DVD plus R

A DVD+R is a writable optical disc with 4.7 GB (4.4 GiB) of storage capacity (interpreted as , 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. Although DVD+R has not yet been approved by the DVD Forum, DVD+R discs are playable in 87%-95% of today's DVD players.

For technical details see: DVD-R

In October of 2003, it was demonstrated that dual 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.

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.

One competing format is DVD-R. Hybrid drives that can handle both, often labeled "DVD±R, are very popular since there is not yet a single standard for recordable DVDs.

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 has hurt the sales fortunes of domestic DVD video recorders. The bitter memory of the Betamax-vs-VHS format war in the early 1980s is still fresh in the mind of many consumers.

See also