Abstract The quaternary alloy In13Ag8Sb49Te30 sputtered on the polycarbonate substrate was used as the phase- change optical recording medium on the data storage disk. From DSC technique ,the relation between the crystallization temperatures and heating rates of the material could be obtained and the corresponding activation energy calculated by Kissinger''s plot method was 1.63 eV. The thermal stability of this material on amorphous state is satisfied. Through x-ray diffraction analysis, it conducts the results that the as- deposited recording film is initially an amorphous state , then becomes face center cubic (FCC) structure , and finally transforms to equilibrium stable hexagonal closed packed (HCP) structure with increasing annealing temperatures. Under the assumption of same phase transformation mechanisms for either the rapid laser heating or the slow furnace heating, we concluded that the phase transformation was mainly occurred between the amorphous state and FCC structure during the laser writing and erasing process on the recording layer.