Philips CD-i

Overview

The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a digital optical disc data storage format as well as a hardware platform, co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA) and CD-ROM and specified in the Green Book specifications, co-developed by Philips and Sony, to combine audio, text and graphics. The two companies initially expected to impact the education and training, point of sale, and home entertainment industries, but the CD-i was used more in the end for its video games.

CD-i media physically have the same dimensions as CD, but with up to 744 MB of digital data storage, including up to 72 minutes of full motion video. CD-i players were usually standalone boxes that connect to a standard television; some less common setups included integrated CD-i television sets and expansion modules for personal computers. Most players were created by Philips; the format was licensed by Philips and Microware for use by other manufacturers, notably Sony who released professional CD-i players under the "Intelligent Discman" brand. Unlike CD-ROM drives, CD-i players are complete computer systems centered around dedicated Motorola 68000-based microprocessors and its own operating system called CD-RTOS, which is an acronym for "Compact disc – Real Time Operating System".

Media released on the format included video games and "edutainment" and multimedia reference titles, such as interactive encyclopedias and museum tours – which were popular before public Internet access was widespread – as well as business software. Philips's CD-i system also implemented Internet features, including subscriptions, web browsing, downloading, e-mail, and online play. Philips's aim with its players was to introduce interactive multimedia content for the general public by combining features of a CD player and game console, but at a lower price than a personal computer with a CD-ROM drive.

Specifications

Type

Home multimedia and game console

Discontinued

1999-06

Manufacturer

Philips

Media

CD-i disc

Models

• Initial version

Model names as listed by IGDB.

Sources

• Wikipedia overview and specifications
• IGDB model names
• Philips CD-i 450 Tietokonemuseo.JPG MKFI Public domain
• Philips CD-i 180 (1).jpg Marcin Wichary CC BY 2.0
• Philips-CDi-Roller-Controller.jpg Evan-Amos CC BY-SA 3.0

The overview is adapted from Wikipedia and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.

Checked October 2026.