Katarzyna Petru
UHD Blu-ray still remains the best format for home entertainment — but the same cannot be said for Blu-ray 3D. Apple has not only revived 3D in the post-television era, but it has done so in a way that shows how much this old format has aged.
3D Blu-ray – a technology that got stuck in time
Blu-ray 3D appeared at the end of 2009 as an extension of the Blu-ray standard. It required new players, although, for example, the PlayStation 3 received a software update to support this format. 3D movies were played in a resolution of 1920×1080 for each eye, which is Full HD.
Over the years, hundreds of titles have been released on Blu-ray 3D, and the last major releases — such as "Avatar: The Way of Water" — only came out in 2023. The problem is that technically this format has stagnated. Blu-ray 3D uses the MPEG4 H.264 codec with the MVC (Multiview Video Coding) extension, and the audio can be stored in Dolby Atmos (TrueHD) or DTS:X (DTS-HD MA). Unfortunately, UHD Blu-ray does not support 3D at all, so there is no mention of 4K, HDR, 10-bit color, or advanced HEVC encoding. In other words – 3D Blu-ray has gotten stuck in the era of 1080p SDR.
Apple Resurrects 3D – But in a Whole New Quality
In January 2024, Apple literally resurrected 3D by introducing 3D movies to the Apple TV app. What's more, the company announced that users who previously purchased 2D movies will receive 3D versions completely for free if they are created. But the real revolution lies in the new format. Apple has created a proprietary 3D standard in 4K, with Dolby Vision HDR, High Frame Rate 48 fps, and Dolby Atmos spatial audio. This is a huge leap in quality compared to 3D Blu-ray. Under the hood is the MV-HEVC (Multiview High Efficiency Video Coding) codec — a modern extension of HEVC that provides better compression and higher effective bitrates.
The only area where Blu-ray 3D still wins is lossless audio (Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA). Apple still offers Atmos in lossy Dolby Digital Plus — and that's it. The launch partner was Disney, which almost immediately added 4K 3D movies to Disney+ alongside the offerings on ChooseTV.
Best 3D experiences? Only with Apple Vision Pro
Instead of reviving 3D on televisions or projectors, Apple opted for something completely different – 3D experience inside the Apple Vision Pro goggles. The way 3D looks on this device is in a completely different league. Thanks to 4K micro-OLEDs for each eye and a new 3D format, the image is sharp, deep, and almost free from the flaws known to every user of old 3D TVs. The result? The screen in the goggles can be scaled as desired – and it truly feels like watching a movie in a giant cinema. It’s still a heavy and expensive device, but for a 3D fan – an absolute “must try.”
Currently, there are over 300 3D movies available in the Apple TV catalog, and a few can also be watched on Disney+. Only one title, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” supports 48 fps HFR.
Next step: full immersion in 3D
The new 3D is just the beginning. The industry is already pushing boundaries further — towards immersive content 180° and 360°, which completely surround the viewer. Meta tried this with Quest headsets, but their weak LCD panels and lack of hardware support for MV-HEVC make the experience more of a substitute — stretched HD with average contrast.
Apple took a different path and created Apple Immersive Video, available exclusively on Vision Pro. It’s a format recorded with a special Blackmagic camera, even in 8K 3D 90 fps. Apple is experimenting with documentaries, concerts, music videos, and sporting events in this technology — and the results are stunning.
Conclusion? Apple not only refreshed 3D – it reinvented it
After watching several of these productions on Vision Pro, it's hard to go back to "flat" cinema. It’s several generations ahead of what Meta offers, and the feeling resembles the best screenings in IMAX — only in your living room. If anyone manages to transfer this experience from heavy goggles to lightweight glasses, they will dominate the future of home entertainment.
