There are some problems with packet writing, mostly due to the inability of some CD-ROM drives to deal with the gaps between packets. CD-ROM drives can become confused if they read into the gap, a problem complicated by read-ahead optimizations on some models.

There are two basic "philosophies" behind packet writing, fixed-size and variable-size. With fixed-size packets, the CD recorder writes data whenever it has a full packet. All packets in the same track must have the same size. It's relatively easy for a CD-ROM drive to skip over the inter-packet gaps if it knows where the gaps are ahead of time, but there's a large installed base of CD-ROM drives that aren't that smart. With variable-sized packets, the CD-ROM drive can't tell ahead of time where the gaps are.