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Criterion

636 films on Best BluraysBest video release: 222 in 4K405 in HD9 in SD38 more for audio only19 more announced

Best 4K release by tier:
Based in United StatesFounded 1984criterion.com (opens in a new tab)

Films where Criterion's release is the pick. How picks are made

Based in New York, Criterion has released classic and contemporary films since 1984, giving each title a spine number and adding commentaries, essays and supplements. Many discs use new restorations it supervises, and 4K UHD releases began in November 2021. North American Blu-rays are Region A locked, with a smaller Region B UK line since 2016; Janus Films is a sister company, and Steven Rales has owned both since 2024.

222 of 636 films match

Films where Criterion's release is the pick. How picks are made

222 in 4K

Best video release on UHD Blu-ray or 4K streaming

Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray or BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

No clear winner, Criterion SDR 4K Blu-ray has better defined grain and is cleaned-up more thoroughly. But looks grayer and flatter in daytime scenes. BFI 4K Blu-ray's HDR/DV is better in contrast but the grading can be debatable.

Best Audio:

BFI Streaming

Additional Info:

The subtitles of Criterion  and BFI are translated differently. See BR forum.

Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

France Carlotta

Video Notes:

> Criterion 4K Blu-ray see caps: https://slow.pics/c/s7AfL3XW

Grain is sharper/clearer on the new Carlotta/Criterion 4K; BFI's grain resolves slightly worse and more so in motion, being a standard Blu-ray; The Toho 4K's grain is softer, probably DNR'd.

Best Audio:

Toho 1993 LaserDisc

Audio Notes:

BFI Player used to have the same mastering available to stream in 2019.

Director: Edward Yang

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

France Carlotta 4K Blu-ray is FiM encoded and superior to Criterion 4K Blu-ray see caps but the Carlotta release is not English friendly

Best Audio:

2011 Criterion Blu-ray

Additional Info:

A user writes: 'the 5.0 mix does not closely resemble the matrixed stereo track included on all prior releases (save for a 2003 French DVD which had 5.1). There is significant dialogue emphasis in the 5.0 mix while the older stereo mix has ambient sounds and dialogue mixed at nearly the same loudness. Additionally, the 5.0 mix has minor limiting in select loud sequences and a strange distorted quality on occasion (one notable example is the sound of a plane taking off which plays during a static shot of clouds in the sky). The stereo mix included on the FRA UHD/BD is a downmix of the 5.0 track.'

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

US Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> UK MoC 4K Blu-ray > Australia Imprint > US Kino Lorber better encoding

The MoC, Criterion and Imprint UHDs were encoded by FiM making all 3 very close. The higher bitrate helped in deciding and some luck; however Criterion is the most consistent one of all 3. Imprint has some scenes with more splotchy grain while MoC is quite close to Criterion but has some more blocking in dark scenes (e.g.: comp #27). With Criterion’s superior audio, it ensures complete consistency.

Audio Notes:

From cbc: "I'm personally quite fond of the restored track on Eureka's 4K Blu-ray. It does have spots with objectively worse fidelity, but for the most part, it sounds a lot more natural and less shrill, particularly dialogue. It seems to be a new mixdown of stems. Technically a remix, so not everyone's cup of tea, but it's not revisionist like most new movie mixes tend to be"

Additional Info:

Both Imprint (included in their set) and Capelight (on its own/individually) offer remastered BDs. All other BDs, including the one included in The Complete Kubrick, are sourced from the same older master from around 2010.

Director: Mikhail Kalatozov

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Satyajit Ray

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray Apu Trilogy set

Best Audio:

Tartan DVD

Audio Notes:

Tartan DVD probably better?

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> BFI 4K Blu-ray. caps Criterion presents the master as originally graded in SDR whereas FiM added HDR / Dolby Vision for the BFI.

Best Audio:

1991 Criterion LaserDisc

Audio Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray's audio mix has more detail than BFI’s and same applies to the subtitles, covering both English and France spoken word

Director: Chen Kaige

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

France Carlotta 4K

Video Notes:

France Carlotta 4K > Criterion 4K

Director: Federico Fellini

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

Image Entertainment DVD is slightly better than Criterion 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray/DVD (all basically the same)
Other Blu-ray releases are all much worse.

Director: Billy Wilder

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> Capelight/Kino Lorber which has heavy noise reduction and opening snare hit is missing, Capelight is slightly better encoded than Kino Lorber

Best Audio:

1992 MGM LaserDisc [ML102699]

Audio Notes:

But still a bit overly noise-managed.

1984 CBS/Fox Hi-Fi VHS maybe better?

Director: Satyajit Ray

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Criterion Apu Trilogy 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

2003 Artificial Eye DVD

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray 

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Sony release without the filtering; Comparison between Sony and Criterion.

