History Facts & Stories on Instagram: "Netflix was founded in 1997 and launched its DVD rental service in 1998, at a time when most people rented movies from physical video stores. In the early years customers ordered DVDs through the Netflix website, added movies to a queue, and Netflix mailed the discs directly to their homes in red envelopes. Once you finished watching a movie you mailed it back using the same envelope, and Netflix would send the next title from your queue. By around 1999 and