Films

4K streaming is only slightly better than the Blu-ray: see comparisons

Sony US Mastered in 4K Blu-ray is missing the extras found on the regular Blu-ray

Italy Dynit Blu-ray has the best picture quality but has no English subtitles or original theatrical 6.1 mix.

All "4K Remastered" and 4K Blu-ray releases (including from Disney) are taken from a 35mm filmout rather than the original digital source, and then heavily DNR'd, destroying original detail and making lines smearier than before. The Japan Disney 4K Blu-ray is the least bad presentation of the 4K remaster, being encoded with a very healthy bitrate and HDR10+ metadata, and with a top-notch DTS:X remix, with the original 6.1 mix included on the pack-in "4K Remastered" Blu-ray.

The film has multiple English subtitle translations, and the Disney subtitles done by Linda Hoaglund and Judith Aley with Aura are often seen as the best translation, with these subtitles present on the Japan Disney 4K Blu-ray, making this the definitive option for viewers who want to watch the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

Caveat: Not English-friendly

PAL DVD is sourced from the least bad digital/video sources. PAL is the original framerate for the film.

Blu-ray is sourced from a filmout, but has no visible resolution increase from the DVD

5.1 mix is a mediocre upmix, and the Blu-ray has more limited mixes than the DVD

The compression is poor, but it still beats the previous Blu-ray. (Luminance plot)

?

The 4K Blu-ray only has Atmos which is possibly the original mix, but the previous Blu-ray’s 4.0 sounds good too.

More Chroma artifacts

US Image Entertainment LaserDisc is pan-and-scan, but is the best quality release of the film. Widescreen version never released on home video.

US Image Entertainment LaserDisc has the original Dolby Stereo mix.

Germany DVD is a dupe-y transfer ripped from a VHS with German titles, PAL speedup, and mono audio.

Japan LaserDisc is in Dolby Stereo

Japan LaserDisc is an extended cut approximately 7 minutes longer than the theatrical cut on the US LaserDisc

Criterion boxset but awful compression

FiM encode w/o English subtitles; Criterion boxset one has awful compression. review

Germany DTS-HD 6.1 is inferior due to clipping.

2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.

Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.

2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.

Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.

Better than Constantin Germany 4K Blu-ray and Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray's encode is awful.

BFI Blu-ray slightly better encode but gamma is off