COULD DISC ROT RUIN YOUR MEDIA COLLECTION? | DISC ROT EXPLAINED 

I have not had a single CD, DVD, or blu-ray fall victim to disc rot in over 31 years of physical media collecting.

"Disc rot" is caused by minerals in the water used to clean the information layer before the final layer is added, when it rusts it affects the laser reading. I worked at a disc plant in the 90's and they had a machine the size of a truck that did nothing but wash discs with purified water. Rot is still a problem but not the major problem it used to be, mainly from foreign manufacturers

STORE in a cool dry place. Like a mummy in a tomb. Preservation.

Never had a disc rot on me, in fact until now I've never heard of this.

The oldest CD I have is 34 years old and it still looks perfect and plays perfectly.

The number one fear of physical media collectors 😱

I’m more concerned with ME rotting away in 30 years than my BluRays.

I have found this really has only ever affected my discs that are cheaply made. Mostly cdrs. A couple of my laserdiscs as well. Heat is a major enemy of physical media! Of my 10,000 plus discs across all media, less than a dozen have died from media rot. I have CDs from the 80’s that are still perfect. Those dozen or so discs, at least half were cheap cdrs. So out of 9500 factory replicated discs, only about 5 or 6 were bad.

I have DVDs and PS1 games that are over 20 years old that still work today. I even have 30+ year old records that still work today. Blu rays are much more durable as far as disc decay goes. Newer discs probably have a lifespan of 40-50 years. If it can last that long I'm good lol.

I have only seen rot in my Laserdiscs...fairly frequently even. Some of my oldest DVDs are from the mid-late '90s, and none of them have any rot and I have cds from the '80s that are all fine too.

Im a retro video game collector and the ps2 is my absolute favorite piece of hardware. I buy the original format of the games even though they’re free and easy to emulate; because I treasure the experience and physicality. I did begin to worry about disc rot after buying more rare games. This video help me stay confident in collecting.

I’ve had a few old DVDs get bad disc rot, but likely because they weren’t taken care of (before I became a collector) and was probably because of exposure to 110°+ Arizona heat while we moved

I’m a devout dvd collector and this has always been my fear. I even check all my discs regularly for any signs of damage

so when i lived in texas, my family put my DVD collection in the attic where heat was really bad... i got that collection back and well... most of it works except for one box set of Aqua teen hunger force :< buuuuttt my blurays have been fine, it takes while for them to rot.

fun fact: there's this record disc called m-disc that claim that they last a thousand years

Disc Rot is phoney. Doesn't happen if the disc is not damaged. I speak from 35 years experience.

I've been a physical media movie and tv collector for over 26 years since I was 13, I've collected various formats through the years and have never experienced disc rot, never knew it was a thing till now.

Warner Bros HD-DVD discs are notorious for this. I’ve got about a dozen in my collection that are unplayable now. This is unique though, most people don’t even know what HD-DVD was much less collect them like me.

I've been buying DVD's and Blu Rays for about two decades now, and I've only had one disc that entire time that MIGHT have been disc rot. If you take care of them, they should be good for a very long time.

I’ve seen how badly some people treat their discs. You see scratches and fingerprints. That’s why I don’t lend my discs to anyone.Fortunately there are streaming services.

Disc rot exists on Warner Bros HD DVD’s.

I have a Fleetwood Mac CD of 1988 and it still works perfectly.

if I was rich , I'd just buy 5 bluray players as backups and hope they last for 10+ years.

I work in medical imaging and one place I worked at in the early 2000s archived their images on DVD-Rs. We had a significant number of them become unreadable after seven or eight years. Having said that commercially made DVDs and Blu-Rays use a totally different method of "burning" the data on the media, and are much more stable than DVD-R media. I have personally never commercially made CD, DVD, or Blu-Ray disk go bad.

