Nero Burning offers a complete audio-editing and CD-burning solution, and even lets you design and print cover art for your new CDs. It all starts with the Nero Wave Editor, which offers non-destructive editing that lets you try many options and undo all changes. A range of audio-processing options gives you complete control over your audio files before you record them to disc. A real-time "audition" lets you select and hear effects in real time, as your sound file plays. Preset Manager lets you save your frequently-used settings. There are also features for sample format conversion, anti-aliasing filters, dithering, and noise shaping.

You can design your own CD graphics quickly and easily with Nero's updated Cover Designer, which helps you produce professional-looking layouts for your CD booklets and inserts. Cover Designer includes assorted graphic effects, customizable design templates, multi-/maxi-album support, and predefined paper stocks. The Nero MPEG-1 video encoder allows you to make VCD and SVCD discs from MPEG files, and convert AVI video to MPEG via a drag-and-drop interface. Your disc will then be ready to be burned as a Video CD, playable on your PC or in compatible DVD players.

You can also add onscreen menus to your Video CDs and Super Video CDs. These menus are like cover pages for your discs, making it easy to select tracks for playback. And Nero 5.5's audio plug-in interface makes it easy to create your own custom-written support files (DLLs) for the new formats of your choice. (Programming knowledge and extra third-party tools required.) If you're a programmer or software developer, you can now use Nero 5.5's embedded API to add Nero Burning's powerful CD-writing functions to your own applications.