Compact Disc Recordable (CD-R)

Definition - What does Compact Disc Recordable (CD-R) mean?

A compact disc recordable (CD-R) is a writable disc upon which a user can write once and read many times. Once finalized, a CD-R disc cannot be formatted and data cannot be deleted from it.

A compact disc recordable is also known as a compact disc - write once (CD-WO) or write once read many (WORM).

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Techopedia explains Compact Disc Recordable (CD-R)

The first CD-R was published by Sony and Philips in 1988. Data once written on the CD-R disc cannot be deleted, and thus if data is not written properly, it cannot be corrected. This is not to be confused with the compact disc rewritable (CD-RW), which can be altered after writing has been completed.

The CD-R disc makes uses of a photosensitive organic dye to record information. CD-Rs are made of a polycarbonate plastic substrate. A typical CD-R disc can store 650MB of data or 74 minutes of music.