I live in the upper midwest, about 70 miles west of Chicago ..... our winters are unbelievably, bitterly cold and dry (wind chills of -35 in January) .... and our summers are horribly hot and hella-humid; for instance, today is July 27, and it's going to get up to about 96 degrees today, with very High humidity. My point is that we have horrible heat and humidity, in summer, and I have been collecting (and, therefore, storing) CDs for 34 years, now, and I've never had a CD with disc rot. Ever. Most of my music CDs are stored inside large, closed plastic tubs, as I have cats, and .... as I say, I've never experienced disc rot .... if anyone cares lol

All of my cds are fine, including the first ones I bought in 1984. Store and handle properly...no high heat , water humidity, and keep them in plastic (not paper) cases...and don't loan them to anyone.

I know this exists, but I haven't had this happen at all, in 30 years of collecting CDs, DVDs, and Blu Rays. But,i have always stored them well.

Great video. Just a note: there have been articles and forum discussions about the imminent death of laserdiscs for 20+ years. There was even a high-profile, hysterical article calling laser rot “a tragedy.” It’s 2021 and the laserdiscs are fine-almost all of them! They’re fine! I started collecting them a few years ago (like a vulture, I waited until the world had completely forgotten the retro-futuristic media format I always lusted after as a kid-I’ve bought a ton of discs for a dollar each that have ancient $30 price tags on the wrap). Even discs that were clearly stored carelessly and shipped to me in crates without bubble wrap... are all fine. People worry too much. Like the man said: don’t leave your discs out in 100 degree heat in a swamp or freezing temperatures in the Arctic tundra, and you’ll be okay.

True! I'm more worried about the availability of the necessary hardware to play the various physical media and how to get replacement parts for them. What I'm most worried about however that negates all those worries is how shortlived digital media and streaming services can be and how for example even singleplayer games today can't be played in 10 years from now because the servers/service they run on might be shut down and movies and series can be removed because of licensing issues or stupid things like cancel culture. I try to limit my collection of physical media because it will get harder and harder to actually use and play them over time. But the things I really enjoy and care for I must have physical. I don't trust digital media and how it is currently run.

I’ve got one blu ray that’s rotting presumably due to faulty manufacturing. I’ve never had a CD or DVD rot. I’ve got quite a few cds from the 80s and they play perfectly even with scratches. Scratches in a CD aren’t nearly as bad as scratches on dvds.

My father chose to store his music collection in binder-style cd cases with cloth sleeves back in the 90s. After sitting in them for 20+ years, all 200 of his cds now have mild "oxidization" or cloudiness somewhere within the cds' layers. The cds still work but they don't look as good as cds that have been kept in jewel cases their entire lives. Now I'm transferring them back to jewel cases to hopefully halt the oxidization.

I melted some CD's in my car one time. Luckily, they were just CD-R's, so nothing was really lost. I did learn that direct sunlight does destroy 'em.

In over 20+ years of collecting discs, I’ve only had 1 cd and 1 dvd exhibit signs of disc rot.

We'll all be probably be dead before discs start to rot.

I have a CD collection I started 30 years ago, DVD collection I started 20 years ago, the first Playstation discs, Blu-Rays. And I've never even heard of this issue.

Disc rot is a serious problem with laser discs. As for CDs-DVDs, I have the feeling that the older ones get along better with it than the newer and cheaper made ones. the best thing you can do is to store them in a cool dry & dark environment ( and make some safety koppies )

That's a collection. I only have just over 600. But in my defense I also collect cds and video games. And I've only been collecting 5 years. Lol

My DVD copy of the grim adventures of Billy and Mandy and zathura both fell victims to disc rot for no apparent reason and good luck trying to find Billy and Mandy now it's over $100 for that set

Warner Brothers DVDs have a lot of disc rot issues. There is a big list of them floating around the web. My entire season box sets of Babylon 5 were completely toasted and I had to buy the Blu Rays. Bogart Signature 2 box set has disc rot. The Superman season sets 5&6, and The Man From Uncle complete box sets also have rot. Those are all Warners titles. Not sure which studio it was, but I also had disc rot with a Blu ray of "The King Of New York" with Christopher Walken. I have 6 players, 3 Blu and 3 4K, and these discs refused to load or locked up during play back. I have a varied collection of Laser Discs, DVDs, Blu Rays, and 4Ks. I have been around for awhile, so I have experienced quite a lot of issues with discs.

