A sputtering target contains a target material including as constituent elements Ag, In, Te and Sb with the respective atomic percents (atom.%) of α, β, γ and δ thereof being in the relationship of 0.5 ≦ α α + β + γ + δ = 100 , and a method of producing the above sputtering target is provided. An optical recording medium includes a recording layer containing a phase-change recording material which includes as constituent elements Ag, In, Te and Sb with the respective atomic percents of α, β, γ and δ thereof being in the relationship of 1 ≦ α α + β + γ + δ = 100 , and is capable of recording and erasing information by utilizing the phase change of the recording material in the recording layer. A method of forming the above recording layer for the optical recording medium is also provided. In addition, there is provided an optical recording method using the above-mentioned phase-change optical recording medium.