Netflix will be saying farewell to its DVD-by-mail business, making the full switch over to streaming and officially marking the end of an era. Of course, while the majority of Netflix subscribers prefer to stream their content, there remained many who've continued to rent movies in a more old-fashioned way with the DVDs coming in the mail, a service that was what helped launch Netflix in the first place. But times have changed after a quarter of a century, as Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos announced in a blog post that the company is officially abandoning DVDs. The final discs will be shipped on Sept. 29, 2023.

"After an incredible 25 year run, we’ve decided to wind down DVD.com later this year," Sarandos says in part on the blog post. "Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members but as the business continues to shrink that’s going to become increasingly difficult. So we want to go out on a high."

Sarandos continues, "Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home — and they paved the way for the shift to streaming... We feel so privileged to have been able to share movie nights with our DVD members for so long, so proud of what our employees achieved and excited to continue pleasing entertainment fans for many more decades to come. "

The executive also notes how this method of shipping DVDs straight to consumers allowed for people to binge-watch through entire shows years before that would become commonplace on Netflix's streaming service. Sarandos also gives credit to how the success of the DVD-by-mail business had even gotten them started with developing original content, which began as Red Envelope Entertainment titles such as Sherrybaby and Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion.

"To everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: thank you," Sarandos concludes.

Related: The Sandman Season 2 Has Been Written, Casting Underway

Netflix Says Goodbye to DVDs, But Streaming Is Going Nowhere

Netflix-Logo
Netflix

It's not the surprise of the century to see the DVDs going away, as chances are, many subscribers may have already presumed that had already happened. That part of Netflix's business is dwindling rapidly, with THR reporting that the DVD-by-mail earned the company revenue to the tune of $239 million in 2020, $183 million in 2021, and $146 million in 2022. With $32 million earned in the first quarter of this year, another big fall was expected, and it would seem that this all mounted up as the writing on the wall for Netflix to pullt he plug.

Still, the streaming service isn't going anywhere. The company has reportedly added 1.75 million new subscribers during the first quarter of 2023, putting them up to 232.5 million total subscribers.