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 A traditional CD-ROM | |
| Media type | Optical disc |
|---|---|
| Encoding | Various |
| Capacity | 553–900 MB (12 cm), 194 MB (8 cm) |
| Read mechanism | 600-780 nm laser diode, 150 KB/s (1×; 150 × 210), 10,800 KB/s (72×) |
| Write mechanism | Pressed mold |
| Standard | ISO/IEC 10149[1] |
| Usage | Data storage |
| Released | 1985 |
| Optical discs |
|---|
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A CD-ROM (/ˌsiːdiːˈrɒm/, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both computer data and audio with the latter capable of being played on a CD player, while data (such as software or digital video) is only usable on a computer (such as ISO 9660[2] format PC CD-ROMs).
During the 1990s and early 2000s, CD-ROMs were popularly used to distribute software and data for computers and fifth generation video game consoles. DVDs as well as downloading started to replace CD-ROMs in these roles starting in the early 2000s, and the use of CD-ROMs for commercial software is now uncommon.
- ^ ISO (1995). "ISO/IEC 10149:1995 – Information technology – Data interchange on read-only 120 mm optical data disks (CD-ROM)". Archived from the original on 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2010-08-06.
- ^ "CD Yellow Book Standards". mediatechnics.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-21. Retrieved 2015-11-16.