During the 1990s and early 2000s, CD-ROMs were popularly used to distribute software and data for computers and fifth generation video game consoles.

The earliest theoretical work on optical disc storage was done by independent researchers in the United States including David Paul Gregg (1958) and James Russel (1965–1975).

The CD-ROM was later designed as an extension of the CD-DA, and adapted this format to hold any form of digital data, with an initial storage capacity of 553 MB.

[5] Sony and Philips created the technical standard that defines the format of a CD-ROM in 1983,[6] in what came to be called the Yellow Book.

[8] In November 1985, several computer industry participants, including Microsoft, Philips, Sony, Apple and Digital Equipment Corporation, met to create a specification to define a file system format for CD-ROMs.

Other standards, such as the White Book for Video CDs, further define formats based on the CD-ROM specifications.

The Yellow Book itself is not freely available, but the standards with the corresponding content can be downloaded for free from ISO or ECMA.

ISO 13490 is an improvement on this standard which adds support for non-sequential write-once and re-writeable discs such as CD-R and CD-RW, as well as multiple sessions.

Unlike an audio CD, a CD-ROM cannot rely on error concealment by interpolation; a higher reliability of the retrieved data is required.

Both modes, like audio CDs, still benefit from the lower layers of error correction at the frame level.

[20] Before being stored on a disc with the techniques described above, each CD-ROM sector is scrambled to prevent some problematic patterns from showing up.

[17] These scrambled sectors then follow the same encoding process described in the Red Book in order to be finally stored on a CD.

[21] It was intended as a bridge between CD-ROM and CD-i (Green Book) and was published by Sony and Philips, and backed by Microsoft, in 1991,[22] first announced in September 1988.

This is the upper limit for raw images created on a 74 min or ≈650 MB Red Book CD.

CD-ROM capacities are normally expressed with binary prefixes, subtracting the space used for error correction data.

[26] The capacity of a CD-ROM depends on how close the outward data track is extended to the disc's outer rim.

If a CD-ROM is read at the same rotational speed as an audio CD, the data transfer rate is 150 Kbyte/s, commonly called "1×" (with constant linear velocity, short "CLV").

For example, a CD-ROM drive that can read at 8× speed spins the disc at 1600 to 4000 rpm, giving a linear velocity of 9.6 m/s and a transfer rate of 1200 Kbyte/s.

In CAV mode the "×" number denotes the transfer rate at the outer edge of the disc, where it is a maximum.

Problems with vibration, owing to limits on achievable symmetry and strength in mass-produced media, mean that CD-ROM drive speeds have not massively increased since the late 1990s.

Even so, these speeds can cause poor reading (drive error correction having become very sophisticated in response) and even shattering of poorly made or physically damaged media, with small cracks rapidly growing into catastrophic breakages when centripetally stressed at 10,000–13,000 rpm (i.e. 40–52× CAV).

High rotational speeds also produce undesirable noise from disc vibration, rushing air and the spindle motor itself.

Additionally, with a 700 MB CD-ROM fully readable in under 2.5 minutes at 52× CAV, increases in actual data transfer rate are decreasingly influential on overall effective drive speed when taken into consideration with other factors such as loading/unloading, media recognition, spin up/down and random seek times, making for much decreased returns on development investment.

A similar stratification effect has since been seen in DVD development where maximum speed has stabilised at 16× CAV (with exceptional cases between 18× and 22×) and capacity at 4.3 and 8.5 GB (single and dual layer), with higher speed and capacity needs instead being catered to by Blu-ray drives.

[citation needed] Manufacturers of CD writers (CD-R or CD-RW) are encouraged by the music industry to ensure that every drive they produce has a unique identifier, which will be encoded by the drive on every disc that it records: the RID or Recorder Identification Code.