Below are different causes to why a CD or DVD may skip while being used.

Dirty CD

Usually, a CD or DVD that skips or does not play properly is dirty. Fingerprints, dust, dirt, and hair can interfere with the laser reading the disc causing it to skip or have other minor glitches in specific parts of the disc.

  • Computer cleaning information and steps.

Bad burn or copy of CD or DVD

If the skipping CD or DVD was copied (burned), it may have encountered errors during the burn process. If so, these errors may cause skipping when the disc is played. To make sure this is not the issue, try re-creating the CD or DVD again.

Dirty CD-ROM or other disc drive

A CD or DVD a drive can also be dirty from dust, dirt, or hair that enters the drive. If you’re encountering skipping or other read errors with multiple CD or DVD discs, the drive may by dirty.

Software not playing disc properly

If you’re using a media player to listen to an audio CD or DVD, try a different program and see if that works. If you can access another computer, car audio system, or TV DVD player, test the CD or DVD in that system as well.

CD or DVD scratched or otherwise damaged

If the CD or DVD has any significant scratches or cracks it can cause the CD or DVD to skip, stop playing, or not play. If you’ve tried all the above suggestions and only encounter problems with a single disc, the disc is likely bad and should be replaced.

Bad drive

Finally, if you’re encountering skipping or other random read errors with multiple different CDs or DVDs it’s likely that the drive itself is bad and should be replaced.

  • CD and disc drive buying tips.
  • How to install computer hardware.
  • See our CD, CD-ROM, and DVD definition for further information and related links.
  • CD-ROM help and support.