A new era in information storage was ushered in when the compact disc was developed in 1982. Originally conceived as the compact disc digital-audio (CD-DA), just for carrying music, its storage capacity of 650 megabytes (MB) generated a number of offshoots over the years such as the CD-ROM, CD-R and the CD-RW. It has established a firm place for itself in the music and entertainment industries.

Only 14 years after this introduction, the era of a new generation of optical substrates dawned: the digital versatile disc (DVD). Makrolon® polycarbonate (PC) plastic from Bayer is used as the basic material for these optical data-substrates.