Media type High-density optical disc Encoding MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), and VC-1 Capacity 25 GB (single layer) 50 GB (dual layer) Read mechanism 405 nm laser, 1x@36 Mbit/s & 2x@72 Mbit/s & 4x@144 Mbit/s & 6x@216 Mbit/s[1] & 12x@432 Mbit/s Developed by Blu-ray Disc Association Usage Data storage, High-definition video and PlayStation 3 games Blu-ray Disc (also known as Blu-ray or BD) is an optical disc storage media format. Its main uses are high-definition video and data storage. The disc has the same dimensions as a standard DVD or CD. The name Blu-ray Disc is derived from the blue-violet laser used to read and write this type of disc. Because of its shorter wavelength (405 nm), substantially more data can be stored on a Blu-ray Disc than on the DVD format, which uses a red (650 nm) laser. A dual layer Blu-ray Disc can store 50 GB, almost six times the capacity of a dual layer DVD. Blu-ray Disc was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a group of companies representing consumer electronics, computer hardware, and motion picture production. The standard is covered by several patents belonging to different companies. As of March 2007, a joint licensing agreement for all the relevant patents had not yet been finalized.[2] As of April 5, 2008, more than 530[3] Blu-ray Disc titles have been released in the United States, and more than 250 in Japan. During the high definition optical disc format war, Blu-ray Disc competed with the HD DVD format. On February 19, 2008, Toshiba ? the main company supporting HD DVD ? announced it would no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders,[4] leading almost all other HD DVD supporters to follow suit, effectively naming Blu-ray the victor of the format war.