Best Audio:

Mono: 1994 LaserDisc (marginally, unfiltered) or Criterion 4K Blu-ray (filtered)
5.1 Remix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Show all 222 in 4K

2 with a weaker 4K

Best 4K release rated Disappointing or Worse Than BD · by Letterboxd rating

Director: Nicolas Roeg

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray poor compression, otherwise Second Sight has best Blu-ray

Director: Joel Coen

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Director's Cut: Disappointing UK StudioCanal/US Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879 - comparison. StudioCanal is a massive improvement to the Criterion but still flawed in some areas (chroma noise)

24 for audio only

The best audio is Criterion's; the video and English-friendly picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating

Director: Spike Lee

Best Audio:

Criterion DVD for the original Dolby Stereo

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

Criterion DVD for the original Dolby Stereo (lossless). 5.1 upmix on BDs is fine, DTS:X is revisionistic

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has extras not found on the Universal 4K Blu-ray

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Best Audio:

2007 Criterion DVD/2011 StudioCanal Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

2017 StudioCanal Blu-ray might(?) be the same.

Best English-Friendly & Video:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Directors: Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam

Best Audio:

Majority of film (theatrical and extended cuts): 1991 Columbia US VHS (or possibly 1994 Columbia LaserDisc?)

32-second scene (extended cut): 1993 Criterion LaserDisc

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: John Woo

Best Audio:

Criterion LaserDisc

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Correct grade and archival extras missing from the Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion USA LaserDisc [CC1397L]: Original Cantonese mono.

Best Cantonese mono still was from Criterion LaserDisc, as the Shout one was boosted with clipping, with some filtering and losing dynamic range over the Criterion LD.

There’s no need for other Cantonese audio, as all 5.1 remixes are extremely bad and not worth including.

For English Dub the Shout offered the best, it was pure mono. All other 5.1 remixed of said dub are also terrible and offer no value, only less fidelity and more echo.

More info.

Director: Alain Resnais

Best Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Director: Robert Hamer

Best Audio:

2006 R1 Criterion DVD

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2024 StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

Director: Mike Nichols

Best Audio:

1987 Criterion LaserDisc

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

StudioCanal 4K

Video Notes:

StudioCanal 4K caps.Criterion Blu-ray better encode than StudioCanal Blu-ray.

Director: Krzysztof Kieślowski

Best Audio:

2006 Criterion US DVD

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2023 Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Director: John Frankenheimer

Best Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray Mono

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

Both tracks on the Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are badly remixed.

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Director: Robert Clouse

Best Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

But compression is not very good. The two cuts are (by mistake?) separate videos on one disc.

Additional Info:

Also see review

Director: John Carpenter

Best Audio:

1994 Criterion LaserDisc

Upcoming Release:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray possibly teased?

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Director: Brian De Palma

Best Audio:

1993 Criterion LaserDisc

Best English-Friendly:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Director: Neil Jordan

Best Audio:

US Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · avforums.com (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray see AVForum review

The slight darkening of the colour palette with the new WCG/HDR grades suddenly seems to add another layer of detail and immersion into the picture. Now, those dark night times punctured solely by neon or those dreary overcast half-light early mornings or dusks feel more alive with authenticity. Skin tones are gorgeous, the subtlety in colour detail of Hoskins’ atrocious leather jacket/Hawaiian shirt combo is sublime and those all-important blacks go deep. But it’s the now huge variations in colours that stand out – the reds of the Peep Show as Genesis’ classic In Too Deep plays now have a much richer, darker saturation to them than the previous 1080p SDR grade, helping them stand out so much more than those more neutral, toned down colours of the Brighton seaside against the morning skies. It’s a gorgeous colour reproduction from top to bottom.

Detailing is also tightened up significantly – again, the 2K picture was good, but this improves on that with keener lines, sharper edges and a greater sense of delineation in those finest of fine details that add an extra little touch of depth to the picture. Add to this another beautiful grain presentation – with organic looks and movement throughout - and it’s an image where its edges match the brilliance of its colouring.

... and the encode – courtesy of Fidelity in Motion – is absolutely rock solid. Hope were not high for this over the very good 2K edition, but I am very pleased to say that those hopes were well and truly exceeded: Mona Lisa on 4K looks absolutely stellar

Director: Martin Scorsese

Best Audio:

5.1 mix: Criterion Blu-ray

2.0 mix: Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Terence Young

Best Audio:

1991 Criterion LaserDisc with end credits from 1992 MGM LaserDisc

Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray, despite prevalent frozen grain

Additional Info:

Criterion LaserDisc includes an exclusive commentary, which was later banned by EON and caused the release to be recalled.

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Best Audio:

2011 Optimum Blu-ray has audio in wrong pitch, fixed in 2013 reissue in the Zavvi exclusive Steelbook. Criterion has correct 5.1 and a 7.1 mix.

