Burn: To record information onto a rewritable optical medium such as a CD-R, CD-RW or DVD+RW.

CD-R (CD-Recordable): A recordable CD technology for data and music storage using a low-cost disc that can be written only once. To record a 650MB disc takes from 5 to 74 minutes depending on the speed of the drive. CDR drives and media can also support UDF and don't have to record in track at once or disc at one modes.

CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory): A compact disc format used to hold text, graphics and hi-fi stereo sound. The audio CD player cannot play CD-ROMs, but CD-ROM players can play audio discs.

CD-RW (CD ReWritable): A rewritable CD technology. CD-RW drives can also be used to write CD-R discs, and they can read CD-ROMs. A CD-RW disc can be rewritten over a thousand times and read on MultiRead CD-ROM drives or CD-RW compatible Audio CD players. CD-RWs support UDF (Universal Disc Format), which means they are designed for read-write interoperability between all the major operating systems as well as compatibility between rewritable and write-once media. Today, both high-speed and current speed CD-RW are available.

DVD (Digital Versatile Disc): Introduced in 1996, the optical discs share the same overall dimensions of a CD, but have significantly higher capacities - holding from 4 to 28 times as much data.

DVD-Audio: Launched in mid-2000, this audio-only storage format similar to CD-Audio, however offers 16, 20 and 24-bit samples at a variety of sampling rates from 44.1 to 192KHz, compared to 16 bits and 44.1KHz for CDs. DVD-Audio discs can also contain music videos, graphics and other information.

DVD Video: Popular format for high quality MPEG2 video and digital surround sound. Enables multilanguage, multisubtitling and other advanced user features.

DVD Forum: An international association of hardware and media manufacturers, software firms and other users of Digital Versatile Discs, created for the purpose of exchanging and disseminating ideas and information about the DVD Format. The DVD Forum is working to promote the broad acceptance of DVD-RAM as a rewritable standard for DVD in IT industries and DVD-RW in the entertainment and consumer electronics industries. DVD Forum support is not necessary to win in the marketplace. DVD Multi: DVD Multi is a logo program that promotes compatibility with DVD-RAM and DVD-RW. It is not a drive, but defines a testing methodology which, when passed, ensures the drive product can in fact read RAM and -RW. It puts the emphasis for compatibility on the reader, not the writer. The read-write specification was introduced in June by the DVD Forum in response to compatibility issues with DVD-RAM. It will be able to read discs written in DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, DVD-RW and DVD-R formats. It will be able to write discs in DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD-R formats. So far, no optical drive manufacturer has announced plans to support the specification.

DVD-R (DVD Recordable): The authoring use drive (635nm laser) was introduced in 1998 by Pioneer, and the general use format (650nm laser) was authorized by DVD Forum in 2000. DVD-R offers a write-once, read-many storage format akin to CD-R and is used to master DVD-Video and DVD-ROM discs.

DVD-RAM (DVD Random Access Memory): A rewritable DVD disc endorsed by Panasonic, Hitachi and Toshiba. It is a cartridge-based, and more recently, bare disc technology for data recording and playback. DVD-RAM bare discs are fragile and do not guarantee data integrity. The first DVD-RAM drives were introduced in Spring 1998 and had a capacity of 2.6GB (single sided) or 5.2GB (double sided). DVD-RAM Version 2 discs with 4.7GB arrived in late 1999, and double-sided 9.4GB discs in 2000. DVD-RAM drives typically read DVD-Video, DVD-ROM and CD media. The current installed base of DVD-ROM drives and DVD-Video players cannot read DVD-RAM media. DVD-ROM (Read Only Memory): First introduced in 1997, this read-only DVD disc is used for storing data and interactive sequences as well as audio and video. DVD-ROMs run in DVD-ROM or DVD-RAM drives, not DVD-Video players connected to TVs and home theaters. However, most DVD-ROM drives will play DVD-Video movies.

DVD-RW (DVD ReWritable): A rewritable DVD format, introduced by Pioneer, that is similar to DVD+RW, but its capability to work as a random access device is not as good as +RW. It has a read-write capacity of 4.7 GB.

DVD+RW (DVD ReWritable): Developed in cooperation by Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi Chemical, Philips, Ricoh, Sony and Yamaha, it is the only rewritable format that provides full, non-cartridge, compatibility with existing DVD-Video players and DVD-ROM drives for both real-time video recording and random data recording across PC and entertainment applications.

OSTA (Optical Storage Technology Association): This association is composed of major optical drive manufacturers. Its purpose is to endorse standards and promote the use of optical media.