This document discusses Blu-ray discs, including their history, technology, characteristics, applications, and advantages/disadvantages over DVDs. Blu-ray discs were developed as the next generation optical disc format after DVDs, using a blue-violet laser instead of red to achieve higher resolution and data storage capacity of 25-50GB, over 5 times that of a standard DVD. Blu-ray discs allow for high definition video and audio recording and playback in devices like TVs, camcorders, and gaming consoles. While offering greatly increased storage, Blu-rays remain more expensive than DVDs.