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Cineverse 4K Blu-ray announced with a new 4K restoration from the original negatives

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray and 2011/2013 Optimum Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray and 2011/2013 Optimum Blu-ray both have issues, up to preference. UK Optimum/Japan Amuse Soft Blu-ray is better, Criterion is worse

Japan Amuse Soft Blu-ray is better encoded than the Optimum, is in the original 1.85 ratio, and has the original colors

Additional Info:

Criterion and Optimum Blu-rays have exclusive extras

Director: Michael Mann

Best Audio:

5.1/5.0 mix (essentially a 4-track mix in 5.1 and 5.0 containers respectively)-Arrow/Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Only imperceptible differences in bit-depth: 20 vs 24. 

2.0 mix- Arrow 4K Blu-ray (original stereo)

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · thedigitalbits.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and is better than Criterion, see caps https://slow.pics/c/Z2RRQAAT

Criterion 4K Blu-ray vs Blu-ray: caps colors are more different and nuanced than anticipated even in the SDR-converted caps and the usual gain in highlight detail is also apparent. Encode looks excellent except for the brightest areas as usual.

Additional Info:

Arrow and Criterion 4K Blu-rays have differing extras 

Criterion has FEL Dolby Vision, Arrow has MEL

Arrow Limited Edition includes the Theatrical Cut Blu-ray from an older HD master, most likely from a 2K scan of an interpositive.

Director: Martin Scorsese

Best Audio:

Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook

Video Notes:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding

Director: David Lynch

Best Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray is closer to the original DVDs than the 2015 Criterion release, not sure about whether the StudioCanal 4K is like the Criterion 4K/original DVD

Best English-Friendly & Video:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Criterion 4K Blu-ray. 

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and doesn’t have the low-pass filter the Criterion 4K Blu-ray has.

Additional Info:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision, StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has MEL

Director: Martin Scorsese

Best Audio:

1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab) · facebook.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K announced for 2026

Audio Notes:

1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD are the best. See blah-ray https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/2018/01/raging-bull-1980.html

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has better audio than Criterion 4K Blu-ray, from nicolas:

I believe that what’s on Imprint’s 4K is one of the good mixes MGM and Criterion released during the LaserDisc days. Music is powerful and detailed, dialogues have excellent fidelity and ambient sounds have perceptible depth. I compared the "new" 2.0 with the anemic 5.1 as well as the Criterion 4K mix and could clearly hear the improvements.

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has slightly better compression than Criterion 4K Blu-ray.

The master in DV looks all but identical to the Criterion’s HDR grade. Detail-wise, FiM’s encode looks like it uncovered a tiny bit of extra high-frequency information that got filtered on the Criterion. See nicolas review

Director: Ridley Scott

Best Audio:

1982 Theatrical Mix: Embassy Video releases, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix

International Cut Dolby Stereo: Criterion Collection LaserDisc, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix

1992 Director's Cut Dolby Stereo: WB CAV LaserDisc 2.0 PCM-best fidelity of any mix, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix

Workprint: WB 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Set DTS-HD MA 5.1

2007 Final Cut remix: Blu-ray Dolby TrueHD 5.1

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Final Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray (Caveat: No Dolby Vision from Streaming)

Other Cuts: WB Blu-ray

Workprint: WB 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Set for a better AVC encode

Additional Info:

WB 4K Blu-ray only has Final Cut and contains a bad Atmos remix with new sound effects. Original Final Cut mix was removed.

Director: Dušan Makavejev

Best Audio:

Criterion NTSC DVD

Audio Notes:

The UHD has audible artifacting and sounds metallic.

Best English-Friendly:

Transgressive Visions German 4K Blu-ray

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Best Audio:

Matrixed Dolby Stereo: 1995 Miramax LaserDisc 2.0

Original 5.1 Discrete Mix: 2012 Japan Warner Bros Blu-ray, 1996 Criterion LaserDisc, 2002 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD

5.1 DTS Mix: 1997 Miramax LaserDisc, 2002 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2025 Taiwan Deltamac 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> US Paramount 4K Blu-ray (Taiwan 4K Blu-ray is not low passed as the US 4K Blu-ray and has better grain and fine detail retention)

Director: Ivan Reitman

Best Audio:

1989 Criterion LaserDisc

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2022 Sony Ultimate Collection 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Only 2022 'Ultimate Collection' has dolby vision. 2022 ‘Ultimate Collection’ also has a higher average bitrate.

5 announced

Criterion's release is announced; until it is out, the picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating

Director: Bong Joon Ho

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray releasing January 2027

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly:

UK Artificial Eye 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has the least DNR (UK Artificial Eye might be similar? Both better than Universal 4K Blu-ray)

Criterion even though doesn’t have 4K, it has the B&W version and a lot of extras.

Director: Jonathan Demme

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has exclusive extras

Director: John Schlesinger

Upcoming Release:

2027 Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Included Imprint Blu-Ray also has markedly better image compression than the Criterion Blu-Ray, though do note the Imprint has some adjusted color grading within roughly the first five minutes of the film

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=16775595&postcount=450

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24237074&postcount=73

Director: Barry Jenkins

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray announced by director Barry Jenkins

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Lionsgate 4k

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

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