An optical recording medium contains, on a base, one or more dyes and a polymer which forms liquid-crystalline phases.The information is written into the uniformly oriented liquid-crystalline polymer layer, for example by means of a laser. During this procedure, the polymer heats up locally to above a phase transition temperature. By cooling, the resulting change is frozen in the glass state.The information can be erased by applying an electric field and/or heating.The recording material permits high-contrast storage and possesses high sensitivity, good resolution and excellent stability.