The 6 Best Portable DVD and Blu-Ray Players of 2021

Best Overall: SYNAGY A10 10.1" Portable DVD Player

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Leave the iPad and the Internet-connected world at home with the 3.3-pound SYNAGY A10 portable DVD and CD player. Featuring a 10.1-inch TFT 1024 x 600 resolution display that swivels a full 270 degrees, this unit provides plenty of reason to skip out on tablet life and solely focus on your newest DVD pickup. The SYNAGY includes support for all types of DVDs and CDs, as well as JPEG images for viewing pictures on-the-go.

With 2.5-3 hours of battery life, there’s only enough room to watch one DVD before requiring a re-charge, but you can maximize battery life by lowering the sound of the speaker. Fortunately, you can re-charge the unit while on-the-go in a vehicle through an included car charger to avoid the battery life limitations altogether. Additionally, there’s an added USB port and SD card, as well as a remote control to round out the feature set.

Best Budget: Sunpin Portable DVD Player

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For portable entertainment on a budget, a player with Blu-Ray support likely won’t be worth the significant extra cost. But a DVD player can still offer plenty of features and a quality viewing experience, which is what you’ll get with this Sunpin device. Its 9.5-inch TFT LCD screen delivers solid picture quality with enhanced brightness. You'll get decent audio from the built-in speakers, but as a bonus, dual earphone jacks let two people listen from separate sets of headphones at the same time.

Aside from playing most standard CD/DVD formats, the Sunpin player also supports a variety of digital media files from a USB drive or SD card. Included in the package is an A/V cable for sending the display to a TV, a headrest mounting case for watching in the backseat of a car, and a car charger for powering it up on the road. It weighs less than three pounds and can last up to five hours before needing to be recharged, so it makes a great travel companion. The player is available in black, blue, red, and purple color options.

Best for Kids: UEME 9-Inch Portable DVD Player

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Movies are a great way to keep kids busy on long trips, and UEME offers a DVD player designed to do exactly that. It comes in two styles: blue with a racecar design or pink with a princess-and-unicorn design. The models are otherwise identical, with a nine-inch 800 x 480-pixel LCD display that can swivel 180 degrees. It plays essentially any DVD and CD format, as well as most digital video and audio files through a USB port and SD card slot that supports up to 32GB.

At home, you can power or charge it with the power cord and connect it to a TV with the included A/V cable. Some other DVD players geared toward kids come with bonus accessories like game controllers and headphones, but UEME’s device includes extras that make it perfect for travel — it comes with a canvas case to easily and securely mount the device to the back of a car headrest, along with a car adapter to keep it charged and a remote to control playback. When not plugged in, the battery can provide you with about four hours of entertainment for the kids. 

Best Display: Sylvania 15.6-inch Portable DVD Player

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There’s little question a 15.6-inch portable DVD player will have you doing a double-take, but Sylvania knocks it out of the park with this laptop-sized screen. Featuring 270 degrees of rotation, the 15.6-inch display offers plenty of screen space to enjoy the latest DVD releases in a package that’s just 5.1 pounds. While it has just 2.5 hours of battery life, the built-in card reader allows the addition of MP4 and DIVX formatted movies to go beyond the DVD space.

If you want to get comfortable, fold the Sylvania flat and watch it in any position that feels best. There’s an additional remote control for controlling the player from a distance, as well as a car-powered AC adapter included for all the power you need while on a road trip. Additionally, the built-in dual full-range stereo speakers offer crisp and clear sound. With a large display and anti-shock playback to help avoid skips, this portable DVD player is hard to pass up.

Best Design: Sylvania 7-Inch Portable DVD Player

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With many portable players sporting a similar boxy look with a swivel-screen design, the Sylvania SDVD7046 immediately stands out with its rounded shape and integrated carrying handle. Its vibrant color options—silver, black, blue, pink, red, and purple—allows you to personalize your pick beyond the standard black and silver.

This simple and lightweight device is built for on-the-go viewing and does the job well. It doesn’t have many extra functions, like the ability to connect to a TV or automatically resume playback from where you left off. It does, however, come with a remote and a set of earphones, in addition to its built-in speakers and audio input. Some users ran into issues with the battery not holding a long charge, but if you have opportunities to plug in and recharge, it’s a stylish and very portable companion for road trips.