Direct-to-video

A film that is released direct-to-video (DTV) is one which has been released to the public on home video formats first rather than first being released in movie theaters.

Direct-to-video releases are generally considered to be of lower technical or artistic quality than theatrical releases. Some studio films that are released direct-to-video are films which have languished for some time without release, either because the studio doubts its commercial prospects would justify a full cinema release or because its "release window" has closed — that is, it may have been rushed into production to capitalize on a timely trend or personality and not been completed in time. In film industry slang, such films are referred to as having been "vaulted."

Direct-to-video releases are also done for films which sometimes cannot be shown theatrically, because of their content (they may be too controversial for theaters) or because the cost involved in a theatrical release is prohibitive to the releasing company. Almost all pornographic films are released direct-to-video.

Animated sequels and movie-length episodes of animated series are also often released this way; The Walt Disney Company in the 1990s began making sequels of most of its animated films for video release.

For anime, this is called Original Video Animation (OVA or OAV), and usually fall between television series and movies in regards to production values). As such they somewhat lack the stigma of poor quality. They are often used to tell stories too short to fill a full tv season, particularlyin the early 90's. With the advent of the 13 episode season format, OAVs are less common now. Some are used to garner enough interest in fandom to make a profitable full television series.