You can finally take Netflix with you onto a plane or the subway. Today the company announced that it’s launching offline playback for “many of your favorite streaming series and movies.” Right now, that selection includes stuff made by Netflix (Stranger Things, The Crown, Narcos, Orange is the New Black, etc) but also a lot of other random choices. You’ve got Breaking Bad. You’ve got Mad Men. You’ve got... Paddington and Minions and Kung Fu Panda 3. This is going to be a huge deal for parents. Movies include Boyhood, Pulp Fiction, Nightcrawler, Good Will Hunting, Hot Fuzz, and more. Netflix says more content will support downloads in the near future.
Once you’ve updated to the latest version of Netflix on Android or iOS (due out today for both), a download button will appear next to the play button for shows that allow it, letting you save content to watch later on when you might not have any internet connection. According to this help page, there are two options for quality: Standard and Higher. “Standard quality is a slightly lower video resolution that requires less storage space and takes less time to download. Higher quality is a higher video resolution that requires more storage space and takes more time to download.” Netflix doesn’t actually spell out what that higher resolution is.
Offline playback is a feature that Netflix executives have previously said the company was unlikely to embrace. But it can be a huge help in regions that might not offer the fastest internet around, and other video rivals like Amazon Video and more recently Vudu already allow customers to download content to watch anywhere. Best of all, offline playback is available for all streaming plans, so Netflix isn’t trying to use it to up-sell people on higher subscription tiers.
Comments
This is pretty amazing!
By diotallevisheir on 11.30.16 9:22am
Yes! Which platforms are supported? Can this be done via PC/MAC by using their browser-based site?
By MoMonies on 11.30.16 9:29am
Seems to be only for the iOS and Android app at the moment.
By mxmgodin on 11.30.16 10:37am
I just got a Surface again. Hopefully it comes to the Windows app soon.
By wixostrix on 11.30.16 4:50pm
Damn, didn’t realise this was for mobile only.
Really hoping it comes to PS4 Netflix soon… (reason why is we’re getting patchy internet at the moment, so would be handy to have some shows offline for backup if it dies!)
By kayzee on 12.01.16 5:54am
Just got the update, and the "available for download" section is very useful, also the amount of movies and series available is not bad at all!
By Azortje on 11.30.16 9:31am
Great! Is there a limit of devices? As in I have a subscription that allows two device stream at the same time.
By WeakJames on 11.30.16 9:32am
Just got it, and the available for download is definitely not just the Netflix Originals.
By mplovan on 11.30.16 9:32am
Yep! Great news. We’re not stuck with Netflix originals and Adam Sandler movies.
By Chris Welch on 11.30.16 9:38am
but oddly some are missing – like Daredevil – But Luke Cage is there. Blah – must be some gap in the initial license they made when they filmed.
Downloaded a movie for giggles "Criminal" and it was 440 MB – looked and sounded fine on my iPad on the bus though – So meh if the file size is smaller than what you get from other sources – keep in mind the intended destination and other factors like commuting noise/glare etc
By grahamrose on 11.30.16 12:24pm
Yeah it looks fine. But I would really appreciate if they disclosed resolution, codec and bitrate.
By Xaelias on 11.30.16 12:39pm
I cried a little.
By marcprez on 11.30.16 9:35am
This would also be awesome for parents whose kids watch THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER, which is such a waste of bandwidth and kills people with caps re-downloading every time.
By administraitor on 11.30.16 9:36am
Nice!
Just downloading the second season of narcos.
The only bad thing is that you can’t choose (or I couldn’t find the option) the external sdcard, it only uses local storage
By orioldr on 11.30.16 9:37am
for sure. I have a 128GB card and was hoping to download stuff there. Only option I see on an android is local storage only. Hopefully that changes.
By Jeremy Mauss on 11.30.16 6:51pm
Good news I guess, but wish they would let you download to a HDD (encrypted even). My puny broadband will just stretch to 4K when no-one else is using it, which is pretty rare. Being able to download a 4K program to watch when I want to, not just when the broadband is free is something I need. Prime is even worse as it wants more bandwidth then Netflix.
By invisiblek1d on 11.30.16 9:42am
Given how they don’t even dare to tell us what resolution/bitrate they are using for these SD/HD version. 4k is a very distant dream I fear…
By Xaelias on 11.30.16 10:40am
About time!!!!!
By soulchilde on 11.30.16 9:49am
I might now be willing to sign up for Netflix. Watch a lot of shows while travelling, and so Amazon Prime Video has been my only option until now. I assume this is a global roll out (UK!), and not just US?
By Thegovier on 11.30.16 9:52am
It seems global, i’ve just donwloaded a bunch of narcos episodes from spain
By orioldr on 11.30.16 10:03am
It is global indeed, certainly live here in Poland, with the Netflix app update.
…And just when I bumped up my mobile data allowance ;<
By k0nrad on 11.30.16 10:04am
(great for poor/no connectivity conditions, though. Quality even on Standard seems fine with very acceptable file sizes).
By k0nrad on 11.30.16 10:09am
Working fine in Pakistan !
By Farid Ahmad on 11.30.16 10:20am
Yes! Competition in action!
By hefferj on 11.30.16 10:34am
This will be good for my family in a rural area.
Anyone tried it with screen mirroring on an iOS device and an Apple TV?
By rescuethecows on 11.30.16 10:35am