At present, stated CD-R lifetimes are estimates based on accelerated aging tests, as the technology has not been in existence long enough to verify the upper range. With proper care it is thought that CD-Rs should be readable one thousand times or more and have a shelf life of several hundred years. Unfortunately, some common practices can reduce shelf life to only one or two years. Therefore, it is important to handle and store CD-Rs properly if it is necessary to read them more than a year or so later.
Real-life (not accelerated aging) tests have revealed that some CD-Rs degrade quickly even if stored normally. The quality of a CD-R disc has a large and direct influence on longevity -- cheap discs shouldn't be expected to last very long. Unfortunately, branding isn't a terribly good guide to quality, because many brands (major as well as no name) do not actually manufacture their own discs. Instead they are sourced from different manufacturers of varying quality. For best results, verify the actual manufacturer and material components of each batch of discs.
Burned CD-Rs suffer from material degradation, just like most writable media. CD-R media have an internal layer of dye used to store data. In a CD-RW disc, the recording layer is made of an alloy of silver and other metals — indium, antimony, and tellurium. In CD-R media, the dye itself can degrade causing data to become unreadable.
As well as degradation of the dye, failure of a CD-R can be due to the reflective surface. While silver is less expensive and more widely used, it is more prone to oxidation resulting in a non-reflecting surface. Gold on the other hand, although more expensive and no longer widely used, is an inactive material and so, gold-based CD-Rs do not suffer from this problem.
Permanent markers are commonly used to mark the label side of CD-Rs and DVDs. This practice has been discouraged because it is believed xylene and toluene, common substances in permanent marker ink, can cause surface deterioration. Additionally, volatile organic compounds may be released which will remain inside the enclosed atmosphere of a CD-R's storage box, causing harm.
Quality of writing matters: better recorders are capable of producing better burned discs with a better lifespan (and vice versa), and writing at lower speeds tends to produce burned discs with better lifespan than writing at higher speeds.
One last factor that affects the quality of a CD-R and influences its lifespan is the lacquer that is used to seal the CD-R and protect the dye and the reflective material from the influence of external materials such as air, water and alcohol.
