home video

noun

plural home videos

1

: a homemade video (see video entry 1 sense 1) that is not usually intended for commercial release or distribution

We showed our friends home videos of our vacation in the Caribbean.

People are consuming millions of hours of shaky, selfie-quality home video on their phones every day.

—Karen Bussone

… make a home video, using a cell phone or camera, of yourself performing your selection.

—The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, North Carolina)

2

: prerecorded video (see video entry 1 sense 1a) marketed for home viewing

The popular TV series … returns to home video with the DVD and Blu-ray releases of … Season Three.

—Mike Spring

It's not clear when other [streaming] platforms will add season four, but it usually takes several months for new seasons to receive a home video release …

—Business Insider US

Examples of home video in a Sentence

the latest releases in home video

We watched a home video of their wedding.

Recent Examples on the Web

Sunset Boulevard was meticulously restored in honor of the milestone anniversary and is now available in a 4K UHD home video. —Scott Huver, People.com, 10 Aug. 2025

At Jamie's, Millie discovers an old home video playing of two people who both look somewhat like Jamie participating in what appears to be an occult wedding ritual that involves both of them slicing open their wrists and pressing them together. —Megan McCluskey, Time, 30 July 2025

The feature ended up making $216 million worldwide in theaters, and continued to profit with a home video release. —Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 25 June 2025

There was Patrick, 35, a gay man raised in Staten Island who had recently rediscovered old home videos of him performing in drag as a young boy before years in the closet robbed him of this confidence. —David MacK, Rolling Stone, 22 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined at sense 2