There are many different types of DVD’s, and the acronyms can get confusing.  Here is a breakdown of the most common DVD-related acronyms you’ll see, and their meanings.

DVD: Digital Versatile Disc, or Digital Video Disc.  This is an optical disc used to store digital media.  It records sound, video, and other information.  DVD’s look like CD’s, but they contain more densely-packed information and are encoded differently.

DVD-ROM: Digital Versatile/Video Disc: Read-Only Media.  This DVD can’t be recorded on or rewritten.  All basic DVD’s that come with the information already stored on them (“factory-pressed”) are DVD-ROM’s.

DVD Audio: This is a DVD containing extremely high-quality, high-fidelity audio only.

DVD Video: The basic standard for DVD’s that play video information, such as movies.  

DVD-R/DVD+R: Digital Versatile/Video Disc: Recordable.  This is a blank DVD that can be burned once.  DVD-R and DVD+R are two competing formats.  DVD-R’s have slightly more storage space.

DVD-RW/DVD+RW: Digital Versatile/Video Disc: Re-Writable.  These can be erased and re-recorded. DVD-RW and DVD+RW are competing formats.  Most DVD players and computer drives can’t read both.  

DVD-DL: DL stands for Dual Layer.  It means that a DVD has two layers of rewritable information available, not just one.  DL discs can store approximately twice the amount of information as a typical DVD.  You can buy recordable and rewritable discs in a DL format.  DL discs are sometimes called DVD-R9’s.

DVD-RAM: Digital Versatile/Video Disc: Random Access Memory.  These don’t have to be completely erased to be re-written to, unlike RW’s.  They are the best rewritable DVD’s for computer backup storage and video editing.

HD-DVD: High-Density Digital Versatile/Video Disc.  A DVD designed for HD video.  Information is packed more densely on these discs than on regular DVD’s.

HVD: Holographic Versatile Disc.  Still in the research stage, this technology has the potential to hold 830 times the information on a typical DVD.