The company launched in the United States with twenty films on Betamax and VHS videocassettes in late 1979.

Animation, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, DC Entertainment, DC Studios, Viz Media, HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TBS, TNT, TruTV, Turner Classic Movies, Rooster Teeth (until its closure in May 2024 and purchase by co-founder Burnie Burns's company Box Canyon Productions in February 2025), Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, HGTV, Food Network, and Amazon MGM Studios (via MGM Home Entertainment) among others.

The company was founded in 1978 and launched in the United States with twenty films on Betamax and VHS videocassettes in late 1979.

[6] Warner also experimented with the "rental-only" market for videos, a method also used by 20th Century Fox for their first release of Star Wars in 1982.

Other films released for rental use include Dirty Harry, The Enforcer, Prince of the City, and Sharky's Machine.

In exchange, Warner Home Video gained full control over the video rights to MGM's pre-May 1986 library, an asset the studio had acquired outright from Turner Entertainment Co., but due to a pre-existing licensing deal with MGM, was originally expected to expire in 2001.

[8] On December 20, 1996, Warner Home Video was one of the first major American distributors for the then-new DVD format, by releasing the films Assassins, Blade Runner: Director's Cut, Eraser, and The Fugitive on DVD in Japan and on March 24, 1997, in the United States with Blade Runner also being a launch title for the region there.

Lieberfarb's successor, Warner Bros. executive James F. Cardwell was recognized in paving the way for WHV's strategic positioning in next generation technologies such as High Definition DVD (HD DVD), electronic sell-through and portable video.