By Jonathan Easton

Disney films can now be rented and purchased in UHD on iTunes.

While it is focusing on expanding its own streaming empire, Disney is still playing ball with third-party storefronts and has made the switch to 4K on Apple’s platform, reports 9to5Mac.

The report notes that a deal has been several years in the making, with the parties agreeing to up the maximum quality of a number of titles to 4K with additional support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. It adds that previously purchased HD Disney films should be retroactively upgraded to the higher fidelity if there is a 4K version available.

Not all the films have 4K versions though, with a Reddit user saying that they had “at least some” Marvel films like Thor Ragnarok available in UHD but others like Black Panther are still only in HD.

Interestingly, the Star Wars franchise – which was made available in UHD for the first time on Disney+ when it launched, are also on iTunes in the higher resolution.

Disney was notably absent from the list of partnered studios when Apple first announced support for 4K movies in 2017, particularly given the historic ties between the companies, but any dispute has seemingly been resolved.

While this will mean that fans can watch these films in top quality without signing up to Disney+, it looks unlikely to impact the streamer’s runaway success. A newly revised estimate from Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson predicts that Disney+ will reach 155 million subscribers globally by 2024. https://www.digitaltveurope.com