CD-ROM

CD-ROM (an acronym for  ) is an optical media format that was popular in the 1990s. It was superseded by the DVD-ROM format.

Specifications
The Red Book standard for compact discs specified a bit rate of 153,600 bytes (150 KB) per second, referred to as "1x" CD-ROM speed. Audio was encoded in 16-bit resolution at 44.1 kHz. The original standard specified that each disc could contain up to 99 tracks and store 650 MB (74 minutes). The standard was later amended to allow variances of up to 700 MB (79.8 minutes), though some drives have allowed for usable capacities as high as 750 MB (85 minutes).

History
Macromedia Director helped drive early multimedia CD-ROM development. Director 4 was the first to delivered on CD-ROM, superseding floppy disks for installation. Macromedia's "Studio" suites were also shipped on CD-ROM. Adobe Systems, which acquired Macromedia in December 2005, released subsequent versions of applications and suites on DVD-ROM.