The Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)

The DVD, short for Digital Versatile/Video Disc was initially introduced in late 1996. This evolved from the CD, which came out around 1982. The DVD was developed by several companies, including  Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, Time Warner, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Thomson, Hitachi, as well as JVC. The invention of the DVD cannot be traced to a specific person or entity. This digital optical disc storage format revolutionized consumer consumption of media in the late 1990s and early to mid-2000s.

At its peak, in 2005, DVD sales reached 16.3 billion dollars, composing 64% of the U.S. home video market. In comparison to videocassette tapes, which typically stored 120-160 minutes of media, DVDs ranged from 4.7GB to around 17.08GB. This allowed for extra content, such as deleted scenes, director’s commentary tracks, and other bonuses as well to be stored on just one disc.

During the Great Recession, from 2007 to 2008, DVD sales fell roughly 26%, from $15.7 billion to $11.6 billion. One theory was that DVD spending was cut as a result of disposable income going away. What truly shut down DVDs was the advent of affordable streaming services, during the 2010s, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, among others. DVDs were no longer needed to enjoy media, as these services were available whenever and wherever, with huge libraries of shows and movies, all at a fraction of the cost versus buying physical copies.