Watching Netflix on Linux has always been a difficult task. In the earlier versions, the users had to install a User Agent Switcher extension in Linux to trick Netflix into thinking you were using Windows.
However, now Netflix has native support for HTML5 player, so you can easily watch Netflix content on Linux. I will show you how to Watch Netflix on Linux.
Contents
Watch Netflix on Linux using Chrome
The earlier workarounds necessary for watching Netflix on Linux are now unnecessary. You now just need the latest version of Google Chrome to watch the latest Netflix content.
It is, however, important to acknowledge that this trick may not work on all the distro builds available out there. It should work fine on the popular builds like Ubuntu.
- You need the latest version of your OS, so update your OS to its latest build.
- Next, you need to download Google Chrome for Linux. Once that is once, you can visit the official website of Netflix (netflix.com) and start watching the content.
There are no workarounds needed to play movies or videos from Netflix because now the streaming service uses the HTML5 playback as default.
NSS Update Required
NSS is the abbreviation for Network Security Services. It was made by Mozilla and is a set of libraries that is responsible for supporting cross-platform development of security-enabled client and server applications.
If you have updated the NSS version to 3.16.2 or above, you must be able to watch Netflix natively on the stable builds of Chrome.
In case the Netflix thumbnails are not loading on your device you should check out this post to get the issue resolved.
Netflix For Linux Using Other Browsers
Netflix content is easily available for Chrome because of Chrome’s native support for EME. EME stands for Encrypted Media Extensions, and it is a W3C specification for providing a channel between web browsers and DRM agent software for communication.
W3C added EME to the HTML5 specifications for Web Standards. So now you can also use Firefox for viewing Netflix content.
Firefox now enables you to play DRM content like Netflix and Spotify. So if you enable it you can play DRM content such as Netflix on Firefox.
Here are the steps to enable DRM on Firefox:
- Open Firefox
- Type the following in the address bar and press Enter:
about:preferences#content
3. In the General tab, look for Digital Rights Management (DRM) Content. Check the box next to Play DRM-controlled Content.
4. This will start the installation of the Widevine plug-in from Google.
5. Open a new tab. Type the following and press Enter:
about:addons
6. Change the OpenH264 and Widevine add-ons to Always Activate
7. Restart Firefox.
Now you can play Netflix content on Firefox for Linux.
Desktop Application
There is no native app for Netflix as of now, but that may not be the case for long as Linux developers and Netflix have been working together for some time now to make this a reality.
However, you can use a feature of Chrome to make a shortcut for Netflix. Here is how to do that:
- Click on the ≡
- Go to More tools option to reveal more options.
- Here select on Add to desktop.
4. Make sure the box next to Open as window is checked.
Now there is a shortcut on your desktop that opens Netflix in a separate Window than Chrome. Using this method you can create an application shortcut for Linux.
Conclusion
Once upon a time watching DRM content like Netflix and Amazon Videos was tough on Linux with a lot of workarounds involved. But now by the work of many companies working together, Netflix can be viewed natively on Linux.
Using the above methods you can view Netflix on Chrome and Firefox for Linux. You can also visit the AUR repositories to download the Widevine license for other supported browsers. So there you have it. Now you know how to watch Netflix on Linux. Comment below if you found these methods useful for you.
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