Sony and Panasonic working on next-gen 300GB optical discs

Optical Discs

Sony and Panasonic have announced they are working together on the development of a next-generation, high-capacity optical disc format.

The companies hope to release new optical discs with a recording storage capacity of "at least 300GB" by 2015, six times the capacity of Blu-ray discs.

Digital files and streaming have seen a gradual decline in demand for software discs, but Sony and Panasonic say this new standard is being built for professional use, specifically long-term digital data storage.

In a joint release, the companies said: "Optical discs have excellent properties to protect them against the environment... they also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve."

Much larger volumes of storage are expected to be required in the future both amongst broadcast and motion picture industries but also cloud data centers.

Of course a new optical disc capable of storing much larger amounts of data could ultimately make its way on to the consumer market, with 4K Ultra HD video the most obvious material, if indeed 4K ever gets a disc format.

by Joe Cox

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Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).