From Shane McGlaun,
Your Guide to Computer Peripherals.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

Definition: DVD was originally short for Digital Video Disk as DVDs were first used for movies and video. DVDs are now also commonly known as Digital Versatile Disk owing to the fact that a DVD now does much more than store movies. A DVD can store up to 4.7 GB on a single layer disk and 8.5 GB an a dual layer disk. A DVD is similar in design and appearance to a CD but DVDs have a much higher capacity for holding data. While not as common, DVDs are also available in double sided as well. A single layer double sided DVD can hold 9.4 GB of data while a dual later, double sided DVD can hold 17 GB of data. A dual layer DVD differs from a single layer disk in that it has one surface layer that can be read from and written to and a second deeper layer than can be written to and read from as well.

Also Known As: Digital Versitile Disk and Digital Video Disk