List of changes in Star Wars re-releases

This is a partial list of visual and audio alterations incorporated into the theatrical and home video re-releases of the Star Wars films. Dissatisfied with the initial theatrical versions of Star Wars (1977) and its sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), series creator George Lucas altered the films several times, changing their visual effects and sound quality. Changes were also made in an attempt to produce Lucas' ideal versions of the Star Wars films, which he could not achieve originally due to the limitations of visual effects in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In commemoration of the franchise's 20th anniversary in 1997, Lucas and his production company, Lucasfilm, digitally preserved and restored the original negatives of the first three films. In addition, new computer-generated (CG) special-effects shots, CG additions to existing shots, new scenes, and changed musical pieces were added. The alterations have been controversial among fans, giving rise to the phrase "Han shot first", which references one of the more contentious changes made to the original film.

For the original trilogy's 2004 DVD release, the negatives were re-scanned, the color timing was redone, and further changes were made to the films to fix continuity issues with the prequel trilogy. At the time^[update], Lucas claimed the original films were "25 to 30 percent" of what he had intended and stated these DVD releases are the canonical versions of the original trilogy. However, the original, unaltered theatrical editions were released on DVD in 2006. The six films received Blu-ray releases in 2011: The original trilogy used the same masters as the 2004 DVDs with additional minor changes, and minor changes were made to the three films comprising the prequel trilogy.

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