Technical paper on a patented optical storage technology.

Lists all documents regarding the ECMA standards, including optical storage and data compression.

The standard FAQ for CD-R and CD-RW. Besides general questions and answers, its major sections cover encoding, media, hardware, software and common problems. Updated monthly.

This site explains the buffer underrun technology Burn-Proof, developed by Sanyo. Explains similair technologies developed by other companies, such as SeamLess Link, FlextraLink and SmartBurn.

Website that offers daily news and background information on CD-R and DVD related subjects, both software and hardware. Has hardware reviews and forum.

General information source with links and a few articles about the CD and DVD industry. Includes an extensive CD bibliography.

A guide to audio and data CD media technology. Includes a discussion of the influence of laser wavelength on track geometry, and also covers encoding (EFM, parity, subcode channels), capacity analysis and data structures.

News and many technology articles related to writable CDs. Includes a comprehensive list of CD-R dye types and manufacturers, and an extensive reference list of CD-writing software.

Has essential tools for CD/DVD drive and media quality control and a good explantion of CAV, CLV, Z-CLV and P-CAV technology.

Website that contains news and announcements of new products, reviews and articles.

Website that offers news and reviews on CD-R and DVD drives, mainly focused on hardware.

A series of pages with DVD specifications and history, including DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RAM and other standards. Also covers DVD manufacturing and mastering.

DVDA is a trade group promoting development of non-entertainment DVD applications. Their site includes conference information, news and directories of suppliers.

Article on DVD Audio that dispels many myths about the DVD-A multi-channel audio format.

This is the primary industry association for DVD. Site resources include technology briefs, conference schedules and news archives.

Has new on DVD related subjects. Provides articles, reports and guides on DVD recording, ripping, authoring and backup.

Covering the latest news on DVD writers and authoring.

Document that explains the differences between DVD-R authoring and General DVD media.

Dedicated to the DVD+RW recordable DVD format.

Website that offers articles and software about DVD recording.

Illustrated class lecture notes that cover manufacturing of stamped CDs and details of laser pickup tracking. This is equally relevant to data CDs.

Illustrated class lecture notes that cover frame-level data encoding (IEC908/Red Book) including interleaving, Eight-to-Fourteen Modulation (EFM), P and Q parity, subcode blocks, and uses of the p- and q-subcode channels.

Illustrated class lecture notes explain ISO/IEC 10149 (Yellow Book) data structures including sector layout and q-subcode extensions. These form the basis for all data CDs.

Archive of lots of questions and answers regarding CD-R and related technologies, both hardware and software.

This document gives basic information on the High Density (HD) format developed by Sanyo.

Explantion of the technology of CD-RW drives, contains interactive flash animations.

Detailed descriptions and animations explain the technology used in a compact disc.

An illustrated explanation of the technology behind DVD media and players. It includes some animations.

The official FAQ of the Internet DVD newsgroups. Its primary emphasis is on video, but there is a section on data DVDs that describes each format.

Page of notes describing the author's experience of transferring LPs to CDR over the last few years, with particular emphasis on the restoration of WAV files on hard disk.

This site provides a series of articles containing news, tutorials, and information related to recordable DVD. Covers both computer-based and TV-based DVD recorders.

Home of the industry group promoting CD-R and CD-RW. Their site includes a basic tutorial illustrated with many cartoons.

OSTA is an industry group promoting use of writable optical storage technology. This is the home of the Universal Disc Format (UDF) specification and other technology references.

The technology behind the recordable CD.

The source for obtaining many definitive CD specifications, including the Red Book (CD-DA), Yellow Book (CD-ROM), and Orange Book (CD-R/CD-RW).

Site describing technologies, possible problems and solutions

This article includes an extensive description of the physical structure and encoding of data on CDs. It covers the frame and block levels including EFM, interleaving and subcode channels.

This resource is intended to be parts of a primer on recordable Compact Disc formats.

Safety advice for CD ROM drives that develop small cracks.

Has information about offsets and the real size of CD-Rs.

An introduction to DVD-RAM technology. Includes brief comparison with DVD-R and DVD-RW.

Concise descriptions of the major recordable DVD standards: DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD+RW, plus links. There are also some news and product listings.

Contains information on how to make VideoCDs, SVCDs or DVDs that can be played on your standalone DVD Player from video sources like DVD, Video, TV, Cam or downloaded movie clips like DivX, MOV, RM, WMV and ASF. Has also a list of standalone DVD Players with compatibility information such as CD-R/W, DVD±R/W, VCD, SVCD, and MP3.

This article contrasts DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, and includes questions and answers.