Compact disc
Disco compacto (CD)
- Date
- 1982 · confidence high
- Place
- Philips, Eindhoven, Netherlands, and Sony, Tokyo, Japan
- Credited to
- Philips and Sony (Kees Schouhamer Immink, Toshitada Doi)
- People
- 👤 James Russell1931–👤 Kees Schouhamer Immink1946–
- Field
- Communication
What it is
12 cm optical disc read by laser that stores digital audio without wear. It was the first mass-consumer digital medium and, as CD-ROM, distributed software and encyclopaedias.
What it led to
- The digitisation of music and, later, its dematerialisation (MP3, streaming)
- The CD-ROM as a multimedia and software-distribution medium
- The DVD and Blu-ray standards