What Is a Blu-ray Disc?

by Jason Artman

"New Setup" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: DeclanTM (Declan Jewell) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.

A Blu-ray disc is a new type of optical disc capable of storing large amounts of data. The first movies and games were released in the Blu-ray format in 2006.

Capacity

A dual-layer Blu-ray disc can hold up to 50 GB of data, and this capacity will continue to be increased in the future. A dual-layer DVD can hold just 8.54 GB.

Benefits

The large capacity of Blu-ray discs lends the format well to high-definition video. A Blu-ray disc can display movies with 1,080 lines of detail.

Competition

After its release, the Blu-ray format received stiff competition from another high-definition video format, HD DVD. Blu-ray proved more successful, and new HD DVD players stopped being produced in 2008.

Gaming

Games are available in the Blu-ray disc format. A large contributor to the format's success was its inclusion in the PlayStation 3 game console. Every household that purchased a PlayStation 3 had little reason to buy an HD DVD player.

Computers

Blu-ray drives are available for computers. Some of these drives are able to save data to recordable Blu-ray discs, though they are expensive to purchase.

References

About the Author

Jason Artman has been a technical writer since entering the field in 1999 while attending Michigan State University. Artman has published numerous articles for various websites, covering a diverse array of computer-related topics including hardware, software, games and gadgets.

Photo Credits

  • "New Setup" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: DeclanTM (Declan Jewell) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.