HD DVD was designed to be the successor to the standard DVD format and is derived from the same underlying technologies. Since all variants except the 3x DVD employ a blue laser with a shorter wavelength, it can store about 3 1/2 times as much data per layer as its predecessor (maximum capacity: 17 GB per layer instead of 4.7 GB per layer). A 51 GB triple-layer spec has been approved; however no movies are currently scheduled for this disc type.

HD DVD is currently in a "format war" with rival format Blu-ray Disc, to determine which of the two formats will become the leading carrier for high-definition content to consumers.

In an attempt to avoid a costly format war, the Blu-ray Disc Association and DVD Forum started to negotiate a compromise in early 2005. One of the issues was that Blu-ray's supporters wanted to use a Java-based platform for interactivity (BD-J), while the DVD Forum was promoting Microsoft's "iHD" (which became HDi). A much larger issue, though, was the physical formats of the discs themselves; the Blu-ray Disc Association's member companies did not want to risk losing billions of dollars in royalties as they had done with standard DVD. An agreement seemed close, but negotiations proceeded slowly.

On March 31, 2006, Toshiba released their first HD DVD player in Japan at US $934, which was the first HD player available to consumers, beating Blu-ray to the market by about three months. HD DVD was released in United States on April 18, 2006, with players priced at $499 and $799.

The first HD DVD titles were released on April 18, 2006.

HD DVD delivers the latest in high definition picture quality and the best sound you have ever experienced, and duplication can be done for those like it would be done for cd and dvd duplication.