Once-Beloved Home Video Formats That No Longer Exist

It is a terrible thing to realize you have become An Old.

I bought a few movies on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K recently; I’m working on a project, and I need access to their special features, most of which are not available in any form on streaming or online. As a result, the space next to my TV is filling up with lots of little black and blue plastic cases. When my youngest daughter spotted them sitting there recently, she asked “What are those things?”

“Movies,” I said.

“There are movies in there?” she replied in a voice steeped in confusion. (She sounded exactly like Christine Taylor tells Owen Wilson the files are in the computer in Zoolander.)

Even ten years ago, a bunch of physical media would not have generated such bewilderment from a child. Certainly when I was growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, no TV stand was complete without a stack of movies in some format or another. Not anymore. These days, most people look to streaming and clouds for their home entertainment. That goes for me too; I still own dozens of Blu-rays and 4Ks, but they’re mostly stored out of sight in closets and cabinets. Hence my daughter has no idea what a DVD is.

The digital revolution has consigned a lot of perfectly serviceable technology to the dustbin of history. It’s kind of incredible to look back at just how many formats have come and gone. In tribute to these once great home video formats — and also so I don’t have to explain this stuff to my daughter the next time she stumbles across my ancient VHS copy of Gymkata — here are ten of the most notable ones. (R.I.P.)

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