Rainbow Books

For the series of U.S. government publications on computer security standards, see Rainbow Series. For pre-Internet communications protocols, see Coloured Book protocols. For the "Reading Rainbow" children's television series, see Reading Rainbow.
Cover for the Green Book (CD-i) specification standard, in its eponymous color
Optical discs
General
Optical media types
Standards
See also
Illustration depicting each format by color.

The Rainbow Books are a collection of CD format specifications, generally written and published by the companies involved in their development, including Philips, Sony, Matsushita and JVC, among others.

A number of these specifications have been officially adopted by established standards bodies, including the ISO, IEC, and ECMA.

Red Book (1980)

  • CD-DA (Digital Audio) – originally published by Philips and Sony in 1981,[1] it was later standardized as IEC 60908:1987[2] and later IEC 60908:1999.[3]
    • CD-Text – a 1996 extension to CD-DA
    • CD-MIDI – part of the original Red Book standard
    • CD+G (plus Graphics) – an extension of the Red Book specifications used mainly for karaoke

Yellow Book (1983)

  • CD-ROM (Read-Only Memory)[4][5] – originally developed by Philips and Sony,[6] it was standardized as ISO/IEC 10149[7] in 1988 and ECMA-130[8] in 1989
    • CD-ROM XA (eXtended Architecture) – a 1991 extension of CD-ROM, developed by Philips and Sony[9]

Green Book (1986)

  • CD-i (Interactive) – standard developed and published by Phillips.[10]

Orange Book (1990)

Orange is a reference to the fact that red and yellow mix to orange. This correlates with the fact that CD-R and CD-RW are capable of audio ("Red") and data ("Yellow"); although other colors (other CD standards) that do not mix are capable of being burned onto the physical medium. Orange Book also introduced the standard for multisession writing.

  • CD-MO (Magneto-Optical)[11]
  • CD-R (Recordable) alias CD-WO (Write Once) alias CD-WORM (Write Once, Read Many) – originally developed by Sony and Philips,[12] it was partially standardized as ECMA-394.[13]
  • CD-RW (ReWritable) alias CD-E (Eraseable) – originally developed by Philips, Sony and Ricoh,[14] it was partially standardized as ECMA-395.[15]

Beige Book (1992)

White Book (1993)

The White Book refers to a standard of compact disc that stores pictures and video.

Blue Book (1995)

The Blue Book is a compact disc standard that defines the Enhanced Music CD format, which combines audio tracks and data tracks on the same disc.

Scarlet Book (1999)

Scarlet color of this book is a reference to the Red Book, which defines original CDDA.

  • SACD (Super Audio)[22] – a standard jointly developed and published by Philips and Sony

Purple Book (2000)

A standard developed by Philips and Sony in the late 1990s, with over 1 GB in capacity and recordable/re-recordable capabilities.[23]

  • DDCD (Double Density) – divided in three separate specifications:
    • DD-ROM (Double Density Read-Only)[24]
    • DD-R (Double Density Recordable)[25]
    • DD-RW (Double Density ReWritable)[26]

See also

  • ISO 9660, a 1986 filesystem standard used in conjunction with CD-ROM formats.
  • Orange-Book-Standard, a decision named after the Compact Disc standard, issued in 2009 by the German Federal Court of Justice on the interaction between patent law and standards

References

  1. ^ N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken and Sony Corporation (1981). Compact Disc Digital Audio System Description.
  2. ^ International Electrotechnical Commission (1987), IEC 60908:1987 Compact disc digital audio system, archived from the original on 4 September 2015, retrieved 6 May 2015
  3. ^ International Organization for Standardization (1999), IEC 60908:1999 Audio recording – Compact disc digital audio system (PDF), archived (PDF) from the original on 16 October 2015, retrieved 6 May 2015
  4. ^ "InfoWorld Vol. 16, No. 23". InfoWorld. June 6, 1994. p. 88. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  5. ^ "Proceedings of the 5th Annual Federal Depository Library Conference". U.S. Government Printing Office. April 15–18, 1996. p. 11. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  6. ^ Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation (1983). Compact Disc Read Only Memory System Description.
  7. ^ International Organization for Standardization (1995). "ISO/IEC 10149:1995 – Information technology – Data interchange on read-only 120 mm optical data disks (CD-ROM)". Archived from the original on January 15, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  8. ^ "Data Interchange on Read-only 120 mm Optical Data Disks (CD-ROM)" (PDF). ECMA. June 1996. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  9. ^ Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation (1991). System Description CD-ROM XA. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Philips Intellectual Property and Standards.
  10. ^ Philips Consumer Electronics B.V; and Sony Corporation (1994). Green Book Version May 1994, Release 2 (PDF). Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Royal Philips Electronics System Standards & Licensing. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 9, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation (1990). Recordable Compact Disc Systems System Description, Part I: CD-MO. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Philips Intellectual Property and Standards. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
  12. ^ Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation (1990). Recordable Compact Disc Systems System Description, Part II: CD-WO. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Philips Intellectual Property and Standards. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
  13. ^ Ecma (2010). ECMA-394. Recordable compact disc systems CD-R multi-speed. 1st edition, December 2010 (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 27, 2024. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  14. ^ Philips Electronics N.V.; Ricoh Company, Limited; and Sony Corporation (1996). Compact Disc ReWriteable System Description. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Philips Intellectual Property & Standards.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Ecma (2010). ECMA-394. Recordable compact disc systems CD-RW multi-speed. 1st edition, December 2010 (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  16. ^ Eastman Kodak Corporation and Philips Electronics N.V. (1994). System Description Photo CD.
  17. ^ Richard Anderson (September 22, 2015). "Archive File Formats". American Society of Media Photographers. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  18. ^ Philips Electronics N.V. and Sony Corporation (1995). CD-I Bridge Specification. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  19. ^ Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.; Philips Electronics N.V; and Sony Corporation (1994). Video CD Specifications.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ International Electrotechnical Commission (2000). "IEC 62107:2000 – Super video compact disc - Disc-interchange system-specification". Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  21. ^ Microsoft Corporation, Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation (1995). Enhanced Music CD Specification. Philips Consumer Electronics B.V. Coordination Office Optical & Magnetic Media Systems.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation (2002). Super Audio CD System Description. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Philips Intellectual Property and Standards.
  23. ^ Peek, Hans; Bergmans, Jan; van Haaren, Jos; Toolenaar, Frank; Stan, Sorin (2009). Origins and Successors of the Compact Disc: Contributions of Philips to Optical Storage (PDF). Springer. p. 164. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9553-5. ISBN 978-1-4020-9552-8.
  24. ^ Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation (2001). 1.3GB Read-Only Compact Disc Systems. Double Density CD Read-Only.
  25. ^ Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation (2001). 1.3GB Recordable Compact Disc Systems. Double Density CD Recordable.
  26. ^ Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation (2001). 1.3GB ReWritable Compact Disc Systems. Double Density CD ReWritable.