Digipaks

An example of A 6-panel right-tray 

Digipaks have been used by artists for over a decade, they differ form the normal plastic 'Jewel Cases' as they typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. This allows for the artists to have more space for artwork and pictures, whereas the normal plastic cases only have a limited area space (usually the front and back of the case).

Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak or Digi-Pak is often used generically.
Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak (DVDigipak) is used as a premium package for DVDs and DVD sets.

The most common CD Digipaks is the 4 panel Digipak which opens like a book. However 6 panel CD Dipipaks are also very popular, providing a larger canvas for CD artwork and text information about the CD. 8 panel and even 10 panel CD Digipaks are also available. In fact, being made from cardboard stock, the number of panels, CD trays and CD booklets mean that CD Digipak combinations almost infinite – such versatility makes it is easy to see how the CD DigiPak has become such a popular CD packaging solution.