To rip is to declare that you do not trust "the cloud" or streaming services to preserve art. It is a return to tangible ownership in a digital wrapper. As long as studios continue to treat home video as a disposable rental service rather than a purchasable good, the practice of ripping will not only continue but thrive. It is not merely about stealing movies; it is about rescuing them from the ephemeral nature of the internet and fixing them, in perfect quality, onto a hard drive that answers to no one but you.

Furthermore, the rise of "scene releases" (cracked, compressed rips available on the internet before the disc even officially launches) undermines theatrical windows. The argument for ripping remains strongest when it is Part V: The Future – Physical Media's Twilight and the Rise of the Remux Ironically, just as ripping technology has matured (with MakeMKV easily defeating AACS 2.0), physical media is dying. Best Buy stopped selling Blu-rays in 2024. Target has reduced floor space to a single endcap. The future is streaming.

The ethical rupture occurs when the rip is shared. Uploading a single 60 GB MKV to a torrent site allows thousands of strangers to bypass payment entirely. This is unequivocally piracy and directly reduces potential revenue for filmmakers.