The Blu-Ray Disc Association (BDA) has announced that 4K ultra high definition Blu-ray will become a reality from this summer.

The BDA has announced that the discs will not only be able to store UHD quality video at 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, but they will also have high dynamic range and high frame rate too. This means the range of colours and light as well as frame rate will be vastly improved over the previous generation of Blu-ray.

Audio will also be enhanced with next generation object-based sound formats supported.

The BDA suggests the new discs will only work on new Blu-ray players that are able to play back the standard. These will deliver the content at a high bandwidth suggesting they will use HDMI 2.0 for data transfer. These players will also be backwards compatible meaning all your old Blu-rays won't need to be thrown out.

There's even a new logo to go with the format:

The new discs will support the "digital bridge" feature meaning once bought on disc the content will also be available digitally to watch on any device.

Licensing of the Ultra HD Blu-ray is scheduled to begin this summer so expect to see the players and discs become available after that time.

When exactly we can expect to see new Blu-ray players and discs has not been made clear.

READ: 6 reasons why not to buy the Star Wars Digital HD collection