DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW & DVD-RW - Differences & Benefits

Let's first start with the most obvious difference: some have R and some have
RW. The "R" stands for readable, while the "W" stands for writeable.


The main difference between DVD-R and DVD-RW, or DVD+R and DVD+RW is
that the R disc formats can only be written to once, and then it is only
readable and can’t be erased for the rest of its digital life. While RW discs are
can be written to and erased many times, they are both readable and
writeable.

"R" discs are perfect if they are only needed to be written to once, such as
giving some files to a friend or transferring them between PCs. "RW" discs
have their strength in the ability to be used many times over, which is great
for routine system backups, etc. And naturally, the RW discs are slightly more
expensive than the R discs, but you'll have to decide if the trade offs are
worth the money.

Now, onto the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R. As I just described
above, DVD-R & DVD-RW are sister discs, the difference being one is writeable
once, while the other is writeable multiple times. The same thing is true for
DVD+R & DVD+RW. So the question is, what's the difference between the plus
and minus?

In order to explain this we must take a trip back in time. When DVDs were
first being developed, there was no industry standard. Multiple companies
were competing to develop what they hoped would be the dominant form of
the future.

The DVD-R DVD+R difference can easily be summarized by the following:

* The DVD-R/RW standard was developed by Pioneer, and is used primarily by
Apple and Pioneer. These "minus" discs can only be written to in one layer on
the discs surface. In addition, this format is supported by the DVD forum, but
is in no way an industry standard. DVD-R/RW discs are cheaper than the
"plus" format.

* The DVD+R/RW format is supported by Philips, Dell, Sony, HP, and Mcft.
These discs can be written to in multiple layers, giving them slightly better
and more disc storage than the "minus" format. Because of this additional
capacity, they are slightly more expensive than "minus" discs.

A couple final things to clear up is the difference between DVD-ROM and
DVD+RW, or the other DVD formats I mentioned above. The DVD-ROM drive
can only read DVDs, while the other DVD drives can read and write data to
DVDs.

And naturally the DVD+RW CD+RW difference can be explained by the "DVD"
or "CD" prefix. DVDs, on average, can store up to 4.7 GB of data, while a CD
can only store about 700 MB of data, or about 15% of a DVD's capacity.
While CDs are slightly cheaper, in my opinion, the benefits of DVDs are much
greater.

So now that you've learned about the difference between DVD-R, DVD+R,
DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and even DVD-ROM, which one is right for you? The
easiest way to determine which is more beneficial is to watch the industry
trends. A few years ago all pre-built computers were shipping with DVD-ROM
drives. Today, most PCs have a burnable DVD drive.