This new optical disk will be able to hold 27 GB on a single-sided, single-layer CD-sized disk using 405nanometre blue-violet lasers. Manufacturers are aiming to eventually achieve 50 GB disks. The companies that established the basic specifications are: Hitachi Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Pioneer Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sharp Corporation, Sony Corporation, and Thomson Multimedia.

For recording video and audio (AC3, MPEG-1 Layer-2, etc. supported), the technology uses the global standard MPEG-2 Transport Stream and is able to store two hours of HDTV and reach data transfer rates up to 36 Mb/s. The same disk could store 13 hours of SD video at 3.8 Mb/s. Random accessing functions make it possible to easily edit video data captured on a video camera or play back pre-recorded video on the disc while simultaneously recording images being broadcast on TV.

Unlike CDs and DVDs, Blu-ray disks are contained within a cartridge to protect the disk from dust and fingerprints.