An optical recording medium composed of a base material and a laser light sensitive layer which contains an azulenium dye as storage material with or without a binder is obtainable by spin-coating a solution containing an azulenium dye of the formula ##STR1## where R is C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 -alkyl which may be substituted or unsubstituted, and n is 1, 2 or 3, with or without a binder and one or more solvents which have evaporation numbers of not less than 4 and in which an azulenium dye of the abovementioned formula has a solubility of not less than 5 g/l onto a transparent base material based on a plastics material or glass.