You can use a bottle of distilled water if you can’t find rubbing alcohol anywhere. Do not use tap water as it may have some salt in it and this will cause further damage to your DVD.

When handling the DVD, hold the disc by the edges. Holding the middle of the disc or other areas may cause further damage.

Wipe from the center to the outside around the entire disc. Avoid wiping the disc in a circular motion. This will cause more scratches and further damage the DVD.

Try using another DVD in the player. If that DVD doesn’t skip, your other DVD is broken. If it does skip, it’s likely that your DVD player is at fault.

The scratch might be tiny. If you can see it, it’s likely that it’s causing problems with your DVD playback.

Some people advise using a toothbrush to add the toothpaste to the scratch. This is a bad idea as some toothbrushes have thick bristles that will scratch the surface of your DVD.

Conventional wisdom says to never use circular motions to clean a DVD. This is true for the most part but you have to use circular motions to remove the scratch from the surface.

Avoid using tap water as the salty minerals will erode the surface of the disc.

There’s another scratch you need to clean. Chances are that you cleaned 1 scratch of many on the surface of the DVD. If the DVD won’t work after you cleaned the first scratch, use toothpaste on the others. There’s a problem with your DVD player. Blow into the disc feed to clean dust away from the reading lens. If the DVD still skips, try putting another DVD in the DVD player. If that works without a problem, your DVD is probably damaged beyond repair.

Lay the leads and cords on a couch or another area. Separate them from each other to avoid tangling.

Avoid wiping the electrical outlets on the player with the damp cloth. [12] X Research source

If you don’t have a small nozzle, put another attachment on the end of the vacuum. Using the vacuum with no attachments might cause damage to the inside of the machine with the power of the vacuum.

Don’t try to jam the vacuum inside the machine. Gently placing it against the opening will do the trick.

Add some rubbing alcohol to your cotton swab for a more thorough clean.

If the DVD does skip, try another DVD. If that skips too, then it’s likely that your DVD player is broken.