An optical drive is a computer component that reads optical media such as CDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray discs. Optical drives are specific to the types of disc formats they can read. For example, the earlier ...

Most optical drives today are combo CD/DVD drives that support DVDs and all the CD formats: CD audio, CD-ROM, CD-R and CD-RW. The speeds of the drives are rated by their CD-ROM and DVD transfer rates.

The 1990s saw a revolution occur, launched by the CD burner. As prices of writeable media and drives dropped, consumers rushed to duplicate games, create their own mix CDs, and backup their data ...