The present invention relates to a polymethine complex and an optical recording medium using said polymethine complex. Through using the polymethine complex formed by combining a polymethine cation with a heat-inhibiting anion as the optical recording material in the optical recording medium, not only the heat inference caused by thermal decomposition of the dyes during high speed optical recording can be reduced or avoided, but also absorption coefficient, sensitivity and recording speed in the region of ultraviolet and visible light of 300˜800 nm wavelength can be increased. The optical recording medium according to the present invention can achieve high-speed writing and reading with Pi errors less than 280 in case that the reflective layer of the optical recording medium has a minimal thickness of 50 nm. Furthermore, the optical recording medium according to the present invention may comprise the polymethine complex as the sole optical recording material such that the optical recording medium can be recovered for reuse, which will reduce the cost of manufacture. The optical recording medium according to the present invention also permits that both red laser recording and blue laser recording are performed synchronically.