CHAPTER 13

Compact Disc and Drive Formats Chapter 13
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One drawback is that this technology is useful only for reading (and not writing). This means that for
reading information, TrueX CD-ROM drives are the fastest CD-ROM drives on the market.
Compact Disc and Drive Formats
After Philips and Sony had created the Red Book CD-DA format discussed earlier in the chapter, they
began work on other format standards that would allow CDs to store computer files, data, and even
video and photos. These standards control how the data is formatted so that the drive can read it, and
additional file format standards can then control how the software and drivers on your PC can be
designed to understand and interpret the data properly. Note that the physical format and storage of
data on the disc as defined in the Red Book was adopted by all subsequent CD standards. This refers
to the encoding and basic levels of error correction provided by CD-DA discs. What the other “books”
specify is primarily how the 2,352 bytes in each sector are to be handled, what type of data can be
stored, how it should be formatted, and more.
All the official CD standard books and related documents can be purchased from Philips for
$100–$150 each. See the Philips licensing site at http://www.licensing.philips.com for more information.
Table 13.8 describes the various standard CD formats.
Table 13.8 Compact Disc Formats
Format Name Introduced Notes
Red Book CD-DA (compact 1980 - by Philips The original CD audio standard on
disc digital audio) and Sony which all subsequent CD standards are
based.
Yellow Book CD-ROM (compact 1983 - by Philips Specifies additional ECC and EDC
disc read-only and Sony for data in several sector formats,
memory) including Mode 1 and Mode 2.
Green Book CD-i (compact 1986 - by Philips Specifies an interactive audio/video
disc-interactive) and Sony standard for nonPC-dedicated player
hardware (now mostly obsolete) and
discs used for interactive presentations.
Defines Mode 2, Form 1 and Mode 2,
Form 2 sector formats along with interleaved
MPEG-1 video and ADPCM
audio.
CD-ROM XA CD-ROM XA 1989 - by Philips, Combines Yellow Book and CD-i to
(extended Sony, and Microsoft bring CD-i audio and video capabilities
architecture) to PCs.
Orange Book CD-R (recordable) 1989 - by Philips Defines single session, multisession,
and CD-RW and Sony (Part I/II); and packet writing on recordable discs.
(rewritable) 1996 - by Philips
and Sony (Part III) Part I—CD-MO (magneto-optical,
withdrawn).
Part II—CD-R (recordable).
Part III—CD-RW (rewritable).
Photo-CD CD-P 1990 - by Philips Combines CD-ROM XA with CD-R
and Kodak multisession capability in a standard
for photo storage on CD-R discs.