CD-ROM

CD-ROM is a read-only Compact Disc format for distributing computer data and software. It stores digital information as microscopic pits and lands read optically by a laser.

Compact Disc: An optical disc format that stores digital information in a spiral track read by a laser. CD-ROM uses the physical disc system developed for the Compact Disc.
Red Book (CD standard): The Compact Disc Digital Audio specification defining the format used for audio CDs. CD-ROM builds on the same physical disc platform but organizes its data differently.
Software distribution: The delivery of computer programs to users through physical media, networks, or other channels. CD-ROM made large software packages practical to distribute in a single inexpensive disc.
CD-R: A recordable Compact Disc format that can be written once and read repeatedly. Unlike CD-ROM, CD-R lets users create discs rather than only read factory-pressed data.
Pits and lands: Microscopic depressions and flat areas along an optical disc track that alter reflected laser light. Their transitions encode the physical pattern from which CD-ROM data is recovered.
Yellow Book (CD standard): The specification that established the CD-ROM format and its data-sector organization. It defines the foundational disc format behind CD-ROM’s computer-readable sectors.
Multimedia: Content that combines forms such as text, images, sound, animation, and video. CD-ROM’s storage capacity helped bring mixed-media content to personal computers.
CD-RW: A rewritable Compact Disc format whose recorded data can be erased and replaced. Its reusable recording distinguishes it from CD-ROM’s permanently pressed contents.
Optical disc drive: A device that reads or writes optical discs using a laser and photodetector. Its laser pickup converts the disc’s reflected light into a data signal.
CD-ROM sector: A fixed-size unit of CD-ROM data, commonly carrying 2,048 user-data bytes in Mode 1. Sectors are the basic addressable units that drives deliver to computer software.

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