While the production of standalone Blu-ray players is in decline, the format still offers consumers some advantages over streaming, such as content ownership, better audio-visual quality, and no internet dependency.
Owning a Blu-ray disc gives the owner ownership in the same way that a bookshelf full of books does.
It can be held, loaned, and ripped for personal use, and watched anywhere, without the need for a subscription or worrying that a streaming platform will remove it due to licensing issues.
There are also less compressed versions of a movie on a Blu-ray disc as streaming services compress content to send high-resolution video over average internet connections, resulting in fewer details and poorer visuals.
In addition, audio quality is better on Blu-ray discs as they offer lossless formats such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, compared to the compressed formats used by streaming services.
Other advantages of Blu-ray over streaming include a wider range of special features, for example, behind-the-scenes footage, director’s commentaries, and collector’s editions, as well as better resale value.
