DVD Recordable - Capacities

Capacities

See also: DVD#Capacity

Most DVD±R/RWs are advertised as having a capacity of 4.7 GB. However these DVDs seem to hold less than the stated 4.7GB because many manufacturers quote the capacity of a DVD using decimal prefixes instead of the binary prefixes often used by software. This can be confusing for many users. While a 4.7 GB DVD can store 4.7 billion bytes: 4,700,000,000 bytes ÷ 1000 B/kB = 4,700,000 kB ÷ 1000 kB/MB = 4,700 MB ÷ 1000 MB/GB = 4.7 GB, using binary prefixes the same capacity is roughly 4.38 GiB: 4,700,000,000 bytes ÷ 1024 B/KiB = 4,589,844 KiB ÷ 1024 KiB/MiB = 4,482.27 MiB ÷ 1024 MiB/GiB = 4.38 GiB.

Format Decimal Prefix Binary Prefix
DVD±R 4.70GB 4.38GiB
DVD±RW 4.70GB 4.38GiB
DVD±R DL 8.55GB 7.96GiB
DVD-RAM 4.70GB 4.27GiB
DVD-RAM DL 9.4GB 8.75GiB
MiniDVD 1.46GB 1.36GiB
MiniDVD DL 2.66GB 2.48GiB

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Famous quotes containing the word capacities:

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    —For the State of Rhode Island, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    The fox, he felt, had never seen his past disposed of like a fall of water. He had never measured off his day in moments: another—another—another. But now, thrown down so deeply in himself, into the darkness of the well, surprised by pain and hunger, might he not revert to an earlier condition, regain capacities which formerly were useless to him, pass from animal to Henry, become human in his prison, X his days, count, wait, listen for another—another—another—another?
    William Gass (b. 1924)

    If the children and youth of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop their capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the world and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. In contrast, a society which neglects its children, however well it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise.
    Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)