I have 400 laserdisc’s from the ‘90’s. They cost $29 to $129. Way over 90% have rot. I stored them in the house, in custom shelves, on their edge, disc’s have envelopes, jackets have envelopes. It’s now a useless collection. My huge collection of CD’s (1500) , DVD’s (3000) and Blu-rays (couple hundred) have no issues at all. Rot sucks.

I have CDs that I bought in the 1980s that are still perfectly fine. Just take care of your stuff, and it'll be fine.

I've seen couple of bootleg discs that have this issue would happen to it! My oldest blu-ray is from 2007, and still works perfectly!

i have about 200 medias, DVD, Blu-Ray, PS1, PS2, CD-Rom, etc etc. Since 1997, only one rot, a pc game, only 5 years after purchase, to me, because poor manufacturing...

I keep lossing dvds and games. Over 30 in the last 5 years. They are stored in my living room. No strong change in heat or humidity. I dont buy anymore. This keeps happening. Just mention some of the ones I have lost, Shogun miniseries( 3 out of 4 discs) original back to the future DVD release. All 3 discs. Inherit the wind, fly boys, Tucker, over the top, the order, equilibrium, date night, tango & cash, Battlestar Galactica razor. In PS3 games mini ninjas, iron man and Gundam destiny warriors 2. This is real. No freaking joke.

So far, I have one PS1 Disc and four PC CD-Rs with disc rot. All of them being some of the newest discs in my arsenel. Need For Speed: V-Rally (PS1 Game) Need For Speed IV: High Stakes (PC) Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed (PC) Sonic Heroes Disc 2 (PC) HotWheels: World Race (PC) None of them have physical holes in them, but the data is missing and/or corrupted. All of those PC games used to work. When I got them as a kid, I was able to finish their installations, but not as of late. I bought V-RALLY used, but there's no visible damage on the disc, so idk.

I’ve been collecting movies on DVD since they first launched about 20 years ago and I have well over 1000 movies across DVD Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray, I have only experienced one DVD not working correctly anymore. The odds of this happening Are ridiculously low

I take steps to make sure that problem doesn’t happen

Personally I would rather take the risk of data rot than the risk of my movies disappearing off a digital store front

Member the days of VHS tapes when people put them on their car’s dash and they would just warp and bend in all kinds of funky ways.

Disc Rot is a thing??? Despite I barely touch my discs because of digital codes but when I do I've never had a problem. I'll touch my physical discs like 2-3 times a year.

I hope I don't get disk rot. I have 4k movies and about 600 CDs. I have not seen yet. I wonder if it's a like transferable to other disk. Masks for my movies. 😲😯

I have DVDs that are 24 years old and look as new now as when I bought them. As long as they’re kept in room temperature you have nothing to worry about.

1 in "literally a billion?" I bought a DVD copy of Pincess Mononoke that was pristine and it _immediately_ did not work. When I tried to return it they told me that I could not return a defective copy if it had already been opened, because America, and because morons. A few weeks ago I tried to watch my DVDs of Samurai Jack and two of the episodes won't play on disc 1, the last time I watched it was roughly 2 years ago, they had not been touched since then. If I struck "literally 1 in a billion" odds twice I should play the lottery.

My WB HD-DVDs developed disc rot rather quickly. I have several unplayable discs.

I have a bunch of DVD's that fell victim to disk rot, even new un scratched.

I been collecting DVD , video games , cd and other stuff I never had this problem

Yeah it seems like disk rot like most things are caused by manufacture defects and people who don’t treat their disks well...

I have about 1,200 discs and I have only had an issue with 2, both were replaced by the manufacture, so I don't think it is a huge issue either.

out of over 2000 cds iv got maybe under 40 discs tha have a slight disc hole issue but they still play well not problems so fare with playback

3:38 had that happen too me once with the wiiu version of breath of the wild, the game store replaced it for me no questions asked (not gonna say its name, because they are getting worse. but its the one we all hate but still buy from em)

I’ve been collecting cds dvds blu rays and 4K since the 80’s and have never had a disc do that

All my dad’s CDs from 30 years ago still work fine. Disc rot is supposedly much more rare for new formats including blu rays and 4K blu rays because of better manufacturing techniques.

