Netflix It is one of the most used streaming platforms in the world. From it we can access hundreds of series and movies to play them on the mobile, on television, on the PC and on the device that we want. If we pay the most expensive subscription plan, we will also have the right to see it at maximum quality, in 4K. However, depending on where we see it from, we may not be seeing the highest quality in our favorite movies and series. Especially when we see it from Windows.
When we see netflix on computer, we can do it in several ways. The first of them is through the app that we can find in the Windows application store itself, an option, the truth, very little used. The second, and much more popular, is to do it directly from the web browser itself. Simply enter the Netflix website to log in and start playing all kinds of content instantly.
When it comes to watching Netflix from the browser, we can do it from any browser. And, of course, the logical thing is to use our main browser (Google Chrome, almost always) to access the content. With this browser we can make use of the streaming platform without problems, and access all the content. But not in the best possible way.
Chrome does not support hardware DRM
Google Chrome, Firefox, and other derivative browsers do not support the hardware DRM systems used by Netflix to prevent downloading and recording and to protect its content. These browsers use a software-based DRM system to decrypt platform content. And because of that, it is impossible to see the content at maximum quality from this browser.
To protect the content, and avoid recordings, the company limits the series and movies that we watch from these browsers to HD or 720p quality, but never to 1080 or 4K. Therefore, even if we are paying for the most complete plan to improve quality, we will not be able to see this content at the highest quality, mainly due to this problem with DRM.
But, of course, there are alternatives to improve the quality itself.
How to watch Netflix in 4K on PC
When we go to watch Netflix on the computer, there are ways to have these hardware DRM systems. The first one is to use Edge, Microsoft’s browser, since it is compatible with PlayReady and, therefore, is capable of play Netflix at full quality. Another option, in case of using macOS, is to use the Safari browser to play this content also thanks to FairPlay.
If we decide to download the app for this platform from the app store of our operating system, we can also play it at maximum quality, since the app also supports hardware DRM decoding.
In addition, in order to play content at the highest quality, we not only depend on the browser, but it is also necessary to meet other requirements:
- Have Windows 10 or Windows 11 installed.
- The latest version of the HEVC extension.
- A 60 Hz screen with 4K quality.
- A stable Internet connection of about 20 Mbps.
- Intel 7th generation or AMD Ryzen processor.
- Latest version of graphics card drivers installed.
