the disc contents, eject and re-insert the now blank disc into your drive to prompt this window to appear.

Step 4.Select the format you want to use. You have two options when it comes to formatting a DVD-RW in Windows: "Like a USB flash drive" (a.k.a. Live File System) or "With a CD/DVD player" (a.k.a. Mastered). What you choose depends on how you intend to use the disc.

Optional: You'll be prompted to enter a name which is the discs title for the disc. This name will appear when the disc is inserted and allow you to recognize it. Give it a name that describes its intended contents if possible.

● Live File System is appropriate if you want to be able to add and remove files from the disc at any time. The disc will act similarly to a USB drive and files will be burned to the disc as soon as they are added.
Note: Live File System discs created in this manner are only compatible with Windows.
● Mastered is appropriate if you'd like the disc to function more like a closed system. All of the files are burned at once after you're finished adding them and no more files can be added without a full erase when using this format.
Note: Mastered tends to be better for burning lots of files. In addition, Mastered discs will be compatible with other operating systems.

Step 5.Finish the formatting process. Once you've selected your formatting method, the drive will prepare the disc. This may take a few moments. After it's finished, you'll be able to start adding files to the disc.

Part 2: How to burn movies to DVD in Windows 7

The most exciting part about DVD-RW is that we can burn our favorite movies and store it permanently. Speaking of movies, there are numerous groups of people would choose to burn movies to DVD in a way without any quality-loss and even in a faster speed. Therefore, we will show you how to burn movies to DVD in Windows 7 in the best way!

First of all, simply download and install the Leawo DVD Creator, and follow 4 steps below:

dvd-creator

DVD Creator 

☉ Convert videos like MP4, AVI, MKV to DVD format fast.

☉ Create DVD-5, DVD-9 disc, folder or ISO image without quality loss.

☉ 1-click operation to create photo slideshows and burn to DVD.

☉ Easily editable effects, 2D to 3D conversion support.

☉ Built-in menu templates and edit disc menu with personal preferences.

Step 1. Add videos to DVD creator.

You can import videos to the DVD creating software in three ways:

a. Click the "Add Video" button to load videos and images.
b. Click the invert triangle buttons next to the "Add Video" button. You could then select to import photo folder, video folder or ISO files for burning to DVD.
c. Directly drag and drop files to the program.

Leawo-DVD-creator

After loading source video files, you could select subtitles and audio tracks from source videos, play back videos, etc. Set the output DVD disc type (DVD-5 or DVD-9), quality and aspect ratio (16:9 or 4:3) at the bottom.

Step 2. Set disc menu (optional)

If you want to add disc menu to output DVD movie, you could choose from the right sidebar. Leawo DVD Creator offers you multiple preset disc menu templates in different themes like Standard, Business, Education, Childhood, Holiday, etc. Also, it allows you to DIY disc menu with your own images and audios. You could get instant preview of the menu you've selected. If you want no menu, just select "No Menu" option on the right sidebar after you load source videos.

Leawo-DVD-creator

Step 3. DVD burning settings.

After setting disc menu, click the big green "Burn" button to call out the burning settings panel, on which you need to figure out Burn to, Disc Label, and Save to options.

Leawo-DVD-creator

Step 4 Burn video to DVD.

After the burning settings, click the "Burn" button on the popup burning settings panel to start burning videos to DVD. This DVD Creator would immediately start its work and finish it in a few minutes.

Leawo-DVD-creator

Conclusion

After addressing the question of how to format DVD-RW in Windows 7, more and more movie fans will be keen on better burning result in a fast speed. Thus we come to the Leawo DVD Creator. As a top-of-the-class DVD burner software app, it supports more than 180 formats. The video to 3D DVD creation function enables you to enjoy stereo DVD video. Abundant DVD menu templates and menu design features helps you get customized DVD discs. The best part? Of course, the Leawo DVD Creator can preserve the quality of the original video while burning the video to DVD and ensures that the DVD playback would look just as good as the original video.