NOVELTY - A nonaqueous electrolyte battery comprises: a positive electrode; a negative electrode having a negative electrode active material layer containing a negative electrode active material; a separator disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and a non-fluid electrolyte, where the non-fluid electrolyte contains an electrolyte salt, a nonaqueous solvent, an orthoester compound, and at least one member selected from cyclic carbonate compounds. A volume density of the negative electrode active material layer is greater than or equal to 1.50 g/cc and not greater than 1.75 g/cc.    USE - As nonaqueous electrolyte battery (claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The use of non-fluid electrolyte, in nonaqueous electrolyte battery suppresses an increase of the resistance even after long-term cycles, and the battery characteristics are kept. The battery using the non-fluid electrolyte provides high capacity retention rate and load characteristic and realizes low battery resistance. By using the compounds (i)-(v) in the nonaqueous electrolyte battery, a stable coating film is formed on the surface of the active material, thus a decomposition reaction of the electrolytic solution is suppressed.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - A nonaqueous electrolyte battery comprises: a positive electrode; a negative electrode having a negative electrode active material layer containing a negative electrode active material; a separator disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and a non-fluid electrolyte, where the non-fluid electrolyte contains an electrolyte salt, a nonaqueous solvent, an orthoester compound of formula R1-C(OR2)(OR3)(OR4) (i), and at least one member selected from cyclic carbonate compounds of formulae (ii)-(v). A volume density of the negative electrode active material layer is greater than or equal to 1.50 g/cc and not greater than 1.75 g/cc, and a specific surface area of the negative electrode active material is greater than or equal to 0.8 m2/g and not greater than 4 m2/g.    R1=H, alkyl or aryl (preferably H or aryl);    R2-R4=1-10C alkyl, halogenated alkyl or aryl (preferably methyl, ethyl or propyl);    R5-R8=H, halo, alkyl or halogenated alkyl (preferably fluorine, chlorine or bromine);    R9 and R10=H or alkyl;    R11-R14=H, alkyl, vinyl or allyl;    R15=alkylene.    Provided that: at least one of R5-R8 is halo or halogenated alkyl; and at least one of R11-R14 is vinyl or allyl. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for a nonaqueous electrolyte composition comprising the electrolyte salt; the nonaqueous solvent; the orthoester compound (i); and the cyclic carbonate compounds (ii) to (v).