To help you get a thoroughly understand of the difference between DVD5, DVD9, DVD10 and DVD18 disc formats, we will publish the following article to clarify the difference in storage capacity, supported DVD formats, playback ability, price and how to make suitable usage of those DVD disc types.
Mainly difference in size, formats, playback and price
DVD-5 is a single-sided single-layer disc which is supported by DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW. And it is the most common DVD media. It can hold about 4.7GB of data. DVD5 can be used on DVD-ROMs & DVD burners. The price of DVD is much cheaper than other DVD disc types and it is also reusable.
DVD-9 is a single-sided dual-layer disc which is supported by DVD+R and DVD-R formats. It is also called DVD+R9/DVD+R DL. It can store 8.5GB of data. DVD9 can be used on DVD-ROMs & DVD burners. The price of DVD9 is costly than DVD5 and it is not reusable.
DVD-10 is a double-sided single-layer disc which is equivalent to two DVD-5 discs and is supported by DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW formats. It can contain 9.4 GB of data with 4.7 GB on each side. DVD10 can not used on DVD-ROMs & DVD burners. The price of DVD10 is very expensive and it is a reusable DVD disc type.
DVD-18 is a double-sided dual-layer disc which is equivalent to two DVD-9 discs. It is supported by DVD+R format. It can hold 17.1 GB of data with 8.5 GB on each side. DVD10 can not used on DVD-ROMs & DVD burners. The price of DVD is very expensive and it is not a reusable DVD disc type.
When to use DVD 5 or DVD 9
As two of the most common and price affordable DVD disc type, you may have no clue how to use them correctly under different situations. Generally, you can pick the DVD format according to the source movie. If the source movie has a high bitrate then you will need to use a high compression to ensure better results than a movie with a low bitrate. DVD5 format is mainly used for movie titles and to reduce the amount of compression, while DVD9 is usually used for movies which has a lot of interactive menu and the TV series which normally has around 7 episodes per disc.
Generally, DVD disc can be directly played on computer with your installed DVD player or the free apps such as handbrake. To have a more flexible DVD movie enjoy experience, you can utilize some DVD Ripper tool to convert and backup DVD in common file formats onto USB flash drive, NAS server for transferring and watching on tablet, media player or virtual reality device.