Most of us have probably moved on to using Blu-rays now, but the old DVD might have just received a big shot in the arm. And I mean big.

A bunch of Chinese researchers have discovered a new method that could theoretically allow a single DVD to store 1,000 terabytes (1,024,000 GB) of data. That’s a whole petabyte of storage in a medium that when it was first introduced was only capable of 4.7GB.

The DVD format was limited by the size of the laser, which Blu-ray eventually surpassed by using even smaller lasers — but that too hit a limit. According to Gizmodo‘s conveniently simplified rundown of the process, the researchers have developed a new method that uses two lasers that can cancel each other out, effectively creating smaller pits on the disk and increasing the amount of capacity.

But before you toss out the Blu-rays, note that it might be some time before this technology will reach the consumer level. While the data can be created, they still need to figure out a way to actually read it. Also, burning a 1,000TB disc sounds like it could take awhile.

[via Gizmodo, image via Ravigopal Kesari]