My CD or DVD is skipping

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

Dirty CD

Usually a CD or DVD that skips or does not play properly is almost always caused because it is dirty, fingerprints, dust, dirt, hair, or any other substance on the disc can interfere with the laser reading the disc causing it to skip or have other minor glitches in specific parts of the disc.

Bad burn or copy of CD or DVD

If the skipping is occurring on a CD or DVD that has been copied (burned) by you or a friend it could have encountered errors during the creation causing various errors including skipping. To make sure this is not the issue try re-creating the CD or DVD again.

Dirty CD-ROM or other disc drive

In addition to a dirty 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 it's possible that the drive may by dirty.

Software not playing disc properly

If you're using a program such as a media player to listen to an audio CD, other music files, or to watch a movie make sure it's not the software program causing you errors by trying a different media player or other software program. Alternatively if you have access to another computer, car audio system, or TV DVD player try testing the CD or DVD on the it.

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 at all. If you've tried all the above solutions and are only encountering the skipping or other read errors with a single disc it's likely that disc is 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.