The reflective layer is made of a silver and zinc alloy wherein the relationship between the amount of silver and the amount of zinc is defined by AgxZny, where 0.85<x<0.9999 and 0.0001<y<0.15. [0061] In another aspect, this invention is an optical storage medium with a first substrate having a pattern of features in at least one major surface and a first reflective layer adjacent the feature patt