Question
What does DVD stand for?

What does DVD stand for?

Last updated: January 24, 2024

If you don't remember what it was like when video could first be encoded on CDs, let me refresh your memory — it was utter chaos.

In the early '90s you had Video CDs, the Multimedia Compact Disc (MMCD), CD-i, the Super Density (SD) disc, and heavens knows what else. Discs were obviously the future, but it was a race from every home entertainment company and manufacturer on the planet to see whose format would win out.

Ultimately, IBM, Apple, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft (aka the original Big Tech) flexed their muscles and said they'd only accept a single format — thus, by the mid-90s we all agreed on DVDs.

But if you were to ask one of those companies, what does the acronym actually stand for?

Click START to answer.

 

The answer is: Digital Versatile Disc. There was a brief war when DVD technology came out in the mid-90s — those who thought it should stand for “digital video disc” and those who argued for “digital versatile disc.”Computer companies were concerned that branding the technology with the term “video” would mean consumers wouldn’t be able to understand all the many other potential applications. The versatility of DVDs were one of their strongest attributes, so the “V” officially stood for “Versatile” as determined by the DVD Forum — but people just say “I’m gonna watch a DVD” anyways, and "digital video disc" is also considered acceptable today.Source

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