During nearly two decades of existence, the DVD has been the most popular video format within digital technology worldwide. It has many capabilities that older formats do not have. The DVD format was introduced in Japan in December 1996, then in North America in March 1997, and in Europe in March 1998.
DVDs can carry parental control features, limiting access to age-appropriate content. They support anamorphic widescreen, designed for 16:9 television sets when watching a DVD with a film presented in widescreen. The aspect ratio of the film can also be 1.85:1, 2.35:1, etc., but the anamorphic feature can only extend the screen by just over 200 pixels wide, since the resolution of a typical DVD is 480i/480p.
DVDs hold a capacity of up to 4.7 (Single Layer) or 8.5 (Dual Layer) gigabytes, depending on how much capacity the film contains. Most films are stored in Dual Layer discs; if so, about halfway through the movie, a layer change occurs.
A DVD can have up to 8 audio tracks, 32 subtitle tracks, and 9 video angles. Sometimes, an audio or subtitle track can be identified as an "unknown language", usually if no dialogue is spoken or if the subtitle track is really a DVD cursor.
Beware -- DVDs do indeed have regional lockout. The region codes are listed as follows:
| 1 | United States, Canada, U.S. territories |
| 2 | Japan, Western Europe, Middle East, South Africa |
| 3 | South Korea, Taiwan (Republic of China), Hong Kong, Southeast Asia |
| 4 | Mexico, Central America, The Caribbean, South America, Australia |
| 5 | Africa, Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia, Russia, North Korea |
| 6 | People's Republic of China |
Often times, DVDs from the six major film studios may be coded for more than one region and therefore contain warning screens designed for DVD players coded for each region. If this happens, these DVDs may be RCE (Regional Coding Enhancement) protected.
.VOB_20160203_073308.922.jpg "Region Code Enhancement (1999).VOB 20160203 073308.922.jpg (74 KB)")
Of course, the NTSC and PAL formats also do matter. NTSC is used in North America, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Latin America; all other countries (Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, etc.) use PAL. DVDs carry up to 99 titles and have selection menus, which is the reason why we get special features of films like in laserdiscs.
Audio CDs and VCDs are backwards compatible with DVD players.
Titles released on DVD
Movies
Note: The first production date of a DVD is determined by when all content on the disc was last modified. This means that all content you see in the DVD was filmed or created prior to this date.
| Title | First produced | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| The Mask (Pan & Scan edition) | February 16, 1997 | March 25, 1997 |
| The Mask (Letterbox Widescreen edition) | February 22, 1997 | March 25, 1997 |
| Home Alone 2: Lost in New York | August 3, 1999 | October 5, 1999 |
| The Lion King II: Simba's Pride | September 9, 1999 | November 23, 1999 |
| The Wizard of Oz (1999 DVD) | September 14, 1999 | October 19, 1999 |
| A Bug's Life (Collector's Edition) - Disc 2 | September 20, 1999 | November 23, 1999 |
| A Bug's Life (Collector's Edition) - Disc 1 | September 21, 1999 | November 23, 1999 |
| The Aristocats | February 4, 2000 | April 4, 2000 |
| Pocahontas | April 13, 2000 | June 6, 2000 |
| Toy Story 2 (from Ultimate Toy Box Collector's Edition) | September 15, 2000 | October 17, 2000 |
| Toy Story (from Ultimate Toy Box Collector's Edition) | September 19, 2000 | October 17, 2000 |
| Supplemental Features for Toy Story & Toy Story 2 | September 29, 2000 | October 17, 2000 |
| The Goonies | July 6, 2001 | August 21, 2001 |
| How the Grinch Stole Christmas | July 9, 2001 | November 20, 2001 |
| Shrek - Disc 2 | August 8, 2001 | November 2, 2001 |
| Shrek - Disc 1 | August 28, 2001 | November 2, 2001 |
| Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Disc 1 (Widescreen) | January 9, 2002 | May 28, 2002 |
| Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Disc 2 | March 15, 2002 | May 28, 2002 |
| Monsters, Inc. - Disc 2 | May 22, 2002 | September 17, 2002 |
| Monsters, Inc. - Disc 1 | May 28, 2002 | September 17, 2002 |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Disc 1 | January 13, 2003 | April 11, 2003 |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Disc 2 | January 29, 2003 | April 11, 2003 |
| Spirited Away | March 5, 2003 | April 15, 2003 |