My wife and I have been media hoarders since CDs in the mid 80’s. We collect records, CDs, DVD and Bluray including 4K. I have never lost a single disc to rot. I have seen it though, having been thru a million flea mkt and yard sale trips. I’d say about 50% were purchased new, the rest on the secondary market. At this point we have an 11 room house and let me warn everyone, managing a huge collection, well just be careful what you wish for lol. It can take over your house, and your life if you let it. On the flip side of that coin I’ll say I’ve been isolating at home since the virus hit and there are times I feel like a genius, because if I didn’t have my collection to occupy me all this time, I would have gone crazy. I can say we aren’t just hoarders, we truly love physical media and use it every single day. Starting to feel like it wouldn’t be a dumb idea to purchase a few high end players to store away for the future. I have some decent equipment, but the transports and lasers I hear can get scarce years after a model goes out of production. I think right now it’s more a problem with higher end gear by smaller companies that come and go. I’m a worrier, wish I wasn’t. Great video, I agree with everything you said. I’m not concerned about the rot at all. I was aware of it, and I have passed on many second hand CDs that I shopped in person because of it, or being what I call “cheese grated” where it looks like somebody purposely put the underside of the disc on asphalt and just went to town on it. CDs and DVDs are delicate. Even more so than records. I say if you love physical media, let your freak flag fly. A final warning... Do NOT recommend the huge binder books that hold discs. Seems like a wonderful idea, but it wasn’t for me. I’m in the process of making a dedicated movie room, I had 10 of the huge books, just for things I didn’t use much. I also saved every insert card/ title card in a box like 20+ pounds of title cards. I just bought a huge amount of new cases so I could put them back together to display. Even though every book was labeled as a stand alone genre, that was of little help. It was a complete nightmare matching discs to their cards and putting them back together to display now that we have a larger house. Nightmare, complete utter nightmare. I’d rather be raped by Bigfoot then do that again. Those books suck. We did it out of necessity at the time living in a smaller house. Never ever again. I don’t know anyone that ever wants to flip thru those books looking for something to watch. Physical media collections in excess of 10,000 discs are not a lot of fun managing. Yet, mine is still growing because I can’t stop. Truly a curse and a blessing. Take care!

I stored my cd wallet in a greenhouse for a week when i became homeless and every single copied disc started to peel and flake away with a type of mould growing inbetween the layers 😢

I have a huge collection of cassettes ......Do i have to worry about tapeworms ??

I have a copy of Reservoir Dogs that has turned "bronze", and will not play.

The majority of my HDDVD from Warner Brothers has disk rot and makes it unusable.

I have CDs manufactured as early as 1983. They are in good shape and have experienced no rot. It's all about taking care of your stuff.

Ive never seen any disc with rot in my life, and i love my medias.. i wonder if this is less of a problem in non super hot places like canada or something

Im more concerned about them getting rid of DVDs & Blu-rays because everyone seems to go to streaming now. I like both but unlike streaming services, dvds and blu-rays give the deleted scenes, alternate endings,etc. Stuff worth buying on disc while on streaming services you could be starting to binge watch a show for the first time you like and before you know it, they cancel out the show and let you keep it in your watchlist. It can happen at anytime, any movie/show series, any streaming service you suscribe to. So, if i had to pick one of the other, im all DVD/Blu-ray.

Keep them in their cases or boxes air tight in a dry place, don't let moisture and damp get onto them for any period of time and there shouldn't be an issue. I have CD's that are 20 years old that are as good as the day I bought them. You'd have to be operating at some level of negligence with your things to let this happen, you'd have to almost be looking to make it happen at this point.

The only disc rot I've experienced has been from burned discs in the early days of CD-Rs and some low quality bootlegs that turned bronze (still played). It can certainly happen but as long as you take care of your discs and there isn't a manufacturing problem, there isn't much to worry about much like the video discusses.

Only had one disc ever get disc rot. An was in a TV show set that I bought on ebay.

I’ve never once worried about disc rot. I’ve also never experienced it in 30 years. It doesn’t seem that common to me.

