List of years in home video

This page indexes the individual year in home video pages. Some years is annotated with a significant event as a reference point.

1970s
- August 23 – VHS is introduced in the United States.
 * 1971 - Year U-matic launched
 * 1972 - Year Cartrivision launched
 * 1973
 * 1974
 * 1975 - Year Beta launched
 * 1976 - Year VHS launched
 * 1977 - Magnetic Video, the first home video company to release theatrical films to tape, licenses 50 films from 20th Century Fox for VHS and Betamax release.
 * 1978 - Laserdisc player launched. MCA issues Universal Studios film library onto laserdisc, and later adds Warner Bros. and Disney film libraries as well.
 * 1979 - Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures form Home Video Divisions; Video Store Magazine (now Home Media Magazine) established as the industry's first trade.

1980s

 * 1980 - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment enters the home video market. MCA, Inc. establishes MCA Videocassette, Inc. for VHS and Betamax releases of the Universal City Studios products.
 * 1981 - Year CED and Wizard Video launched. Magnetic Video reorganized into Twentieth Century Fox Video. NBC signs video distribution deal through Warner Home Video.
 * 1982 - PBV Distribution (Publishing & Broadcasting Video) becomes one of the biggest selling Australian video companies. In the mid-80s, it would later become Communications and Entertainment Limited. Star Wars is released on home video-cassette, becoming one of the most demanded videos of all time.
 * 1983 - JVC launches VHD format in Japan. Following a merger in 1982 between Twentieth Century Fox Video and CBS Video Enterprises, CBS/Fox Video is launched to the home video market, with divisions Key Video and Playhouse Video. In Japan, the Bandai-Emotion label is launched on VHS, and becomes one of the biggest selling Japanese home video labels of all time.
 * 1984 - The Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. decision (aka Betamax case). Following the so-called 'video nasty' British tabloid furore, the Video Recordings Act 1984 is introduced resulting in all feature films having to be certified by the British Board of Film Classification. The pioneering American home video company The Criterion Collection is founded, which introduced letterboxing, commentary tracks and special editions that would become standards for the home video industry.
 * 1985 - Heron Communications launches the Hi-Tops Video label.
 * 1986 - Video Gems is launched, and becomes a top seller in the UK home video market.
 * 1987
 * 1988 - MGM gains home video rights to all United Artists titles.
 * 1989 - PBS begins video distribution through Pacific Arts.

1990s

 * 1990 - CBS/FOX reorganized. Fox Video is formed to release mainstream Fox product in the US, while CBS/Fox Video remains for other products such as BBC Video and other non-Fox projects.
 * 1991
 * 1992 - Fujitsu gets credit for producing the first full-color plasma display panel in 1992. The very first prototype for a plasma display monitor was invented in July 1964 at the University of Illinois by professors Donald Bitzer and Gene Slottow, and then graduate student Robert Willson.
 * 1993
 * 1994 - MUSE Hi-Vision LaserDisc is launched on 20 May in Japan. The first consumer high definition video disc.
 * 1995 - Fox Video assumes the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment name for the first time, with the release of the Star Wars Trilogy for the last time in its original format, while keeping the Fox Video name.
 * 1996 - DVD is launched in Japan
 * 1997 - DVD is launched in the United States. Philips produced the first plasma television to be sold to consumers – the display was 42-inches diagonally and begged a premium price of $15,000.
 * 1998 - DVD is launched in Europe and Australia. The CBS/Fox name is dropped.
 * 1999 - The Fox Video name is dropped. DeCSS is released, opening the doors for large-scale DVD copyright infringment.

2000s

 * 2000
 * 2001 - The Japanese film Tokyo Raiders becomes the last film released on Laserdisc.
 * 2002 - D-VHS D-Theater high definition films are finally available and affordable.
 * 2003 - WMV HD launched with the arrival of the film Standing in the Shadows of Motown.
 * 2004
 * 2005
 * 2006 - HD DVD launched on 18 April; Blu-ray Disc launched on 20 June. After nearly 30 years, VHS ends as a format for major motion pictures;
 * 2007 - AACS is circumvented.
 * 2008 - Blu-ray Becomes new video medium after long competition with HD-DVD.
 * 2009

2010s

 * 2010
 * 2011
 * 2012
 * 2013
 * 2014
 * 2015
 * 2016 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray launched
 * 2017 - Blu-ray Tape launched on May 2, 2017 in Japan and the United States
 * 2018
 * 2019 in home video

2020s

 * 2020 in home video
 * 2021 in home video
 * 2022 in home video
 * 2023 in home video
 * 2024 in home video
 * 2025 in home video