They are largely made up of music-video-style vignettes featuring Playboy Playmates and other models in various stages of nudity and, on occasion, softcore sex scenes.
Issues contained content similar to the magazine; in addition to video pictorials of the Playmates, celebrities, and other models, segments on music, interviews with celebrities, comedy sketches, and other material was included (the format being similar to Electric Blue, a UK video magazine that aired on the Playboy Channel).
Total running time of an issue is longer than other Playboy videos (80–90 minutes versus 35–60 minutes), but with a similar total amount of running time devoted to model pictorials.
Other segments in the first issue are an interview with John and Bo Derek, an erotic fiction short, a documentary look at historic moments in Playboy, a pictorial of actress Barbara Carrera, a look at the Playboy Jazz Festival, comedy shorts from Michael Nesmith, and a pictorial of the Crazy Horse Saloon dancers.
These usually consist of three or four vignettes reflecting the personality and persona of the Playmate and an interview is also conducted at the same time to serve as in introduction to her viewers.
The Video Centerfold series, launched in 1985 with a volume dedicated to Sherry Arnett, consists of videos with a primary focus on a current Playmate, usually paired with a shorter Playmate profile or documentary short.
During the 2016 Election, Donald Trump's appearance in a Playboy Video Centerfold was rediscovered.
In the earlier titles of the series, Playmates were shown in static poses similar to models in lingerie catalogs.
The Wet & Wild series, launched in 1989, features Playmates in various liquid environments, such as pools, bathtubs, hot tubs, saunas, fountains, water beds, milk, champagne, beer, massage oil, glycerine, chocolate syrup, and ersatz crème de cacao.
The most common type of Special Edition videos consist of themed collections of traditional music-video-style vignettes, similar to the Wet & Wild and Sexy Lingerie series.
Recycling of footage is common; the Video Playmate Review and Playmate Six-Pack series were early clip compilations, and the later No Boys Allowed series recycles girl/girl footage from other Special Editions.
Several adult series originally produced for and aired on Playboy's cable channel have been released on home video.
Naked Happy Girls, 7 Lives Xposed, Foursome, Sex Court, and other series have been released in some form on Playboy Video.
In addition to the above, several non-adult Playboy TV series have been released on home video.