Digital Trends

Pioneer has announced it has succeeded in making a 16-layer Blu-ray disc that can hold 400 GB of data...and it's backward-compatible.

Japanese electronics giant Pioneer has announced it has successfully created a 16-layer Blu-ray disc with a 400 GB capacity. Each layer holds 25 GB, the same as a standard Blu-ray disc; however, where current commercially available Blu-ray tech tops out with a second layer and a 50 GB capacity, Pioneer kept piling on the layers until it reached a 400 GB capacity. Even better, these discs can be read using the same objective lens in current Blu-ray drives, meaning it's possible for future drives supporting the 16-layer disc to also support today's Blu-ray media.

Pioneer says it was able to leverage its experience in optical disc production to reduce cross-talk between disc layers.

Pioneer is putting a green spin on the development, noting that discs with larger capacities mean fewer resources are consumed to deliver the same data (or movies) on Blu-ray media—and, of course, the technology has obvious applications in data storage and backup. However, consumers know the main benefit of the technology is the possibility of renting an entire season of a television show in high-definition on a single disc. No more disc-swapping: the only reason to leave the couch or lounge chair will be to dash to the bathroom. (And we're sure a little technology could solve even that problem.)