Sony is to exit the Blu-ray disc recorder market globally, marking the end of a product category it helped pioneer more than two decades ago.

The Japanese electronics giant confirmed it will stop shipping all current Blu-ray recorder models from this month, with no successor devices planned.

Production of the recorders has already ended and remaining models will be phased out once inventories are exhausted.

In a statement released in Japan, Sony said the decision reflects declining demand.

The company said: “After February 2026, we will end the shipment of all Blu-ray disc recorder models sequentially. There is no successor model. We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the many customers who have used our products so far.”

The move follows a broader retreat from optical media. Sony cut around 40% of jobs in its optical media division in mid-2024 and confirmed in early 2025 it would stop producing recordable Blu-ray discs, MiniDiscs and cassette tapes.

Importantly for home cinema fans, the exit applies only to Blu-ray recorders with built-in playback. Sony says it will continue producing standard Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray players for movie playback, at least for now.

Sony launched the world’s first Blu-ray recorder in 2003, helping the format defeat rival HD DVD in the mid-2000s. At their peak, Blu-ray recorders were a staple of Japanese living rooms, allowing consumers to record high-definition television content to disc.

However, the rise of streaming and cloud storage has steadily eroded demand.

According to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, domestic shipments of Blu-ray recorders peaked at 6.39 million units in 2011. By 2025, that figure had fallen to just 620,000 units.

Sony’s withdrawal comes as it continues to scale back hardware operations and focus more heavily on entertainment and content.

In January, the company announced plans to spin off its home entertainment business into a joint venture with Chinese TV maker TCL Electronics.

While several major brands, including Samsung, LG and Oppo, have already exited the Blu-ray hardware market entirely, Sony remains one of the last major players still supporting physical disc playback. Whether this signals a broader exit from optical media remains to be seen.