Anyways, in a visual sense, both DVD media types appear just the same and may have identical storage capacities. The difference primary lies on how data (i.e., files, photos, videos, etc.) are written or burned on those medium. You might ask: “Why in the world are there two types of formats?” or “Won’t they make it just easy for us consumers to just manufacture them in a standard format?” That was what I was thinking and pondering before. Unfortunately, the manufacturers of these blank media could not agree with other. I’m not exactly sure why, but I guess that it is a matter of marketing strategies or trade secrets. In the blank computer media world, there are two groups who are advocates of each DVD format. Each group claims that their supported format is better than the other. But as far as my experience with blank recordable media goes, both formats have been satisfactory to me.

One group is called the DVD Forum which supports the DVD-R/DVD-RW format (composed of major manufacturers Sony, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, etc.). On the other hand, the other group is called the DVD+RW Alliance which supports the DVD+R/DVD+RW format (composed of Sony, Phillips, Dell, Yamaha, etc.). Note that Sony belongs to both groups (What a wily guy, eh?). In the early days of the DVD, problems arose when players or drives (not burners / writers) are not made compatible enough to read both formats. Fortunately, most DVD players or drives that are being sold these days are already compatible with both formats. But just to make sure, please check with the vendor or manufacturer if the DVD player or drive can support reading from both formats. When it comes to prices, there is not much difference among the two. However, please take note that the RW types (DVD-RW and DVD+RW) cost much more than the R types (DVD-R and DVD+R) simply because they are rewritable media.

In a nutshell and keep this in mind, when it comes to burning discs, DVD-R/DVD-RW recordable media discs will not work on a DVD+R/DVD+RW burner/writer and the other way around. So better make sure what type of DVD burner you have before buying a blank DVD. However though, when it comes to playback or file reading, both formats are compatible with most new models of DVD drives and DVD players that are available these days.