Which Stores More Music a CD or a DVD?

When it comes to trying to store music, you will probably want to know whether a CD or a DVD stores more music. A DVD has more storage space especially when it comes to music. If a single DVD can hold a full length movie, then can you imagine how much music it can hold? Tons.

A single DVD can hold many more songs than a single CD. The average DVD can hold up to 150 music CDs.

The number of music files or MP3 files that a CD or DVD can store depends on the size of both the files and the CD or DVD, which is usually measured in gigabytes, megabytes or kilobytes.

Music files are often stored on either DVDs or CDs in MP3 form, and are compressed down to be easier to store on media.

Average DVD Storage Space for Music

The average DVD has a storage space in the amount of 4.7 GB of data on it. This storage space alone makes a CD look like a dwarf when it comes to music storage. The 4.7 GB number means that it can hold up to 150 music CDs worth of music at standard quality. This is the equivalent of at least 1000 songs in a MP3 format. That is a lot of music packed into a single DVD format.

Average CD Storage Space for Music

When you are choosing a CD upon which to record music, the average CD falls into one of two categories: CD-R and CD-RW. The industry standard space on the average CD-R or CD-RW is 650 MB (74 minutes), 700 MB (or 80 minutes) or 185 MB (21 minutes).

The CD-R format also comes in 300 MB (34 minutes), 790 MB (90 minutes) or 870 MB (99 minutes). The only issue with the CD-R formatted CDs is that these may not always play or write in all recorders or CD players.

This means that a DVD stores more music than a CD because it has more storage space.

Hierarchy of Media Storage

There is a hierarchy when it comes to storage space of both recordable and rewritable media. This can be looked to in order to understand which stores more music a CD or a DVD.

A DVD, just like a CD, is considered removable media, and - while it is not the highest ranking storage component on the hierarchy of computer (or media) storage - it does rank higher than the CD. With the constant influx of technology, there is always going to be a renewed or upgraded storage space option.

Now, with many people flocking to the MP3 format for their music, there may not be as great of a need for the CD or the DVD. Many people, for example, can store between 300-10,000 songs on a MP3 player, depending on the size of the hard drive.

Flash drives, thumb drives and all sorts of other technologies also allow for storage and movement of large volumes of music and other files.

In the future, there may not be a need for music to be pressed on either a CD or DVD, but at present people may still wish to use either CD or DVD technology to play music in cars, home stereos and other locations where using MP3 players or other larger storage devices isn't possible.

When people do want to download their MP3s to a CD format, they will be looking to take advantage of as much space as possible. This is why a DVD will prove to be more advantageous.

It only makes sense to be able to store as much music as possible, and this means DVD is probably your best option.