High street chain Woolworths is to become the first major retailer to stock only Blu-Ray high-definition DVDs and to drop HD-DVDs.

The retailer said Blu-Ray DVDs have been outselling HD-DVDs by 10-to-one in stores over Christmas.

From March, Woolworths stores will have a Blu-Ray DVD chart in all 820 stores and a Blu-Ray DVD back catalogue section in larger stores. However, HD-DVDs will still be available online.

Since launching high-definition DVDs last October, sales have risen more than 40 per cent a month, compared with a relatively flat DVD market.

Woolworths DVD buyer Steven McGunigel said: “Sales figures clearly show that the market is moving towards one format of high-definition DVD. The main reason is the success of Sony’s PlayStation 3. Because it plays Blu-Ray discs, there are more than three quarters of a million homes in the UK that can view the new high-definition format. There is nowhere near that number of HD-DVD players around.”

He added: “Switching to Blu-Ray only will provide one clear offer to customers in the format they want to watch high definition movies in.” Disney’s Ratatouille is expected to be Woolworths’ first Blu-Ray DVD chart topper.

However, the format war has divided the electronics and entertainment industries. Blu-Ray has been backed by Samsung, Sony, Warner, Dell, Apple, Disney and 20th Century Fox. HD-DVD has been backed by NEC, Microsoft and Universal.

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