Gold compact disc

This article is about CDs which use gold for the reflective layer. For the audiovisual format featuring gold-coloured CD-sized discs, see CD Video. For the process of releasing software for mastering to disc, see Going gold.

A gold compact disc is one in which gold is utilized in place of the high-purity aluminium or silver commonly used as the reflective coating on ordinary CDs and CD-Rs respectively. Gold disks are available as both CDs and CD-Rs as well, and are compatible with standard players and recorders.

A gold CD in a lift-lock case

The advantage of the gold reflection layer lies in its corrosion resistance. As such, gold CDs were seen as a potential solution to the incidence of CD rot on early CDs (mainly manufactured by PDO UK).^[1]

In 2014, Audio Fidelity, an American publisher of audiophile CDs, announced that it was abandoning the gold format and moving to the hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) format for future releases.^[2]

See also

• Compact disc
• Enhanced CD
• Remastering
• CD rot
• Gold album
• Audiophile
• Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL)
• Super Audio CD
• Extended Resolution Compact Disc