Recording medium

A recording medium comprising a light-transmitting substrate having formed on one side thereof pregrooves, a light-absorbing layer provided on the pregrooved side of said substrate, and a light-reflecting layer provided on said light-absorbing layer, wherein said light-absorbing layer contains:

• (a) a first cyanine dye having an absorption band in a wavelength region of light for recording or reproduction, and which is represented by formula (I):
• ##STR9## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each represent an alkyl group having from 1 to 8 carbon atoms, and X.sup.- represents a counter ion, and
• (b) a second cyanine dye having an absorption band in a shorter wavelength region than that of said first cyanine dye and having a smaller absorption than that of said first cyanine dye in said wavelength region of light for recording or reproduction, and which is represented by formula (II):
• ##STR10## wherein R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 each represents an alkyl group having from 1 to 8 carbon atoms, and X.sup.- has the same meaning as defined above, and
• (c) a first quencher effective to prevent photodeterioration of said first cyanine dye and said second cyanine dye of the following structure:
• ##STR11## (d) a second quencher having the following structure:
• ##STR12## and wherein the weight ratio of the amount of said second cyanine dye to the amount of said first cyanine dye in said light-absorbing layer is designated .alpha. and has a value of from 1 to 3, and the weight ratio of the amount of said first quencher to the amount of said second quencher in said light absorbing layer is designated as .delta. and has a value of from 0.5 to 1, and the ratio of the total weight of said first quencher and said second quencher to the total weight of said first cyanine dye and said second cyanine dye is designated as .gamma. and has a value of from 0.25 to 0.5, and the product of .alpha. multiplied by .gamma. is a value of less than 1.1.