Netflix Low Quality on Chrome: Improve it With These 4 Fixes
Changing the Playback settings is the fastest fix
- If you're experiencing bad Netflix video quality in Chrome, the issue could be your settings.
- When the video resolution is wrong, you'll see that Netflix quality is bad on Chrome.
Have you also experienced low quality while using the Netflix service on Chrome? You and many other users may have been through this.
When this happens, the picture quality in Chrome is pixelated and crummy. In addition, jerky video playback is not entirely uncommon in Chrome.
We covered playback issues in the past, and for more information, visit our YouTube videos won’t play guide.
Why is Netflix’s quality worse on Chrome?
Netflix quality may appear to be worse on Chrome due to various reasons such as:
- Codec limitations – Chrome uses the VP9 codec to stream videos, while other browsers, such as Safari and Edge, use the more efficient HEVC codec. VP9 can compress video files to a smaller size, but this compression can sometimes result in lower quality.
- Widevine Content Decryption Module – Netflix uses the Widevine Content Decryption Module to stream videos on Chrome. This module can sometimes cause issues with video quality, resulting in blurry or pixelated images.
- Hardware Acceleration – Chrome’s hardware acceleration feature can also affect the quality of Netflix videos. Hardware acceleration uses the graphics card to process video data, but if the graphics card is not powerful enough, it can result in lower-quality videos.
- Browser settings – Chrome’s default settings can also affect the quality of Netflix videos. For example, if Chrome uses a lower resolution, the video quality will be lower.
- Internet connection – The quality of Netflix videos is also affected by the speed and stability of the internet connection. So, when the connection is unstable or slow, it can cause buffering, resulting in lower-quality videos.
- Device specifications – The specifications of your device, such as the CPU and RAM, can also affect the quality of Netflix videos. If your device needs to be more powerful to handle the video streaming, it can result in lower-quality videos.
Quick Tip:
Try streaming using a lighter browser such as Opera One. It uses way fewer system resources and is one of the fastest browsers on the market.
It runs on a Chromium engine and is compatible with most Chrome extensions. The extension shop has many YouTube and streaming dedicated options to improve your experience even more.
Opera One
Watch high-quality YouTube videos and enhance the experience with this highly integrated browser.How do I fix low quality Netflix on Chrome?
1. Update Google Chrome
- Click the Menu button and select Help. Next, click on About Google Chrome.
- The browser will automatically check for updates. You may be given the option to install any found updates.
- Once the updates are installed, relaunch your browser.
2. Adjust Netflix video quality
- Launch the Chrome browser and log in to your Netflix account.
- Click on the Account icon on the top right of the website and select Account.
- Scroll to the bottom and select Playback settings.
- From the list of options, select High.
- Click Save.
If Netflix videos are pixelated on Chrome, disabling the hardware acceleration can help.
In case Netflix is blurry on Chrome, you can usually adjust the video quality settings.
Expert tip:
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If video quality isn’t what it should be, check the data usage settings within your movie-streaming website account.
A lower data usage setting for more basic video playback might be selected. This is how Netflix users can adjust the data usage settings.
Remember that Netflix’s video quality also depends on the plan subscribed to. Netflix’s cheapest plan will only stream movies at 480p. So, it’s pretty pointless selecting the highest data usage setting for a Basic Netflix plan.
However, those users subscribed to the Premium plan should select the High option, so long as their laptops or desktops can play HD and UHD content.
Also, note that Chrome’s max streaming resolution is 720p. Edge supports 4K Netflix streaming, so switch to Microsoft’s default browser for higher-quality videos.
Selecting the 5110-bit rate setting will provide something close to the 1080p resolution video quality.
3. Turn Off Hardware Acceleration
- Click the ellipses, and select Settings.
- In the left pane, select System.
- Disable Use hardware acceleration when available option.
4. Disable extensions
- Click the Menu icon and select More tools. Next select Extensions.
- Disable all extensions.
- Restart your browser.
- If the problem doesn’t appear anymore, enable extensions one by one.
So, these are various ways users can fix poor-quality video playback in Chrome. Users can usually fix bad video quality in Chrome by adjusting playback settings on the video or streaming service websites.
This isn’t the only problem that users encounter, and we covered similar issues in our YouTube black screen in Chrome guide, so be sure to check it out.
If you’ve got another tip on how to get better video quality in Chrome, drop us a line in the comments section.
Still experiencing issues?
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