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These days, most people only use Internet Explorer/Edge to download another web browser, like Google Chrome or Firefox. However, it turns out that Microsoft's browsers are actually pretty good for Netflix, being the only ones to offer full 1080p streaming on PC. If you have been watching Netflix on Chrome and Firefox, then you have been capped at 720p.
Microsoft recently tried to boast battery life gains through using its browser on laptops over competitors like Chrome or Firefox. The company's new strategy is to point out Netflix's system requirements, which show that while all of the main browsers are supported for streaming, only Microsoft's offer 1080p.
We don't actually know why 1080p Netflix streaming isn't supported on Chrome, as the browser is capable of 4K and 60 frames per second on services like YouTube. Either way though, this could be a helpful way for Microsoft to boost the reputation of its own browser, which most people tend to avoid.
If you want to check what resolution your Netflix is streaming at, you can access the secret menu by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D and from there, you can check the playing bitrate, resolution and other stats to do with the stream.
KitGuru Says: The fact that Chrome doesn't support full 1080p Netflix has actually been known for a while but it hasn't been widely publicised until this week. It would be interesting to hear exactly why 1080p is supported in Edge and Internet Explorer but not Chrome or Firefox.
The only reason this has happened, and I speculate, is that Microsoft paid money for this to be the case. Because Chrome is way more capable than Edge.
No… Chrome is ugly, bulky and relies on bad practices to appear “fast”.
Edge is minimalist and thus performs better, faster and lighter in nearly every task.
Actually chrome and firefox have rly bad streaming technology. Take a look at cpu usage when you stream source quality on twitch and you will see that edge’s is the smoothest and uses by far less cpu. I don’t know why chrome and mozilla haven’t invested in streaming more as it one of the most important aspect of browsing nowadys.
Then why is Safarfi the only browser on Mac OS X that supports 1080p? Given the problem exists in both OSes, I suspect it is a limitation in Chrome’s and Firefox’s streaming technology like Damicent says. For YouTube it is not a problem as they compress their videos much more than Netflix does, plus unlike Netflix they limit the bitrate regardless of the bitrate of the video (a max of 9 mbps for 1080p, 18 mbps for 1440p, etc).
Chrome just is fast and Edge users ought not to be talking about bad practices. I work in Web programming. Edge is ridiculous. Better than IE, but still ridiculous.
And yet Amazon Prime Video manages 1080p playback on Chrome just fine on a pretty low powered i3-4130T. Bitrate of around 7-8Mbps.
How often are OSX users going to be using Edge? Exactly. So there will no crossover for exlcusivity. Tell me you don’t find it curious that both major operating systems can only stream 1080p Netflix on their “native” browsers.
Even an Amazon Fire TV can support 4k Netflix on an ARMEL based CPU, so let’s not pretend that Chrome and Firefox are somehow incapable of doing 1080p for Netflix.
No. Sorry, that’s bunk. Read above.
What’s bunk? The only bunk thing here are your conspiracy theories. I have tested this thoroughly from high end to low end systems with a major difference in performance in low end PCs. People building platforms and applications don’t take into consideration the difficulty of older systems running them efficiently and that’s because they think the more features they add the happier the user. Edge is lightweight and makes browsing easier for older systems (which run Windows ofc) and has its drawbacks (no add-ons) but at same time uses a lot less resources.
Chrome can’t play Netflix. It needs Microsoft Silverlight to do it.
Hardly a conspiracy, simply a theory. Exclusivity deals happen all the time and Apple and Microsoft are two companies that use them a lot.
Anyone on a low-low end system cannot stream 1080p anyway.
There are plenty of 1080p streams for Chrome and Firefox. It’s utter bull faeces that they are simply bad at streaming, but only for Netflix.
Again, an ARMEL based CPU and PowerVR chipset can do 4K Netflix. I think Chrome running on an Intel i3 can do it.
The answer is exclusively deals.
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no it doesn’t. seeing as a chromebooks and linux can both play videos from netflix both of which do not support Silverlight.