5.6.4 Playback Compatibility
5.6.4.1 The variety of standards and the manner in which they may be encoded makes selection of the correct replay equipment necessary. The domestic freestanding CD player, for instance, will most likely only play CD-Audio and its variants, whereas the CD-ROM drive in a computer will play all the formats, though it requires the appropriate software to determine the content. DVDs will not play in CD drives or players, although many DVD drives are compatible with CDs.
5.6.4.2 The tables below lay out the compatibility between certain drives and their appropriate media.
| Disc type | CD-ROM drive | CD-RW or CD-R/RW drive | CD-R Drive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read | Write | Read | Write | Read | Write | |
| CD-ROM | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| CD-R | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CD-RW | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Table 2 Section 5.6 Read Write Compatibility; CD
| Disc type |
Home DVD player Play only |
DVD-ROM drive Play only (Computer) |
DVD-R (G) drive Records General -R |
DVD-R (A) drive Records Authoring -R |
DVD-RW drive Records -RW, General -R |
DVD+ RW/+R drive Records +RW, +R |
DVD-RAM drive Records RAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DVD-ROM | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| DVD-R(A) | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| DVD-R(G) | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| DVD-RW | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| DVD+RW | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| DVD+R | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| DVD-RAM | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| CD-ROM | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| CD-R | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| CD-RW | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Table 3 Section 5.6. Compatibility; DVD (Write Mode)
| Disc type |
Home DVD player Play only |
DVD-ROM drive Play only (Computer) |
DVD-R (G) drive Records General -R |
DVD-R (A) drive Records Authoring -R |
DVD-RW drive Records -RW, General -R |
DVD+ RW/+R drive Records +RW, +R |
DVD-RAM drive Records RAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DVD-ROM |
Not Usually |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DVD-R(A) | Mostly | Usually | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DVD-R(G) | Mostly | Usually | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DVD-RW | Partly | Usually | No | Yes | Yes | Usually | Usually |
| DVD+RW | Partly | Usually | Usually | Usually | Usually | Yes | Usually |
| DVD+R | Partly | Usually | Usually | Usually | Usually | Yes | Usually |
| DVD-RAM | Rarely | Rarely | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| CD-ROM | Depends | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Usually |
| CD-R | Usually | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Usually |
| CD-RW | Usually | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Usually |
|
DVDAudio DVDVideo |
All DVD drives should play DVD-Audio or DVD-Video if the computer has DVD-Audio or DVD-Video software installed. DVD-RAM drives are questionable. | ||||||
Table 4 Section 5.6. Compatibility; DVD (Read Mode).
