Etcher (balenaEtcher) Overview
balenaEtcher (commonly called Etcher) is a free, open-source tool for Windows, macOS, and Linux that writes operating-system images to USB drives and SD cards safely and simply. It is widely used to flash Linux distributions, Raspberry Pi OS, and other images, and is known for a clean three-step interface — select image, select drive, flash — plus safeguards that help prevent accidentally overwriting your system drive and an automatic validation step that verifies the write. Its simplicity and cross-platform support make it a popular choice for makers and anyone preparing bootable media. The offline installer bundles everything Etcher (balenaEtcher) needs, so installation completes without a connection. It can flash multiple drives at once and verifies each write, which helps when preparing several identical USB sticks or SD cards. This page points to the genuine Etcher (balenaEtcher) source from balena, not a third-party host.