Best Buy just announced an expanded online marketplace, and it's great news for 4K Blu-ray fans

• Best Buy Marketplace sells DVD and Blu-Ray discs
• Online only via third party sellers
• Available in-app and online from today

We've been saying for ages that reports of the death of movie discs are premature, and it looks like Best Buy agrees with us: it's launching a new online marketplace that'll sell DVDs, Blu-Rays and UHD Steelbooks as part of a doubling of its online offering.

If you're thinking, "Hang on, didn't Best Buy stop selling disc-based movies in early 2024?", you're right: they did. Citing the changing way we enjoy entertainment, Best Buy announced in late 2023 that it'd stop selling DVDs and Blu-rays in its stores and online after the holiday season, though it continued to sell the best 4K Blu-ray players afterward.

So what's going on? As FlatpanelsHD reports, this isn't a reversal: you're not going to see the DVD or Blu-Ray aisles return to your local store. The new marketplace is online and features third-party sellers, and those sellers will be the ones offering DVDs, Blu-rays and Steelbooks.

Why the death of the disc isn't inevitable

Caring about movies on Blu-ray isn't just nostalgia. Some movies simply aren't available to stream, and the ones that are don't stream in the same quality as you'll get from the best Blu-Ray editions. That's because streaming uses compressed media formats, and that inevitably involves loss, something particularly apparent with movie soundtracks.

There's also the ongoing worry with streaming that what's available today won't be available tomorrow as licensing deals expire or bean-counters decide to cut back the catalog. And of course, different movies are on different streamers, and with prices of streaming services ever rising – Apple TV+ upped its prices just last week – cutting back on your streaming subscriptions means losing access to a lot of movies and shows.

I'm not being naive: the days of disc-based media being the world's favorite home entertainment option are over. But for serious movie fans – and people with serious home cinema setups – it's still a superior experience. Just ask Christopher Nolan.

You might also like

• Looking to get into 4K Blu-ray? Here are the 4 things you need to get started
• I test 4K Blu-ray players for a living and here's the difference between premium and budget
• The best streaming services, because convenience is cool too