The primary file system for Apple Macintosh computers is HFS

Hierarchical File System

Hierarchical File System is a file system developed by Apple Inc. for use in computer systems running Mac OS. Originally designed for use on floppy and hard disks, it can also be found on read-only media such as CD-ROMs...

 (or HFS+).

The HFS file system has more properties than FAT

File Allocation Table

File Allocation Table is a computer file system architecture now widely used on many computer systems and most memory cards, such as those used with digital cameras. FAT file systems are commonly found on floppy disks, flash memory cards, digital cameras, and many other portable devices because of...

 file systems (which are primarily used on Windows 95 and 98 operating systems). Some of the metadata properties include:

• Date of last backup
• File type
• Creator code
• Flags and data for display
• Reference to a resource fork
  Resource fork
  The resource fork is a construct of the Mac OS operating system used to store structured data in a file, alongside unstructured data stored within the data fork. A resource fork stores information in a specific form, such as icons, the shapes of windows, definitions of menus and their contents, and...
  
  

In order to allow non-Macintosh systems to access Macintosh files on CD-ROMs, Apple chose to use an extension of the standard ISO 9660 format. Most of the data, other than the Apple specific metadata, remains visible to operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

s that are able to read ISO 9660.

External links

• Apple's Technote FL36 specifying the Apple Extensions to the ISO 9660 format