optical discs
Shiny data platters
Optical discs are flat, circular storage media read by laser light rather than magnetic heads.
CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs are all optical discs.
Data is encoded in microscopic pits on a reflective surface; the laser reads these patterns.
The technology emerged in the 1980s and dominated music, video, and software distribution until streaming and flash storage largely displaced it.
- CD-ROMOptical storage medium
- discFlat circular object
- compact discOptical data storage medium
- DVDOptical media format
- laserdiscAnalog-era optical video format
data · polycarbonate · scratch resistant · jewel case · Blu-ray · media · spinning disc · laser beam · read-only · videodisc · error correction · track · pit · burn · CD · storage · movie · movie night
- Media Preservationfilm restoration, digitization, digital archiving, film preservation, archiving
- data storagehard drive, hard drives, backup, gigabyte, flash drives
- recording mediafilm, tape, vinyl, magnetic tape, videotape
- digital mediawebsites, films, ebook, content creation, movies
- density conceptscompactness, compression, concentration, crowding, packed
- ROMROM, PROM, EPROM, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM
optical discsmagnetic tape
Coated strip storing data
hard disk drives · flash memory · solid-state drives · magnetic storage · floppy disks
optical discsstreaming
Real-time digital delivery
cloud storage · digital downloads · streaming services · video on demand · cloud computing
discs, optical, optic, optics, optician, optometrist, optically, optical fiber