DVD rental is a process by which an individual can rent DVDs from a rental company. Usually DVD delivery is through mail and the interaction between the DVD rental company and the individual takes place through the internet.

The model followed by most companies is:
The customer registers in the rental service and selects the titles.
DVDs are mailed to the customer.
The customer after watching the DVDs returns them.

Usually the customers are allowed to keep the DVDs as long as they want. Once the discs are returned then the company releases other DVDs to the customer. The companies give a return envelope that is used to returning the DVDs.

There are usually a number of plans to choose from:

Individual Plans: Individual rentals are for a fixed fee per disc and the fee sometimes varies with the title. This type is usually not encouraged by the companies.

Unlimited Plans: In unlimited plans you can rent as many movies as you want. However there is a limit of around 3 more than which are not sent to the customer. The unlimited plans vary from company to company, but is around $10 a month to $25 a month.

Limited or Capped Plans: In these plans a maximum limit is kept more than which the DVDs cannot be rented. If rented, then there is an additional charge. This is a comparatively cheaper type of plan.

Package Plans: To save on postage, a package of certain number of disks is sent and the return is also sent in a package. Usually around two packages outstanding is permitted. The next package is sent on return of the earlier package.

Peer to Peer Trading: In this two customers can exchange DVDs and is facilitated by the DVD rental company.

Throttling: Some customers have higher turnover rate, that is they immediately watch the DVDs and return them. This way the monthly fee works out less than the postage fee which is a loss to the company. So most companies have devised a method of slower shipments to such customers. Legally the company is right, and they send the rental DVDs from a far away warehouse.

Replacement: Most companies replace the same day if the customer returns a defective DVD.

Titles: On the websites of DVD rental companies a wide variety of DVDs are available, such as Horror, Western, Family, Comedy, Television, Action, Musical, Classics, Romance, Sports, Documentaries, Foreign, War movies etc. For marketing and easier classification titles are kept in subcategories like recent releases, popular movies, all time favorites, recommended movies, best foreign movies, Hollywood classics, Cannes movies, Science fiction.

Edited Family Movies: Most websites also keep edited versions of movies which can be watched by a family.