What Is the Biggest Storage Size CD Made?

By Matt Koble

Updated February 10, 2017

CD storage sizes vary.
i cd's image by Horticulture from Fotolia.com

While it's common to find 700 MB discs capable of holding roughly 80 minutes of music, a few manufacturers make larger discs. Discs with a high storage capacity still are the same physical size.

Largest Capacity

The largest CD-R discs manufactured are 99-minute CD-R discs. For storage, these discs are capable of holding up to 870 MB of data.

Compatibility

Before rushing out and buying a 99-minute CD-R, be warned that they're often incompatible with most CD burners and CD burning software. The extra storage capacity actually is accomplished by the manufacturers failing to conform to widely held industry standards, which make the discs unable to function in most drives, states the Optical Storage Technology Association.

Considerations

CD-Rs can hold only a fraction of the data DVD-R discs can hold. DVD-R discs have storage capacities exceeding 100 GBs and, provided you have a compatible burner, can hold all the same data that CDs can hold, although they can't be used as music CDs. Also, consider purchasing a flash drive or external hard drive for much greater and more convenient storage.

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