Difference Between DVD and Blu Ray Disc

DVD vs Blu Ray Disc

Blu-ray Disc (BD) is the next generation optical disc format for recording, which offers 1920×1080 resolution (1080p) HDTV video quality, unmatched by DVDs’ video quality. Also the storage capacity of a Blue-ray Disc is five to ten times more than a DVD. But all these come at a high cost.

Most of our entertainment has been in the form of recording discs since a long time ago. First it was the gramophone disc, then the video recording cassettes and audio cassettes and then we switched to CDs which were then replaced by DVDs and the latest in that line is Blu-ray discs.


The Digital Versatile or the Digital Video Disc, popularly known as DVD is an optical disc that can be played using a DVD player on a computer or a television set. Portable DVD players are also now available that have mini screens attached to them to get video entertainment on the go.

The storage capacity of a DVD is five to ten times higher than a CD. DVDs are available in 4.7 GB formats up to 17 GB formats. These are enough to hold hours and hours of video footage. DVDs are also available in two other popular formats such as DVD-R and DVD-RW. DVD-R stands for DVD-Recordable which can be used to record data on the DVD only once. DVD-RW stands for DVD Re-Writable and can be used to rerecord data, then erase and rerecord data as per the user’s needs. The latter is expensive than the former though both formats are easily available. DVDs use the MPEG-2 video format to compress the video data on the disc.

Blu- Ray Discs

Blu- ray is the latest advancement in the world of optical discs. Here blue laser beams are used for reading data. This format is a notch high above the DVDs because of its better quality and more storage capacity. Blu- ray Disc capacity is five to ten times more than a DVD. One of the reasons for this higher capacity is due to the blue laser instead of the red laser beam used to read data in DVD and CD. Also the use of improved lens to focus smaller beams enable a higher density pits on the disc.

Data layer on a Blu- ray Disc is placed much closer to the laser lens than in DVD; this also allows improved precision and higher density storage. Blu- ray discs allow for recording and rewriting much like the two types of DVDs available, but all this is done in high definition video.

Blue-ray Discs are more expensive than DVDs because not only do they allow for high resolution playback, they also hold storage capacity of as minimum as 25GB that goes up to 50 GB.

Difference between DVD and Blu ray discs

The major difference as pointed out before is the additional capacity that a Blu Ray disc holds compared to a DVD. A Blu ray discs holds 5 to 10 times the memory than a DVD can. Also, the experience of watching a Blu Ray disc video in high definition is unmatched by DVDs’ video quality.

About 23 hours of standard-definition (SD) video and over 9 hours of high-definition (HD) video can be stored on a 50GB disc.

Another important distinction is in the playing format. Where DVDs use a red laser to read the optical disc, the Blu ray disc uses a blue laser that has a shorter wavelength than a red light and therefore has the ability to store a larger amount of data.

Another major difference lies in the DVD players’ and Blu ray disc players’ ability to play both kinds of optical discs. Where a Blu ray disc player can be used to play a DVD, a DVD player does not have the ability to play a Blu ray disc perhaps because the technology came after DVD players were released.


The results from these latest forms of entertainment are not only better but also clearer. Though this has resulted in investing in more expensive gadgets, it is perhaps okay to say that these investments are worth the money.