We thought it was gone.
Like VHS. Like cassette tapes. Like the phone book. The DVD was placed in the same category—a technological stepping stone toward something better. Faster. More… modern.
And then something happens.
In 2025 and 2026, the DVD begins to move again. Not as a nostalgic curiosity, but as a signal. A counter-movement. A reaction to something that has been quietly bothering us for a long time.
This isn’t about technology.
It’s about control.
The promise of streaming—and its downside
We live in a time where everything is available. One click away. One subscription away.
Platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video have built their entire business on convenience. And we loved it.
No shelves. No scratches. No waiting.
But the moment we shifted to access, we lost something else: ownership.
A film you “have” on a streaming platform isn’t yours. It’s borrowed. Temporary. Conditional.
And it shows.
Movies disappear. Series get removed. Licenses expire. Platforms purge their libraries. What existed yesterday is gone today—without explanation.
That’s where the crack appears.
Ownership as a quiet protest
Buying a DVD in 2026 is not just a format choice. It’s a statement.
You’re saying:
I want to own what I watch.
No one can remove it. No one can edit it. No one can quietly replace a version.
It’s the same logic behind vinyl’s comeback. Not because it was more practical—but because it felt more real.
The DVD may not be technically superior to streaming. But it is stable.
And in an unstable world, stability has value.
I opened the box again
And somewhere in the middle of all this… something unexpected happened to me as well.
I went to storage. That box you haven’t opened in years. Dust, cables, fragments of another life. And there it was.
My old DVD player.
I picked it up. Blew the dust off. Plugged it in. Found a movie—not ten, not a catalog, not a “watchlist.”
One film.
And that’s when it hit me.
There is a presence in this that we’ve lost.
No interface screaming for your next choice. No autoplay. No algorithm trying to pull you forward. Just me, the film, and time.
One film at a time.
And suddenly, it wasn’t nostalgia.
It was calm.
Generation Z – the unexpected carriers of the past
What’s most fascinating is that the movement isn’t driven by those who grew up with DVDs.
It’s driven by those who never needed them.
Generation Z, raised entirely in a digital world, is now turning toward the physical—not out of necessity, but out of desire.
For something that:
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Can be touched
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Can be collected
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Isn’t controlled by algorithms
Choosing a DVD means breaking the pattern. Leaving the scroll. Making a decision.
It becomes almost a ritual.
And maybe that’s exactly what we’ve been missing.
Algorithm fatigue
Streaming platforms know us better than we know ourselves. They track what we watch, when we pause, when we stop.
They serve us content.
The problem is, at some point, it no longer feels like our choices.
Many people today describe a strange emptiness: thousands of titles—nothing to watch.
The DVD doesn’t solve this by offering more.
It solves it by offering less.
One film. One choice. One evening.
And suddenly, watching becomes more present.
The return of the collector
Alongside this shift, a new kind of collector is emerging.
Not the nostalgic hoarder—but the conscious curator.
DVD and especially 4K Blu-ray become objects:
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Special editions
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Director’s commentary
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Uncut versions
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Steelbooks and limited box sets
This is no longer just about watching films.
It’s about understanding them. Preserving them. Owning them in their best possible form.
And here, physical media has a clear edge.
When history risks being erased
One of the most overlooked aspects of streaming is how fragile digital history actually is.
When content is removed, it doesn’t just disappear from a platform—it disappears from access.
Some films are no longer available anywhere. Some versions have been replaced. Some originals altered.
This creates a new role for physical media:
The archive.
The DVD shelf becomes a library. A safeguard against forgetting.
A market transformed—but not gone
The physical media market in 2026 is not dead. It has evolved.
It is:
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Smaller
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More niche
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More quality-driven
Instead of mass production, we now see:
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Boutique labels
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Restored classics
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Direct-to-consumer sales
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Collector-focused releases
It’s no longer a standard product.
It’s a premium one.
And paradoxically—that may be what saves it.
The cyclical nature of technology
We’ve long believed technology moves forward in a straight line.
But reality is more complex.
We leave something behind—only to later realize what we lost.
Vinyl proved that. DVD is confirming it.
This isn’t about going backward.
It’s about bringing something back that never should have been lost.
What does this say about us?
The return of DVD isn’t about discs.
It’s about us.
About a world where:
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Everything is available, but nothing is secure
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Everything is fast, but nothing is felt
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Everything is digital, but nothing is truly ours
And in the middle of that, people choose something as simple as a disc.
To insert it. Press play. And know that what they’re watching actually belongs to them.
The future – coexistence, not competition
Streaming isn’t going anywhere. It’s too convenient. Too embedded in our lives.
But DVD doesn’t need to win.
It just needs to exist.
As an alternative. As a statement. As an anchor in a drifting digital world.
Final thoughts
Maybe we don’t miss the technology.
Maybe we miss the feeling.
To choose. To own. To slow down.
I know one thing.
My DVD player is no longer hidden away.
It’s right there now. Ready.
For one film at a time.
By Chris...