An optical recording medium containing a cyanine dyes of formula: ##STR00001## Where at least one pair of R1 & R2 and R3 & R4 are benzyl moieties, rings A and B are each a benzene or naphthalene ring, Y1 and Y2 are C 1-30 organic groups and An.sup.m- is an m valent anion, present in an integer p.