Many people like to use streaming services to watch the latest shows, in order to understand all the latest memes and participate in discussions about what's new and popular.

But streaming services have something else to offer: legacy content, or older movies and shows. Several of the newer services have made offering a massive war chest of older content a big part of their strategy.

What's available on which service, especially when it comes to older stuff, changes all the time. Here, a look at what each major service has to offer, how easy they make it to find and enjoy legacy content, and how they stack up.

Netflix

Netflix legacy content

Netflix is, of course, the streaming service that taught most of us what streaming is all about. Its offerings are massive and expansive, and while Netflix allows you to enjoy all the shows it has debuted since it started streaming originals a decade ago, it's long been a knock on the service that it doesn't emphasize classic movies.

Sure, there are some great older movies available on Netflix here or there, but the company appears to have come to the conclusion that classics aren't its bread and butter, therefore leaving that market to some of its newer competitors.

That said, in April 2021, the company made a deal with Sony Pictures to bring legacy theatrical releases to Netflix.

Netflix's interface is fairly simple, with its famed hyper-specific categories, so it's not hard to find the type of legacy movie you're looking for.

Related: The Ultimate Netflix Guide: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Netflix

HBO Max

HBO Max legacy content, curated by TCM

HBO Max, the streaming service from AT&T and Time Warner, seems built to offer many of the things Netflix doesn't have. And while Christopher Nolan may have trashed HBO Max as "the worst streaming service," it has a lot to offer for fans of older movies and TV.

Its massive trove of legacy content includes every episode of nearly every HBO show, as well as an expansive list of classic movies, including a section of older films curated by Turner Classic Movies, which is under the umbrella of AT&T and Time Warner.

There are even special sections for Oscar winners, international films, and plenty of other categories to make finding older content a breeze.

Hulu

Hulu legacy content

Hulu started off as a place where the TV networks offered streaming versions of their shows. The present-day version of Hulu, which is now controlled by Disney, is still that to some degree, but it also offers a wide back catalog of content from Disney and Fox libraries, including much of what's considered too adult-oriented to appear on Disney+.

The Hulu offerings are fairly well-curated, making it easy to find older movies and shows by genre or other categories.

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime legacy content

Amazon's streaming product, like many of its competitors, puts the newer offerings at the front, especially the many originals from Amazon Studios.

But scroll down enough and you'll find plenty of older content, from both the movie and TV sides and in all sorts of genre categories. However, its interface isn't the best at surfacing all the available content, so you may need to know what you're looking for to find it.

Disney+

Disney+ reimagined classics and hit movies

While Disney+ certainly has some quality original series, and big plans to roll out more of them over the next several years, the streaming service's strategy has a lot to do with its massive library of legacy content, most of which is owned by Disney and will therefore almost certainly never leave the Disney+ fold.

Disney+ offers most of Disney's classic animated films, along with content from brands like Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar. It also has all the movies it acquired when Disney bought Twentieth Century Fox. It's a big reason why the streaming service had such major success right out of the gate.

It's also, thanks to Disney+'s interface, all very easy to find. You can either scroll through the home screen or browse by genres and collections.

Paramount+

Paramount+ legacy content

Paramount+, the streaming service formerly known as CBS All Access, was launched in 2021 with a strategy very similar to that of Disney+: some originals, many of which are reboots, sequels, or spinoffs of familiar content, while also offering years of older content.

Paramount+ offers content from ViacomCBS brands like Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and much more.

That means, among other things, every episode of every Star Trek TV series, from the original in the 1960s to the new series that are rolling out today.

Peacock

Peacock legacy

The Comcast/NBC Universal-owned streaming service, which launched in 2020, may focus its marketing mostly on originals and its next-day offerings of shows on NBC. But Peacock has built up quite a bit of legacy content, including the entire run of Saturday Night Live going back to 1975. And since that is an NBC show, it's unlikely to ever leave Peacock.

The service also has a long-term deal as the exclusive streaming home of The Office. And wrestling fans can enjoy the entirety of the WWE Network, which was folded into Peacock in 2021, in a deal that will keep it there through at least 2026.

Related: NBC’s Peacock Streaming Service: Everything You Need to Know

The Criterion Channel

Criterion Channel legacy

Beloved by cinephiles, this streaming service is entirely about the old stuff. Expertly curated and focused on specific directors, themes, and much more, The Criterion Channel, launched in 2019, offers a huge treasury of movies from throughout the history of the medium.

For fans of older and classic movies, The Criterion Channel is one of the best streaming services to sign up to.

Apple TV+

Apple TV+

Apple TV+, since its launch in late 2019, has emphasized original content almost exclusively. Despite occasional rumors that Apple was looking to buy a classic library, or otherwise make arrangements to pull in some older content, that has not happened.

The Apple TV+ interface, however, does sprinkle in some older titles that are available for rental on VOD.

Related: What Is Apple TV+? Everything You Need to Know

Which Streaming Service Offers the Best Classic Content?

As with most questions of streaming services, you shouldn't subscribe to just one, and the streaming service diet of most viewers is going to include several of them.

But when it comes to the best offerings of and presentation of classic content, Disney+ wins, thanks to owning so many beloved content properties. HBO Max, with its TCM-curated classic collection, as well as all of those great HBO shows, comes in second. Rounding off the podium, the Criterion Channel places third.