But just how permanent are your Blu-rays?
And is physical media really built to last?
I wanted to investigate this pressing consumer issue for myself.
Photo: Cheevarut (Shutterstock)
VHS tapes
Lets start with a lesser-traversed part of the physical media world: VHS collecting.
However, VHS is still a surprisingly hardy medium.
Whats the lifespan of a collection like that?
The bad news is this: nobody really knows.
Writeable Blu-rays, known as BD-Rs, tend to have different lifespans than read-only discs.
So whats the best guess for how long your Blu-ray collection will last?
The most concise answer we were able to arrive at was:At least 10-20 years.
They could certainly last longer, but you wouldnt want to bank on it, Bieman said.
Expectations vary from 20 to 100 years for these discs.
This phenomenon iswidely known as disc rot.
Disc rot can result from poor ownership practices.
Obviously, if you drop or scratch a disc, it can severely damage its playability.
But other environmental contagions can contribute to the degradation of a disc.
At the same time, disc rot can also be brought on as a result of poor manufacturing practices.
I recently received a Blu-ray disc that skipped multiple times during its first run-through.
This would seem to signal imperfections in the disc that were baked in during manufacturing.
Bootleg versions of movies purchased online may come with poorer manufacturing quality.
What about 4K discs?
Some reports suggest that this is the result of the discs unique format.
Ideally, discs should be stored vertically instandard-sized jewel cases.
If you want to occasionally clean your discs, using an air duster is your best bet.
To rip or not to rip?
Despite its many benefits, physical media doesnt last forever.
Thanks to modern technology, its quite easy to rip, or digitize your videos onto a PC.
That question we leave up to the reader to decide.
To do that, youll need to downloadsome special softwareand maybe buy an external optical disc reader.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
