DVD+R

A DVD+R disc

A DVD+R is a writable optical disc with 4.7 GB (4.38 GiB) of storage capacity (interpreted as $\approx 4.7\cdot 10^{9}$, actually 2295104 sectors of 2048 bytes each). The format was developed by a coalition of corporations, known as the DVD+RW Alliance, in mid 2002. Since the DVD+R format is a competing format to the DVD-R format which is developed by the DVD Forum it has not been approved by the DVD Forum which claims that the DVD+R format is not an official DVD format.

In October of 2003, it was demonstrated that double layer technology could be used with a DVD+R disc to nearly double the capacity to 8.5 GB per disc. Manufacturers have incorporated this technology into commercial devices since mid-2004 (see DVD+R DL).

Unlike DVD+RW discs, DVD+R discs can only be written to once. Because of this, DVD+R discs are suited to applications such as nonvolatile data storage, audio, or video.

The DVD+R format is divergent from the DVD-R format. Hybrid drives that can handle both, often labeled "DVD±RW", are very popular since there is not yet a single standard for recordable DVDs. There are a number of significant technical differences between the dash and plus formats, and although most consumers would not notice the difference, the plus format is considered by some to be better engineered.

Like other plus media, it is possible to use bitsetting to increase the compatibility of DVD+R media.

As of 2005, the market for recordable DVD technology shows little sign of settling down in favour of either the plus or dash formats, which is mostly the result of the increasing numbers of dual-format devices that can record to both formats; it has become very difficult to find new devices that can only record to one of the formats.

See also

• Book type
• DVD
• DVD+R DL

External links

• DVD+RW Alliance
• Understanding Recordable & Rewritable DVD
• Unofficial DVD+RW Resource
• Why DVD+R(W) is superior to DVD-R(W)
• EMediaLive, The Digital Studio Resource