# Can a DVD wear out?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-wear-out/141160
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 7, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-wear-out/141160 "2002-12-07T19:08:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-wear-out/141160/1 "2002-12-07T19:08:42Z")
I’ve watched _Billy Elliot_ every day since the day I bought it. So that’s been, oh, just over twenty times. And then I got to wondering whether I was lessening the life of the disc. Is it like a vinyl record album where the needle can wear it out? Or like a tape, where the tapehead can eventually wear out the tape? Is the process of a DVD being read destructive in any way?
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### Author:  [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-wear-out/141160/2 "2002-12-07T19:28:51Z")
Although there is some disagreement about the lifespan of optical media like CDs and DVDs, generally speaking playing them in a correctly operating player shouldn’t have much effect on whatever that lifespan is going to be.
The disks are read via laser without any physical contact with the disk surface. The laser that reads the disk probably causes some small amount of warming in the small spot it is currently reading, but I’ve never read anything to suggest that it is enough to have any effect, even long term.
Now if your player is screwed up and scratches the disk, or you scratch it (or otherwise damage it loading and unloading it) then you’ve got a different situation.
Ugly
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### Author:  [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2002, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-wear-out/141160/3 "2002-12-07T19:37:27Z")
The master spoke on a related subject… [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020816.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020816.html)
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### Author:  [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2002, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-wear-out/141160/4 "2002-12-08T01:27:54Z")
There seem to be quite a few faulty rental DVDs, presumably from scratches.
Other than that, playing does not wear it out any more than CDs.
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### Author:  [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2002, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-wear-out/141160/5 "2002-12-08T01:47:51Z")
And fingerprints. Try cleaning it before taking it back to the rental place, you may save yourself a trip.