The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, and other audiovisual content across digital formats and platforms.

[5] In recent years, sales in the physical media market have significantly fallen due to the rise of digital media and streaming services like Disney's own Disney+, which has led the company to either let other home video distributors (such as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in North America, and Elevation Sales in the UK) handle distribution for them or exit out of the market (such as Australia) depending on the region.

WDTNT Co. also handled marketing of other miscellaneous ancillary items such as short 8 mm films for home movies.

Disney's first releases on videotape were 13 titles that were licensed for rental to Fotomat on March 4, 1980,[8] initially in a four-city test (Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose), to be expanded nationwide by the end of 1980.

Most of the other studios involved in the videocassette market at the time were trying to find ways to stop dealers from renting out their movie tapes.

[9] In the late 1980s, Disney began seeking other outlets to distribute its video, and signed deals with mass-merchant retailers such as Target, Caldor, and Wal-Mart.

The first five titles were shipped in June 1982: The Black Hole, The Love Bug, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Cartoons, Collection One.

Five more titles shipped in July: Pete's Dragon, Dumbo, Davy Crockett and the River Pirates, The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, and Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Cartoons, Collection Two.

Soon, BVHV became the label utilized for a variety of miscellaneous content; such content included animation not created by Disney (such as Rocky and Bullwinkle and Alvin and the Chipmunks), concerts and other adult music titles, and various special-interest programs, including The Very Best of The Ed Sullivan Show.

In July 1993, Buena Vista Home Video signed a multimillion-dollar multiyear North American licensing deal with DIC Entertainment.

In addition, after acquiring the company from former owner George Lucas in 2012, Disney start releasing titles from Lucasfilm, beginning in late-2014 with the first series of Star Wars: Rebels.

As a result, film titles from 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures began to be distributed by Disney for home media formats.

[citation needed] Following the launch of Disney+ in 2019 and its international expansion in the following years, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has begun to discontinue physical distribution entirely in certain regions such as Latin America, Australia,[33] New Zealand, India, the Middle East, Portugal, Asia (except Japan), Hungary, Russia, Greece, and Romania, or to let other companies distribute in certain international markets like the United Kingdom and Ireland (Elevation Sales[d]), Poland (Galapagos), Czech Republic (Magic Box), Spain (Divisa Films), Italy (Eagle Pictures), Scandinavia (SF Studios), France and Benelux (ESC Distribution),[34] Germany and Austria (Leonine Studios),[35] and Japan (Happinet).

[42] Disney has stated that this practice of moratorium is done to both control their market and to allow the studio's films to be reissued for subsequent generations of viewers.

[42] Disney DVD is the brand name under which Buena Vista Home Entertainment releases its Disney-branded motion pictures.

[44] Disney Blu-ray is the brand name under which Buena Vista Home Entertainment releases its Disney-branded motion pictures in high-definition.

In late 2010, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment began releasing their 3D movies in the Blu-ray 3D format, starting with A Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland.

Despite this, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment continues to release new 3D titles in the format in other regions, mostly in Europe such as the United Kingdom since 2010.

[48] Disney began releasing their new films on Ultra HD Blu-ray starting with Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.