Rainbow Books Explained

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 and later IEC 60908:1999.
  • 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
    • CD+EG / CD+XG (plus Extended Graphics) – an extension of CD+G

Yellow Book (1983)

• CD-ROM (Read-Only Memory)^{[2] [3]} – originally developed by Philips and Sony,^[4] it was standardized as ISO/IEC 10149^[5] in 1988 and ECMA-130^[6] in 1989
  • CD-ROM XA (eXtended Architecture) – a 1991 extension of CD-ROM, developed by Philips and Sony^[7]

Green Book (1986)

• CD-i (Interactive) – standard developed and published by Phillips.^[8]

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)^[9]
• CD-R (Recordable) alias CD-WO (Write Once) alias CD-WORM (Write Once, Read Many) – originally developed by Sony and Philips,^[10] it was partially standardized as ECMA-394.^[11]
• CD-RW (ReWritable) alias CD-E (Eraseable) – originally developed by Philips, Sony and Ricoh,^[12] it was partially standardized as ECMA-395.^[13]

Beige Book (1992)

• Photo CD (Photo) — proprietary standard jointly developed by Philips and Eastman Kodak;^[14] never released to the public^[15]

White Book (1993)

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

• CD-i Bridge^[16] - a bridge format between CD-ROM XA and the Green Book CD-i, which is the base format for Video CDs, Super Video CDs and Photo CDs.
• VCD (Video) – a standard jointly developed and published by JVC, Matsushita, Philips and Sony.^[17]
  • SVCD (Super Video, 1998) – a 1998 extension of VCD, standardized as IEC 62107 in 2000.^[18]

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.

• E-CD/CD+/CD Extra (Enhanced)^[19] – a standard jointly developed and published by Microsoft, Philips and Sony

Scarlet Book (1999)

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

• SACD (Super Audio)^[20] – 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.^[21]

• DDCD (Double Density) – divided in three separate specifications:
  • DD-ROM (Double Density Read-Only)^[22]
  • DD-R (Double Density Recordable)^[23]
  • DD-RW (Double Density ReWritable)^[24]

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

External links

• Philips CD Specifications
• Encyclopedia: The Great Books . http://library.thinkquest.org/C0112823/greatbooks_cd.htm . The World of CDs and DVDs . . 2012-12-09 . https://archive.today/20121209124333/http://library.thinkquest.org/C0112823/greatbooks_cd.htm . 2010-04-07 . dead.

Notes and References

1. Book: N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken and Sony Corporation . 1981. Compact Disc Digital Audio System Description. .
2. Web site: June 6, 1994. InfoWorld Vol. 16, No. 23. March 25, 2020. InfoWorld. 88.
3. Web site: April 15–18, 1996. Proceedings of the 5th Annual Federal Depository Library Conference. February 10, 2022. U.S. Government Printing Office. 11.
4. Book: Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation . Compact Disc Read Only Memory System Description. . 1983 . .
5. Web site: ISO/IEC 10149:1995 – Information technology – Data interchange on read-only 120 mm optical data disks (CD-ROM). 1995. International Organization for Standardization. August 6, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20190115213634/https://www.iso.org/standard/25869.html. January 15, 2019. live.
6. Web site: Data Interchange on Read-only 120 mm Optical Data Disks (CD-ROM) . ECMA . June 1996 . December 31, 2023.
7. Book: Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation . System Description CD-ROM XA . Philips Intellectual Property and Standards . 1991 . Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
8. Book: Philips Consumer Electronics B.V; and Sony Corporation . Green Book Version May 1994, Release 2 . 1994 . Royal Philips Electronics System Standards & Licensing . Eindhoven, The Netherlands . October 9, 2019 . August 9, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190809203405/https://www.lscdweb.com/data/downloadables/2/8/cdi_may94_r2.pdf . live.
9. Book: Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation . Recordable Compact Disc Systems System Description, Part I: CD-MO . Philips Intellectual Property and Standards . 1990 . Eindhoven, The Netherlands. November 1, 2024.
10. Book: Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation . Recordable Compact Disc Systems System Description, Part II: CD-WO . Philips Intellectual Property and Standards . 1990 . Eindhoven, The Netherlands. November 1, 2024.
11. Book: Ecma . ECMA-394. Recordable compact disc systems CD-R multi-speed. 1st edition, December 2010 . October 30, 2024 . 2010 . February 27, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240227142743/https://ecma-international.org/wp-content/uploads/ECMA-394_1st_edition_december_2010.pdf . live .
12. Book: Philips Electronics N.V.; Ricoh Company, Limited; and Sony Corporation . Compact Disc ReWriteable System Description. Philips Intellectual Property & Standards . 1996 . Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
13. Book: Ecma . ECMA-394. Recordable compact disc systems CD-RW multi-speed. 1st edition, December 2010 . October 31, 2024 . July 15, 2024 . 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240715022313/https://ecma-international.org/wp-content/uploads/ECMA-395_1st_edition_december_2010.pdf . live .
14. Book: Eastman Kodak Corporation and Philips Electronics N.V. . 1994. System Description Photo CD. .
15. Web site: Archive File Formats . Richard Anderson. American Society of Media Photographers. October 31, 2024. September 22, 2015 .
16. Book: Philips Electronics N.V. and Sony Corporation . CD-I Bridge Specification . 1995 . October 31, 2024.
17. Book: Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.; Philips Electronics N.V; and Sony Corporation. 1994. Video CD Specifications. .
18. Web site: IEC 62107:2000 – Super video compact disc - Disc-interchange system-specification. 2000. International Electrotechnical Commission. October 30, 2024.
19. Book: 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.
20. Book: Philips Electronics N.V., and Sony Corporation . Super Audio CD System Description . Philips Intellectual Property and Standards . 2002 . Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
21. Book: Peek . Hans . Origins and Successors of the Compact Disc: Contributions of Philips to Optical Storage . Bergmans . Jan . van Haaren . Jos . Toolenaar . Frank . Stan . Sorin . . 2009 . 978-1-4020-9552-8 . 164. 10.1007/978-1-4020-9553-5 .
22. Book: Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation . 2001. 1.3GB Read-Only Compact Disc Systems. Double Density CD Read-Only . .
23. Book: Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation . 2001. 1.3GB Recordable Compact Disc Systems. Double Density CD Recordable . .
24. Book: Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation . 2001. 1.3GB ReWritable Compact Disc Systems. Double Density CD ReWritable . .