DVD-R vs CD-R

Optical media started out as a read-only memory, thus the ROM in CD-ROM and DVD-ROM. But with development in drives, it became possible to write to an optical disc with specially equipped drives. Thus the appearance of CD-R and DVD-R discs. The “R” stands for “recordable,” and serves to identify these discs from their standard, non-recordable counterparts. The main difference between a CD-R and DVD-R is their capacity. CD-R discs can only accommodate 650MB to 700MB of data. This is a far cry when you consider that DVD-Rs can accommodate up to 4.7GB per layer.

As already hinted above, DVD-R discs can have up to 2 layers giving it a maximum capacity of roughly 8.5GB for a single disc when both layers are used. For discs that do not use the second layer, it is replaced with a dummy that only adds mechanical strength and cannot be read or written to.

What most people do not know is that there are two incompatible versions of DVD-R. There’s DVD-R and DVD+R. They both have the same capacity but are implemented in different ways, thereby causing the incompatibility. Because of this, all modern DVD writers are made to work with both types and carry the marking “DVD±R” to indicate that it is capable of working with either type.

Another important difference between DVD-R and CD-R is speed. You might think that this is incorrect as writing a full CD-R is a lot faster than writing a full DVD-R with fastest times at 1.5 minutes and 2.5 minutes respectively for a single layer. But when you consider that a full DVD-R holds almost seven times more data per layer, it should take seven times as long to write a full DVD-R and not less.

As technology moves forward, we see less and less of CD-Rs as more people opt for the more spacious DVD-R media. But for those who are stuck with old hardware, it is still better to go with a CD-R. This is because older hardware that supported CD-R does not support DVD-R. Aside from that, there is really no reason to choose a CD-R over a DVD-R.

Summary:

1.A DVD-R has a larger capacity than a CD-R.
2.DVD-R can have multiple layers while a CD-R only has one.
3.Two versions of DVD-R exist while only one exists for CD-R.
4.A DVD-R is much faster than a CD-R.
5.CD-R has greater compatibility than a DVD-R.

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