Overview: DVDs and Blu-ray Discs With Audio Description
For detailed listings of all 1700+ DVDs and Blu-ray discs we know about, visit our DVDs page. This page was Last Updated: Oct 6, 2024.
On our DVDs page, we list details about all the first-run movies* in the USA that have been released with audio description tracks on DVDs and Blu-ray discs (the only such listing in the world!) along with links to purchase them via Amazon. We are an Amazon Associate, so purchasing them via our links helps pay for this website! You can follow the announcements as they occur via Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Our list of DVDs is generally updated on Tuesday afternoon each week in which a newly described DVD is released. (* We also list a few special-interest videos, but no educational products and rarely special-order features.)
Audio description on a disc is generally listed under Languages on the back cover as English Audio Description, English Descriptive Audio, or English DVS. (Warner Bros used to list this information in the lower right corner of the back cover.) Director's Cuts or Unrated versions sometimes do not have description. Special Features rarely contain description. Your best bet is to order/watch the theatrical version when available and order via Amazon, not their Marketplace sellers. While our pages typically link to the DVD disc (if available) on Amazon, generally the Blu-ray versions of DVDs listed here since the fall of 2009 also have description. 4K versions may or may not include AD, though that packaging often includes the Blu-ray copy which may or may not. (Read a 2021 article discussing this 4K-and-No-AD problem.) Simply follow the link provided within Amazon to the Blu-ray version or 4K, if you prefer that format. Note: Except for Sony releases, Amazon almost never lists the availability of audio description on their videos, but our links should take you to described copies. Sometimes Amazon offers an image of the back cover of a DVD, so that's another place to look (you'll need to be sighted, and you'll need to zoom in). If you want to find out what's coming soon on DVD, check out the DVDs Release Dates site or Amazon's New and Future Releases. (Special thanks to William Gary for discovering about a dozen old DVDs with description over the years by digging around in bargain bins!)
If you want another source for checking whether or not a DVD has description, you can try either of the following. For pre-2020 DVDs, try Barnes and Noble because they sometimes listed a disc's "Menu" options; look for "Setup / Audio"). For more recent releases, check Livebrary, though it is not 100% accurate regarding AD.
Generally speaking, we do not separately list "Steelbook" versions of DVDs (which also contain description if the original DVD did) or compilations (e.g., 3 movies in a series, where one or more of the movies has a description track). We also try to avoid listing DVDs only available from Marketplace sellers.
Online movie streaming/rental/purchase services such as
Verizon's FIOS On Demand and Comcast's XFINITY On
Demand
plus streaming services like Netflix
may offer audio description tracks on some movies not listed here
(because the description tracks were produced for the movie but never
transferred to DVD).
| Which Movie Studios Include Description Tracks on Their Videos? | ||
Generally Include Description
|
Never Include Description
 |
Described DVD Growth
|
Disney
Companies (Pixar / Lucasfilm /
Buena Vista / ABC / Marvel) Sony / Columbia / Screen Gems |
Alchemy
(formerly Millennium Entertainment) Anchor Bay Entertainment (Starz/Weinstein)) Arc Entertainment Broad Green Pictures Cinedigm (Cineverse) Cohen Media Group Echo Bridge Entertainment FilmRise and Freestyle Gravitas Ventures Magnolia Pictures (2929 Entertainment) Miramax (Filmyard Holdings) Momentum (Entertainment One) New Line Cinema (Warner Bros) Pure Flix Entertainment Samuel Goldwyn Films Screen Media Films Shudder (AMC Networks) The Weinstein Company (TWC) Well Go USA Entertainment WRITE / EMAIL THEM !!! |
 (Subject to change as we find new DVDs) |
| Occasionally or newly include description: Criterion Collection; DreamWorks (various distributors over the years); Image Entertainment (RLJE Entertainment), rarely, beginning 2023; Lionsgate/Artisan (limited since 2014 - historically only 13% of their DVDs have AD tracks); SDS; Shout! Factory (started 2019, but stopped in 2022); Wolfe Video. | From 1997-2005, only 15 described DVDs were released. The big change came in 2010 when major studios began to commit to including description tracks. | |
Additional Information About Described DVDs
- The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) provides audio described educational DVDs for students with disabilities from their library of 8000+ titles. You can search DCMP Titles here.
- Don’t Make Low-Vision Viewers Choose Between Vibrant 4K Picture and Audio Description.
- With the bankruptcy of its parent company in mid 2024, the only remaining nationwide DVD rental company, Redbox, closed in October 2024.
Oct '24 - In late 2023, another option for DVD rental became available from Seattle, WA, a non-profit: Scarecrow Video. [
July '24: The company is pleading for contributions to stay in business] - If you want to borrow described videos, see our list of locations to borrow DVDs by state.
- We have no reason to believe that Hoopla, Libby, or OverDrive offer any described videos. Kanopy reportedly has some offerings with AD already mixed into the audio track.
- For audio described DVDs outside the USA, see our International page.
- To order UK-described videos in the USA, see our Ordering UK-Produced Described Videos in the USA page.
- Numerous streaming video services offer audio description tracks; see the links in our navigation bar. Our Streaming page keeps you up to date with such services.
- Accessing the Audio Description Track on DVDs: With a few exceptions (such as Moulin Rouge and Up), you should be able to access the Audio Description track by pressing the "Audio" button repeatedly on your remote until you hear description (an easy alternative for users who are blind and can't navigate to the Languages menu). Disney Pixar releases starting November 2010 let you select AD when you insert the DVD.
- There is a software product available which will allow you to extract the audio track (including the description track) from a DVD and convert it to MP3 or other formats. This may be useful for people who are totally blind and don't need the video. For more information, see Computer Application Studio's DVD Audio Extractor, which is free to try for 30 days.