I've got CDs from 1983 that still play

Cleaning up my game collection tonight. When I open my Rogue Galaxy copy for PS2, and turned the disc, I saw smudge marks on the outer circle of disc and scratch-like stains in the innermost circle. Instantly, disc rot came to my mind. I bought the game few years ago as sealed, I opened it but never put in the console. So I put it, just to make sure it's playing and shockingly, it did not. I was devastated and put the game away from my collection and deleted it from my game collection excel list. But it bugged me, does disc rot really looked like this? So I searched online, how to clean up PS2 discs, and I stumbled a WikiHow article, it said spray the disc with a deodorant and clean it up with lintless fabric immediately - but with a fair warning that depends on what deodorant you use, it may render your disc unplayable ever again. So I sprayed deodorant to my disc, and clean it up with a glass cleaner fabric-thinking the game does not play, what could I even lose? Disc cleaned up, shiny as a glass. Put the game on my console and voila! It plays perfectly. I started to watch this video in a moment of desperation thinking it was disc rot, that this could happen any other game in my collection and I should inspect every single one of them in +600 games. After all, it revealed as wasn't disc rot, but I find your insight extremely thought provoking. Good job.

I have movies since the 70s & still collecting

I have over 500 laserdiscs, maybe 1% show rot due to manufacturing defects. Can't say I've ever experienced it with other optical discs, I think they're made with high QC standards!

I have 40 year old VHS out lasting 5 year old DVD's

Hd-dvd disc rot is a feature for Warner Brothers discs

Some Warner bros HDDVD'S were well known for having disc rot.

The thing to watch out for is recordable media. Cd-R, DVD-R, etc. they are rotting away as we speak due to the data being burned in an organic dye layer. Pressed CDs are generally not gonna have an issue with rot, though discs manufactured by PDO UK in the mid-80s to early 90’s tend to be very problematic. Basically guaranteed to be rotten. Dual layer DVDs (or those horrible double sided DVDs that were common in the early days of the format) can delaminate over time, but I really don’t know anyone who cares about anything on dvd, everything’s on Blu ray these days...

This is too far ahead. My fear is my VHS collection...dust particles and crumbling of the tape inside. Have some DVDs with skipping and shutting off the player, but that is more manufacturing issues than age.

Funny thing, I just experienced this recently. I bought 3 seasons of the tv show "Just shoot me", watched the discs once at time of purchase like 8 years ago and they've been sitting on my book shelf ever since. Away from sun, air conditioned. Well, I decided to revisit them recently and to my surprise I pull out discs one and two of season 1 and they both look screwed up. Like not scratches, but like the silver ink of the disc is all swirly and weird. Season 3 also had a disc that looks like it's getting hazy splotches. Anybody else experience this? I think it was shoddy manufacturing. Or can maybe unwiped fingerprints cause mold or deterioration after years?

I have CDs over 30 years old that still look brand new. And DVD'S, like the Star Wars prequel trilogy, like look brand new and play perfectly and are still nice and clear on a 4K TV. And cds still sound new. As well as blurays. I think it's all the way you take care of your things.

I would like studios to start utilizing M-DISC Blu-ray discs as M-DISC uses rock-like materials instead of the traditional organic dye to store the data. M-DISC claims the data stored on their discs will last 1,000 years! They offer 25, 50 & 100 GB capacity discs.

Been collecting the past 15 years, and I’ve literally never seen this.

I've been buying discs for more than 20 years, and have hundreds. The only problems I've encountered is my copy of Resident Evil Code Veronica for the Dreamcast, which did work perfectly, but then it just ended up stopping working, the disc still looks perfect, I've tried it on another Dreamcast and it still doesn't work. I've got no idea what is going on, and whether it has anything to do with disc rot. Then there was a Dreamcast disc that I had kept in the attic for a few years, when pulling it out, on the readable side of it I was surprised to see what look like small ring shaped water marks. I've tried cleaning them off but they wont come off, it's almost as though they might be under the plastic or in the plastic, I'm not sure if it still works, and I'm not sure if this is rot or not. And then lastly my copy of Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast, and a CD cleaning disc have developed one or two small holes on the label sides, as though the label has chipped/been scraped away, again, don't know if this is disc rot. All of my other discs are fine.

