Gold compact disc

{{about|CDs which use gold for the reflective layer|the audiovisual format featuring gold-coloured CD-sized discs|CD Video|the process of releasing software for mastering to disc|Going gold}}

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A gold compact disc is one in which gold is utilized in place of the high-purity aluminium or silver commonly used as the reflective coating on ordinary CDs and CD-Rs respectively. Gold disks are available as both CDs and CD-Rs as well, and are compatible with standard players and recorders.

The advantage of the gold reflection layer lies in its corrosion resistance. As such, gold CDs were seen as a potential solution to the incidence of CD rot on early CDs (mainly manufactured by PDO UK).{{Cite web|url= http://cdcollecting.com/gold-cds.html |title=GOLD CDS - CD COLLECTING.COM|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322131013/http://cdcollecting.com/gold-cds.html |archive-date=2013-03-22 | date=2013-03-22|access-date=2019-05-19}}

In 2014, Audio Fidelity, an American publisher of audiophile CDs, announced that it was abandoning the gold format and moving to the hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) format for future releases.{{Cite web|url=http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/audio-fidelity-drop-24k-gold-cds/|title=Audio Fidelity drop 24k Gold CDs |website= superdeluxeedition|date=March 4, 2014 |first=Paul |last= Sinclair | language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-19}}