Super Audio CD (
SACD) is a
read-only optical disc for
audio storage, introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by
Sony and
Philips Electronics, and intended to be the successor to their
Compact Disc (CD) format. While the SACD format can offer more channels (e.g.
surround sound), and a longer playing time than CD, research published in 2007 found no significant difference in audio quality between SACD and standard CD at ordinary volume levels.