Optical fibre package and methods of making

A package (20) of wound optical fiber (22) includes a spool (23) on which are wound a plurality of layers with each layer comprising a plurality of convolutions of the optical fiber. The winding is accomplished such that each successive convolution is spaced from a preceding convolution. The spacing is such that on the third and further outer layers, each optical fiber is tangent to each of two adjacent convolutions of a previously wound layer and to one convolution of the next inner layer. Also, each convolution in each layer after an innermost layer crosses transversely optical fiber of an immediately preceeding layer in two relatively closely spaced locations and such that crossovers in successive layers are staggered circumferentially of a winding surface. Because of the nesting which is caused to occur, excellent density, package rigidity and stability are achieved. Further, winding abnormalities such as crossovers are substantially reduced, resulting in a package of optical fiber which exhibits very low loss due to winding.