I prefer buying physical movies.
However, due to rare sales and mostly for convenience, I have bought some digital movies on platforms like Apple TV.
For now, these movies are safely stored in my cloud account.
Over the last few years, I have been avoiding digital movie purchases.
Recently, I decided to stop buying digital movies completely.
There are several reasons behind this decision.
But mainly, buying digital movies feels pointless and a waste of money compared to digital rentals, streaming subscriptions, and physical media.
In essence, I’ve realized that buying digital movies is silly.
If They Can Take It Away Anytime, It’s Not Really Yours
When subscribing to a streaming service or renting a digital movie, you get exactly what you pay for—temporary access.
That’s fine by me.
I don’t have to drive to a rental store on a cold Friday night, or rush back on Monday morning to return the movies.
This convenience makes digital rentals worthwhile.
However, when I pay a higher price to buy a movie digitally, I expect permanent access.
If you read the terms and conditions of digital purchases, you’ll realize they are essentially rental contracts with an open-ended date.
The service has to actively stream the movie every time you watch it.
This is unlike buying a physical disc, which costs nothing once you own it and sits on your shelf.
So, legal or practical issues could arise where your access is revoked.
While I understand digital ownership cannot match physical ownership, that doesn’t mean I have to like it or waste my money.
I Don’t Want to Lose Older Versions of Movies
I own two different versions of Robocop on Blu-ray—one theatrical and one director’s cut.
I can’t imagine being told I only have access to one version digitally.
What if I want to watch the original Lord of the Rings where Gandalf wears a wristwatch, or see modern New Zealanders in the background?
Most importantly, what if I don’t want a censored version made for modern sensibilities?
This happens with digital movie purchases.
It also happens with books and music.
Sometimes even creators keep altering their work—like George Lucas famously did with Star Wars.
The Quality Just Isn’t There
Streaming video quality is good.
But there’s a noticeable gap between Blu-ray quality and streaming.
Regular 1080p Blu-rays often look better than 4K streams.
This is mainly due to bitrate and pixel quality.
The best 4K streams top out at around 25Mbps.
Compression reduces detail compared to Blu-ray.
Streaming quality also fluctuates with your internet connection.
Most services don’t allow downloads of purchased movies except on mobile devices.
As companies like Disney phase out physical media, there may never be a way to watch the highest quality home versions unless huge downloads are offered.
If I’m paying for permanent access, I want a high-quality copy.
Streaming isn’t good enough.
The Extras Are Getting Lazier
I love film extras like behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, and VFX breakdowns.
Rental DVDs and Blu-rays used to have these extras.
Digital rentals rarely do.
Some digital purchases come with extras, like my Apple TV copy of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
But newer films and many classics have fewer or weaker extras than physical copies.
Most extras are available on YouTube or streaming services anyway, so digital extras don’t feel like an incentive anymore.
Physical Movies Are Cheaper Most of the Time
Digital games often go on deep sales, which makes buying them easier to justify.
But digital movie purchases rarely have big discounts.
When there is a deal, physical copies are often cheaper—DVDs for a few cents, Blu-rays under ten dollars, and sometimes used 4K Blu-rays for reasonable prices.
I might have to shop around or wait for delivery, but that’s fine.
When buying a movie permanently, instant gratification isn’t as important.
Waiting a day or two is worth it for a physical copy I can keep forever.
Conclusion
Until digital platforms offer DRM-free, high-quality downloads that I can store myself, I have no interest in buying digital movies.
Physical copies give me true ownership, better quality, extras, and often better prices.
For me, that makes physical media the only way to go.