Sony announced it would cease production of Blu-ray Disc (BD) optical storage media in February. This decision will mark the end of the company’s optical disc production as a whole, as there will be no successor to the Blu-ray format. The discontinuation will also affect media such as MiniDisc, MD Data and MiniDV cassettes.
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Previously, in mid-2024, Sony ceased production of consumer BD and other optical discs, maintaining optical media production lines for business and enterprise customers. However, as streaming services have largely replaced physical media, commercial sales have become insufficient to keep Sony’s optical media business profitable.
The first BD prototype was released in 2000, it was designed as a successor to DVD and competed for a time with the HD DVD format promoted by Toshiba. BD and HD DVD became available to consumers in 2006, but HD DVD lost out in the format war due to Sony’s partnership with film studios and the PlayStation 3’s support for Blu-ray technology.
Today, BDs are available for purchase on various online platforms, but stocks will inevitably run out over time. At first glance, the cessation of BD production does not seem to be a serious problem in the era of high-speed broadband communication channels and affordable cloud services. But do not forget that cloud storage requires monthly payment, can change the user agreement at any time or simply cease to exist. Storing archives on hard drives is not reliable enough – after years, some hard drives may become unreadable, which is something that representatives of the music industry are increasingly faced with lately.
Optical media, when properly stored, can retain information for decades, making it ideal for long-term cold storage. This may be why not all manufacturers are ready to stop producing them. Thus, Pioneer has created a Blu-ray disc designed for long-term storage for up to a hundred years. Other companies are developing optical storage media that can last millions of years or more.
The end of Blu-ray Disc production marks the end of an era in which the user was able to physically store archived information, make a backup copy, or build a media library of their favorite films that could be held in their hands. The transition to streaming libraries where there is no ownership, and movies, TV series and music can simply disappear without warning, reminds us how fragile and fleeting life can be.