Compact disc

Compact Disc (often referred to as CD) is an optical storage media format widely used in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The format was developed by Sony and Philips and employed an optical disc containing hardware-readable digital data.

A standard Compact Disc is a 12 cm (4.72 in) size disc which can store up to 800 MB of data. The Optical Studies and Recording Committee (OSRC) of Philips has conducted extensive research and development into the characteristics of the Compact Disc. A range of different CD formats (such as mini-CDs, ultra-CDs and DualDiscs) also exist.

Compact Disc was initially intended to store audio recordings, however the format quickly became popular for a range of digital storage purposes such as videos (movies, music videos and other audio-visual material), software, operating systems, and digital images. In fact, the Compact Disc has been commercially successful in more than 200 countries and has become the world’s most successful optical disc format.

The Compact Disc format is also popular for digital audio recording, primarily as a means of preserving audio recordings for archival or commercial purposes. However, this format is also used for other purposes such as streaming audio from the Internet or storing digital audio from a radio or television broadcast.

Compact Discs draw power from the computer’s system bus, allowing them to play without the need for an external power source. This means that they can serve as ideal mobile storage devices for laptops, tablets, and other portable computing devices.

Compact Discs are read-only optical discs, meaning that once data has been written onto them, it cannot be removed or modified. This makes them important for digital archival. They are durable and can withstand years of use and abuse.

The Compact Disc can be used with a wide variety of optical disc drives (ODDs), including CD-ROM and CD-RW drives. It is also compatible with other computer systems, such as home media players, smart TVs, and consumer electronics. Furthermore, the format is widely supported by many software titles.

The introduction and subsequent success of the CD format has played an important role in the development of the modern computing paradigm and is often celebrated as a great technological achievement. Compact Discs still remain widely used despite the rise in digital downloads, particularly in professional and archival applications.