3-inch CD single

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The 3-inch CD was released in France, Germany, Japan and Hong Kong in 1988. A 3-inch CD is manufactured using the same methods as standard 5-inch CDs, and can be played in most standard audio CD players and CD-ROM drives. Although the format was not widely available in the United Kingdom, several artists, such as Garbage, Catatonia and R.E.M. have released singles in the format.

From a technical standpoint, a 3-inch CD follows the Redbook standard for CD digital audio. The major difference is that the smaller physical size of the disc allows for fewer data sectors, meaning the disc can store less audio. The majority of audio CD players and CD-ROM drives have a smaller circular indentation in the CD tray for holding these discs. Some slot-loading drives, however, are unable to manipulate the smaller discs. (Such drives are commonly encountered in car CD players.)