A method of writing data to a CD-R or CD-RW disc a single track at a time. This enables recording to be paused between tracks, with the ability to add additional tracks in later sessions.
In TAO recording, the disc drive’s laser is turned off after each track is finished, and back on when it’s time to write a new track. Tracks recorded in Track-at-Once mode are often divided by brief gaps. If a data track is followed by an audio track, the gap is two or three seconds. The gap between audio tracks is usually two seconds. However, many CD-authoring applications offer ways to avoid such gaps.