| Hook (Superbit Edition) | June 19, 2003 | September 9, 2003 |
| Finding Nemo - Disc 1 | July 24, 2003 | November 4, 2003 |
| Finding Nemo - Disc 2 | July 25, 2003 | November 4, 2003 |
| The Lion King 1½ - Disc 2 | December 2, 2003 | February 10, 2004 |
| The Lion King 1½ - Disc 1 | December 5, 2003 | February 10, 2004 |
| The Cat in the Hat | January 6, 2004 | March 16, 2004 |
| Shrek 2 | June 27, 2004 | November 5, 2004 |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Disc 2 | September 2, 2004 | November 23, 2004 |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Disc 1 | September 8, 2004 | November 23, 2004 |
| The Incredibles - Disc 2 | December 4, 2004 | March 15, 2005 |
| The Incredibles - Disc 1 | December 21, 2004 | March 15, 2005 |
| Ice Age (2005 re-release) | December 29, 2004 | February 8, 2005 |
| The Mask (Special Edition DVD) | March 31, 2005 | May 17, 2005 |
| Matilda (Special Edition) | April 5, 2005 | June 7, 2005 |
| The Wizard of Oz (Three-Disc Collector's Edition) - Disc 3 | August 1, 2005 | October 25, 2005 |
| The Wizard of Oz (Three-Disc Collector's Edition) - Disc 1 | August 15, 2005 | October 25, 2005 |
| The Wizard of Oz (Three-Disc Collector's Edition) - Disc 2 | September 6, 2005 | October 25, 2005 |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Disc 2 | December 13, 2005 | March 7, 2006 |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Disc 1 | December 19, 2005 | March 7, 2006 |
| Ice Age: The Meltdown | September 1, 2006 | November 21, 2006 |
| Cars | September 22, 2006 | November 7, 2006 |
| Home Alone: Family Fun Edition | September 22, 2006 | November 21, 2006 |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Disc 1 | August 2, 2007 | December 11, 2007 |
| Shrek the Third | August 29, 2007 | November 13, 2007 |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Disc 2 | September 7, 2007 | December 11, 2007 |
| The Aristocats (2008 Special Edition) | December 7, 2007 | February 5, 2008 |
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs | August 13, 2009 | October 27, 2009 |
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Disc 1 | September 4, 2009 | December 8, 2009 |
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Disc 2 | October 14, 2009 | December 8, 2009 |
| Diary of a Wimpy Kid | May 7, 2010 | August 3, 2010 |
| Despicable Me | September 30, 2010 | December 14, 2010 |
| Shrek Forever After | October 7, 2010 | December 7, 2010 |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - Disc 1 | February 2, 2011 | April 15, 2011 |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - Disc 2 | February 23, 2011 | April 15, 2011 |
| Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules | April 20, 2011 | June 21, 2011 |
| The Lion King (Diamond Edition) | June 18, 2011 | October 4, 2011 |
| Cars 2 | August 15, 2011 | November 1, 2011 |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - Disc 1 | August 24, 2011 | November 11, 2011 |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - Disc 2 | September 22, 2011 | November 11, 2011 |
| The Aristocats (2012 Special Edition) | June 8, 2012 | August 21, 2012 |
| Ice Age: Continental Drift | September 21, 2012 | December 11, 2012 |
| Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days | October 2, 2012 | December 18, 2012 |
| Wreck-It Ralph | January 3, 2013 | March 5, 2013 |
| Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (2013 DVD) | May 24, 2013 | October 8, 2013 |
| Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (2013 DVD) | May 29, 2013 | October 8, 2013 |
| Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (2013 DVD) | May 30, 2013 | October 8, 2013 |
| Monsters University | August 14, 2013 | October 29, 2013 |
| Despicable Me 2 | September 13, 2013 | December 10, 2013 |
| Frozen | January 20, 2014 | March 18, 2014 |
| Annie | January 28, 2015 | March 17, 2015 |
| The Peanuts Movie | December 22, 2015 | March 8, 2016 |
| Zootopia | April 8, 2016 | June 7, 2016 |
| Ice Age: Collision Course | August 3, 2016 | October 11, 2016 |
| Finding Dory | August 23, 2016 | November 15, 2016 |
| Sing | January 30, 2017 | March 21, 2017 |
| Cars 3 | August 21, 2017 | November 7, 2017 |
| Despicable Me 3 | October 6, 2017 | October 27, 2017 |
| My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) | November 7, 2017 | January 9, 2018 |
With 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray titles hitting stores as of 2016, DVDs are expected to decline in sales. However, they still continue to appear in many stores today.