# How do you clean CD's?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-clean-cds/115972>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 26, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-clean-cds/115972 "2002-06-26T03:54:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-clean-cds/115972/1 "2002-06-26T03:54:03Z")

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I have several CD’s that accidentally got soda spilled on them. I took them out of the cases and dried them off. Is it OK to wipe them with a damp cloth? Are they ruined? Can they hurt my player if I try to play them. They really got soaked but the CD’s themselves dont look damaged.

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**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-clean-cds/115972/2 "2002-06-26T04:10:20Z")

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A special CD cleaner and cloth might be better than a plain old damp rag. They should be all right, I think. My CDs have gotten dropped, smudged and so forth and are still fine. If you are still concerned about the player/drive, there is a cleaning disk available for that too.

Best Wishes,  
Viva