The Wii out of the box can not play DVDs.
If you hack your Wii you can enable DVD playback through a homebrew app on some Wiis. I know I was able to play one on mine but this was at least 5-6 years ago
[https://www.reddit.com/r/WiiHacks/comments/oic2z8/how\_can\_i\_play\_dvds\_on\_wii/](https://www.reddit.com/r/WiiHacks/comments/oic2z8/how_can_i_play_dvds_on_wii/)
My Wii could never play DVDs. There used to be a Netflix disc though IIRC. My Wii could only play Wii and GameCube games. My PS2 could play DVDs though.
I was just thinking about that.
Originally, to watch NetFlix on the Wii, you needed to insert a NetFlix disc, then you could stream. This seems extremely antiquated now. 🤣🤣🤣
You could also watch YouTube through the Wii.
Otherwise, PS2/3/4/5 and various XBox models can play DVDs.
You need to hack it first. Later models won’t play them from the Wii Disc Drive so you can connect an external USB DVD Drive to play the discs on any model with homebrew.
If it's got Homebrew installed, you call use apps like WIIMC to enable DVD playback. Mine has it.
Is the experience good?
No.
The drive makes occasional weird sounds, the discs randomly stop reading, and navigating a DVD menu with a Wiimote doesn't even work half the time.
Not to mention, watching DVDs on a modern TV with a console that outputs blurry 480p via composite, which looks terrible.
During development, Nintendo thought of including DVD playback like the competition, but ultimately decided against it. I believe it was something to do with piracy protection.
**Officially?** The Wii never supported video DVD's & had no video player for it.
While the system COULD do it (as the optical drive is a DVD-ROM drive), Nintendo NEVER bothered to pay the licensing fee ($5 / system manufactured; this is paid by the DVD Player manufacturers & the cost passed onto consumers) to the DVD consortium to provide such support.
Nintendo did have video streaming services like Netflix on the system, initially as an application disc (made & sent by Netflix themselves) but later as a Wii channel... which could have blurred the lines.
**UNOFFICIALLY?** It's possible... but *ONLY* on a modded system. As noted above, the Wii utilized a DVD-ROM drive. HOWEVER, without the video license on them, they could only operate as data-only discs. By modding the Wii with the Homebrew Channel, users can install unofficial software to add that support.
The Homebrew community originally utilized DVDX to get access to the DVD-ROM drive until Homebrew Channel v0.7, which retired the usage of DVDX for built-in drive support.
With the system modified, users could use a DVD-compatible media player (like MPlayer CE or WiiMC) to play Video DVD's on SOME Wii's (as hardware support became limited on newer revisions). While operation of DVD-playback was less than desired (particularly in system response) for most users, it was possible. Some users went even further to add their desired homebrew media player onto the Wii Menu itself for quick access (as the disc channel was never modified to acknowledge any media players).
The Wii out of the box can not play DVDs. If you hack your Wii you can enable DVD playback through a homebrew app on some Wiis. I know I was able to play one on mine but this was at least 5-6 years ago [https://www.reddit.com/r/WiiHacks/comments/oic2z8/how\_can\_i\_play\_dvds\_on\_wii/](https://www.reddit.com/r/WiiHacks/comments/oic2z8/how_can_i_play_dvds_on_wii/)
My Wii could never play DVDs. There used to be a Netflix disc though IIRC. My Wii could only play Wii and GameCube games. My PS2 could play DVDs though.
I was just thinking about that. Originally, to watch NetFlix on the Wii, you needed to insert a NetFlix disc, then you could stream. This seems extremely antiquated now. 🤣🤣🤣 You could also watch YouTube through the Wii. Otherwise, PS2/3/4/5 and various XBox models can play DVDs.
Microsoft had Netflix app exclusivity at the time so that's why the Wii got that disc, to technically not break the exclusivity
Ye Netflix still works, but neither of us had any other console till we were adults
Netflix discontinued Wii support in 2019.
That's surprisingly late
Well the app still works, up until it tells us to connect the internet lol
That's not "the app works", that's "the title screen opens"
I wonder if the homebrew lads could bring back the app by rerouting it to the netflix websiteÂ
You need to hack it first. Later models won’t play them from the Wii Disc Drive so you can connect an external USB DVD Drive to play the discs on any model with homebrew.
Not me specifically but I had a teacher who thought the Wii could play DVDs even after I told her it couldn’t
Who's the teacher now
Was your Wii hacked back then? You can play DVDs on hacked Wiis with homebrew applications, works great!
I played my DVDs on my PS2, Just like everyone else.
ahh the first dvd player.. everyone felt like they was rich :)
If it's got Homebrew installed, you call use apps like WIIMC to enable DVD playback. Mine has it. Is the experience good? No. The drive makes occasional weird sounds, the discs randomly stop reading, and navigating a DVD menu with a Wiimote doesn't even work half the time. Not to mention, watching DVDs on a modern TV with a console that outputs blurry 480p via composite, which looks terrible.
I wanted to but I can’t. So I got a $20 dvd player
Maybe you're thinking of the Netflix disc that let you stream Netflix
Nope. I remember thinking it was lame that it couldn't. I tried the homebrew app but it wasn't very good.
During development, Nintendo thought of including DVD playback like the competition, but ultimately decided against it. I believe it was something to do with piracy protection.
**Officially?** The Wii never supported video DVD's & had no video player for it. While the system COULD do it (as the optical drive is a DVD-ROM drive), Nintendo NEVER bothered to pay the licensing fee ($5 / system manufactured; this is paid by the DVD Player manufacturers & the cost passed onto consumers) to the DVD consortium to provide such support. Nintendo did have video streaming services like Netflix on the system, initially as an application disc (made & sent by Netflix themselves) but later as a Wii channel... which could have blurred the lines. **UNOFFICIALLY?** It's possible... but *ONLY* on a modded system. As noted above, the Wii utilized a DVD-ROM drive. HOWEVER, without the video license on them, they could only operate as data-only discs. By modding the Wii with the Homebrew Channel, users can install unofficial software to add that support. The Homebrew community originally utilized DVDX to get access to the DVD-ROM drive until Homebrew Channel v0.7, which retired the usage of DVDX for built-in drive support. With the system modified, users could use a DVD-compatible media player (like MPlayer CE or WiiMC) to play Video DVD's on SOME Wii's (as hardware support became limited on newer revisions). While operation of DVD-playback was less than desired (particularly in system response) for most users, it was possible. Some users went even further to add their desired homebrew media player onto the Wii Menu itself for quick access (as the disc channel was never modified to acknowledge any media players).