CD-ROM is an optical disc used to store digital data originally developed for storing digital audio. It has a flat, round shape coated with a reflective material. Data is stored on CD-ROMs in the form of pits and lands, which are read by a laser focusing on the disc's spinning surface. CD-ROMs can store up to 650-700 MB of data and are read at varying speeds up to 52x, while writing is slower up to 32x. They use file systems like ISO 9660 to organize data on tracks and sectors. CD-ROMs provide large data storage in a compact, portable format but have slow writing speeds and data cannot be rewritten.