Thanks for not having the intro song. That plays too loudly and then I have to adjust the volume.

Didn’t know that disc’s rot, since I’ve never seen this on any of my dvds

Well Jeff. Long time viewer, first time commenting. I would certainly put out there to people that Disc rot isn't as common as it was with the likes of Laser disc and early DVD. The coating is different today. I agree with you on the advances of technology out dating the format. I myself, last month had to buy a new blu ray player after the one I had for 11 years had become out dated by newly released blu ray titles. The likes being distributed by Indicator and Eureka. You couldn't get picture, only the main menu with the sound of the film. The companies describe the discs as. "High bit rate discs". It's likely as well that T.V.s won't have HDMI or 4K outputs in the Future, much like scart. I would say this is where the real risk is with a vast collection. I can't justify signing up to every streaming service as they don't have everything you want and it's likely to be taken down at some point. Putting into consideration of the cost of these services as well. Once they get enough subscribers they increase the price annually. It's like paying for a film that you already have 10 times over. Don't worry people, disc rot is the least of your worries here.

Some say disc rot can take anywhere of 25 to 100 years to take effect, but physical media DVDs have not been around long enough to know otherwise.

I used to burn thousands of DVDs, and disc rot was a concern because the layers that are burned are chemicals. Retail Blu-rays and DVDs are pressed like you said. You don't have to worry about the chemicals breaking down due to age, light, normal heat, etc. It really depends on how the manufacturers make them. You expect them to be hermetically sealed, but you still shouldn't wash them. Only a little alcohol (not dry wipe cloths which scratch the plastic surface).

Disc rot does exist but it’s extremely rare. The examples featured in Jeff’s video are of the extreme nature to say the least. I’ve never seen it that bad so what on earth the owners of those discs have done to them is beyond me 🤷🏻‍♂️ The first time I ever came across this was when the original Terminator was released on DVD, so we’re going back 20 years or so. That was down to a storage issue. The disc kinda went cloudy and wouldn’t play. In fact barring one issue that was a reaction to the plastic case the issues have all been involving storage during the manufacture process. In all cases the discs go cloudy and are rendered unplayable. Like I said it’s a rare issue and I wouldn’t worry too much. Chances are you’ll maybe get one or even two. It happens with a DVD more than anything. I had it with an Original XBOX game once but again DVD style disc format. Never seen it with a CD or a blu-ray disc and chances are never will do.

I have literally never seen a disc do this....I'm kind of a collector but not like some people are...I think it must have everything to do with climate control and where you store them...I never willy nilly just get lazy and leave things out because I'm a clean freak....so it's either IN the player or in its case... I don't have a storage shelf. I keep them in a hope chest

I’ve got 35 year old CD’s which are all perfect like you say as long they are stored sensibly no issues 👍🏻

Had a several dvds fail to this, certain brands especially early pornos seem to have been produced on the cheapest discs known to man.

I have CDs from 1983. Still play perfectly. Keep your fingers off disc surfaces . Never clean as it scratches the surfaces . I’d be more worried about finding a blu ray player in a few years from now .... Many Disney Touchstone laserdiscs had laser rot . The Japanese laserdiscs I have - the complete Lost In Space , still play perfectly . That’s quality . I’ve never cleaned any of my discs . If you keep your fingers off the data side they should play for years . Yes, sometimes there are manufacturing grit problems with mainly covers . Inspect discs when you buy them . I hold every disc under a light and look for dirt etc . But NEVER wipe the disc surface as it causes minute scratches on the surface no matter how good the cleaning cloth . Dust and manufacturing grit can easily be blown off . NEVER ever rotate discs in their clamps . I see so many people unboxing blu rays and the first thing they do is rotate the discs in the covers - or worse , lay them on display on a dusty table lol

First I hear of this. I've collected DVDs nearly 20 years, never seen these. Even on my CDs.

At 47 minutes this video had 1.2k views, that's over 25.5 views every minute and 1 view every 2 seconds if I did my math correctly. Jeff, your channel is kicking ass and I'm so happy to see it :)