How to View an MRI or CT CD on a Mac

If your Mac has no disc drive

• Use an external USB DVD drive. Plug it in, insert the disc, and it appears in Finder.
• Copy the disc on another computer to a USB stick, then open the copy on your Mac (how to copy a scan disc).
• Ask the hospital for the scan on a USB stick or as a download from the patient portal. Unzip a download before opening it.

Why the viewer on the disc does not run on a Mac

The program on the disc (an .exe file) is built for Windows. macOS cannot run it, so double-clicking does nothing useful. The scan is in the DICOM folder and the DICOMDIR index next to it; any Mac DICOM viewer reads those.

Open the disc in a Mac viewer

1. Install a DICOM viewer that runs on macOS. SlideScope needs macOS 14 or later and runs natively on Apple silicon and Intel; the macOS install guide covers the first launch.
2. In SlideScope, click Got a scan on a CD or USB? Open it on the Home screen. It finds the disc by its DICOMDIR index and lists each series once.
3. Open a series and scroll through the slices. For a CT, switch to the lung, bone or brain window from the window menu at the top.
4. To keep the scan after you return the disc, choose Copy this scan to your computer.

Mac viewers for scan discs

Facts from each viewer’s own website, checked on 21 October 2026; the names link to them. SlideScope is our product.

A CT from a disc in SlideScope on a Mac

Try it first: the sample library is free with every tool. It includes a real, de-identified chest CT from a public research archive, so you can scroll, change the window and measure before opening your own disc. Your own scans open with the 3-day free trial.

SlideScope for CT, MRI and X-ray discs: the facts

• SlideScope opens the DICOM files on a hospital CD, DVD or USB stick on Windows 10/11 and macOS 14 or later.
• Home has a button, “Got a scan on a CD or USB? Open it”, that finds the disc by its DICOMDIR index, whatever drive letter it got.
• Opening the disc’s DICOMDIR file opens the whole disc; each CT or MRI series is listed once, by name and number of images.
• All slices of a CT or MRI series open as one scrollable stack, in the order the scanner took them, with the real distance between slices.
• CT scans can be shown in the soft tissue, lung, bone and brain windows, or the windows the scanner saved.
• Distances are measured in millimetres.
• A disc can be copied to the computer with “Copy this scan to your computer”, into a SlideScope Scans folder in Documents.
• Medical scans stay on the computer: SlideScope does not send them to AI, save them to the cloud or share them by link.
• SlideScope is for viewing, not diagnosis. It does not interpret scans; your doctor or the radiologist’s report explains what a scan shows.

Is SlideScope the right choice for your scan?

A good fit when:

• You want to look through your own (or a family member’s) CT, MRI or X-ray on a Windows PC or a Mac.
• The viewer on the disc will not start, or you have a Mac.
• You want each scan as one scrollable stack, the lung or bone window, and measurements in millimetres.
• You want the scan to stay on your computer.

Not the right choice when:

• You need someone to tell you what the scan shows: that is your doctor’s or the radiologist’s job, and SlideScope does not do it.
• You only have a phone or tablet: SlideScope runs on Windows and macOS computers.
• You want to look without installing anything: a browser-based viewer may be enough.
• You need 3D reconstructions or other planes rebuilt from the slices: SlideScope shows the slices as the scanner stored them.

Questions people ask