There are several different types of DVD writable drives available in the market as follows:

DVD-R: Can write to a blank disc once. The discs are compatible with most recent DVD video players.

DVD-RW: Can be written and rewritten to. The discs are compatible with most recent DVD video players.

DVD+RW: Can be written and rewritten to. They can read and write to DVD-Rs. The discs are compatible with some DVD video players.

DVD-RAM: Can be written and rewritten to. The discs are not compatible with most DVD video players as of this writing.

Blu-ray Disc: A format not yet available as of this writing that allows for up to 27GB of data to be stored on a single DVD disc.

Some multi-standard drives are available. There are also discs with multiple layers and discs that can be flipped over to record on the other side, increasing the data capacity.