Physical media is very popular these days. Nostalgia, fandom, and streaming burnout have led certain segments of American society to turn off their Amazon Prime accounts and fire up their Blu-ray players. One of the many touted benefits of physical media is that it offers a more permanent and definitive form of media ownership than a streaming service. But how durable are your Blu-rays? And is physical media really designed to last?
I wanted to research the lifespan of most physical media products to find out how long these products would last. The unsatisfactory answer I found was: It depends. Here’s a quick look at what can (and can’t) definitely be said about the longevity of your home media library.
VHS tapes
Let’s start with a lesser-known part of the physical media world: VHS collecting. It is a known fact that VHS tapes deteriorate over time and this is to be expected due to the decay of various chemical elements collapses at a rate of 10 to 20 percent every 10 to 25 years. However, VHS is still a surprisingly robust medium. While some people would like you to believe that VHS lifespan is natural is only about 30 yearsI have recordable tapes that I recorded in the 1990s that still work perfectly. I also occasionally buy commercially mass-produced VHS tapes for nostalgia’s sake, and yes, even though the picture quality is usually poor, they still serve their purpose (if you’re watching VHS in 2024, I suspect you do). (not because of the image quality).
Disc Life: DVDs vs. Blu-Rays
While there may be a few eccentric VHS fans, most physical media fans will be collectors of Blu-rays and DVDs. What is the lifespan of such a collection? The bad news is: no one really knows.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much open source information about the longevity of mass-produced commercial Blu-rays, technically read-only discs or BD-ROMs. The Blu-ray Disc Association, which developed and owns the technology behind the discs, ignored several emails I sent them, and the people I spoke to about the issue couldn’t give me a concrete answer. What’s problematic is that the few studies that exist that include tests on Blu-ray longevity are generally focused on writable data carriersnot BD-ROMs. Recordable Blu-rays, so-called BD-Rs, usually have a different lifespan than write-protected discs.
So what’s the best estimate of how long your Blu-ray collection will last? The most succinct answer we could find was: At least 10-20 years.
Ern Bieman, a digital conservator at the Canadian Conservation Institute, told me that commercially produced Blu-rays – if undamaged and stored properly – should last at least 20 years. “They could certainly last longer, but you shouldn’t rely on that,” Bieman said. “Discs, whether optical discs or other media, deteriorate from the first day you receive them.”
Unfortunately, the longevity of the DVD is also a mystery. One of the few items in existence on DVD lifespans notes that “little information” is available about “DVD-ROM discs” and that there is therefore “an increased level of uncertainty regarding their life expectancy”. The expectations for these discs vary between 20 and 100 years.”
The scourge of “disc rot”
Blu-rays and other optical discs are made of polycarbonate substrate, also called plastic. Environmental factors can degrade or damage a disc’s plastic material over time if not properly protected, leading to playability problems. This phenomenon is widely known as “disc rot”.
Disc rot can be due to poor ownership practices. Of course, if you drop or scratch a disc, it can significantly affect playability. But other environmental influences can also contribute to the deterioration of an intervertebral disc. Excessive heat and light can damage or deform the physical nature of a disc, so disc owners are advised to store them in cool, dark, and dry locations.
At the same time, poor manufacturing practices can also cause disc rot. I recently received a Blu-ray disc that cracked several times on the first playthrough. This seems to indicate defects in the disc that were burned in during manufacture. Unfortunately, there isn’t much insight into DVD/Blu-ray manufacturing standards and practices, even though most major companies are considered reliable. Bootleg versions of films purchased online may have poorer manufacturing quality.
What about 4K discs?
One of the newer products in home entertainment is the 4K or Ultra HD disc, which offers higher quality video and sound. However, this type of disc may be even more susceptible to environmental influences than traditional 1080p Blu-ray or DVD discs. Countless online threads report from 4K owners who had problems with playability after a very short time. Some reports suggest this is due to the disc’s unique format. Jeff Rauseo, a notable voice in the physical media community, argued that 4K discs contain significantly more data than Blu-ray and DVDs, and small scratches or imperfections can significantly affect playability.
Tips for properly storing discs
When it comes to good disk storage practices, the general consensus is pretty simple. Ideally, discs should be stored vertically Standard size jewel cases. These suitcases, in turn, should be stored in a dry, dark and cool place that is not exposed to too much light. And of course, you should always hold your discs by the center hole when handling them to avoid wear, contamination or scratches. If you want to clean your discs occasionally, using an air purifier is your best choice.
To tear or not to tear?
Despite its many advantages, physical media doesn’t last forever. If you are concerned about the longevity of your collection, a possible solution is to create a digital copy of it. Modern technology makes it easy to “rip” or digitize your videos to a PC. Problematically, if you plan to do this with a BD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or copyrighted VHS, such behavior is technically in violation Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) and is therefore illegal even if you have no intention of reselling or making money from the disc/tape. Nevertheless, a legal article on this topic asks the age-old question: Is it really “illegal if you never get caught”? We leave the decision on this question to the reader.
If you’re interested in backing up your home video collection, there are plenty of guides available on Youtube And other parts of the web that show you how to rip and digitize discs. To do this you need to download it a special software and maybe buy an external optical disc reader. Of course, problems can arise along the way, and saving high-quality videos can also take up quite a bit of hard drive space, so you’ll need to be prepared for some troubleshooting. Once you have a digital copy of your original CD, there are hypothetically ways to download those digital copies back to a recordable Blu-ray disc This is how you can create a physical backup of your original CD.