CD VS DVD - What Is the Difference between CD and DVD

This article will show you the difference between CD and DVD in the following three aspects.

1. CD VS DVD: Capacity

CD, short for Compact Disc, is an optical medium that can store digital data. It is designed to replace the old cassette tapes. Usually, a standard CD can store about 700MB of data. That means you can store CD quality audio that can last for about 80 minutes or video lasting about 60 minutes. DVD, short for Digital Versatile Disc, is also an optical medium to store digital data. A standard DVD can hold 4.7 GB of data. So DVD is widely used to store large files like video and movies. The capacity is the biggest difference between CD and DVD.

2. CD VS DVD: Use

Before DVD, CD is all the rage on the media market. Unlike cassette and VHS tapes, CD can jump to a certain area directly without rewinding or forward the medium. Data store on a CD will not deteriorate even if it has been played many times. That's why it is much better than cassette and VHS tapes and gains more popularity. At that time, CD was the main media for software and computer programs. Later DVD came into being with a much higher capacity. DVD's high compatibility makes it popular for storing videos and programs. Movie makers can add some other materials to their DVD movies. But because of cost, CD is more widely used on music albums.

3. CD VS DVD: Playback

Generally speaking, DVD players can play DVDs and CDs which CD players cannot play DVDs. So, most CD albums can be played on a standard DVD player. Because of this, CD is still widely used on music albums since it can store an entire music album and the cost is much lower

In short, a DVD can hold more than 6 times capacity than a CD. DVDs are more used by video, movie and computer software which CDs are liked by music album producers. DVD players can play both DVDs and CDs which CD players can only play CDs. The capacity is the biggest issue of the two.

Tips about burning CD and DVD

Both CDs and DVDs are great for storing media files. Sometimes, you may want to burn music to CD for playback on CD players. You can refer to burn CD using Windows Media Player or burn CD in iTunes to learn how to burn music CD for free. For DVD burning, you can refer to some free DVD burnings software or free Mac DVD burner.