A method is provided for the optical recording of information in which an amorphous recording layer 4 having a composition according to formula (1) provided on a synthetic resin substrate (2) (Figure 1) in a maximum layer thickness of 150 nm is exposed to infrared laser light having a wavelength of 750-900 nm and pulsed in accordance with the binary information to be recorded with a pulse time of at most 200 ns. A cystalline area 6 (bit) having maximum dimensions of a few micrometres is formed in the amorphous layer in the exposed places. As optical recording element is also provided for use in the method.