Netflix on Linux without Silverlight
Beyond the Silver Screen

© Lead Image © Sofia Vlasiuk, 123RF.com
The online video store Netflix delivers video on demand to many countries. Although the service offers Linux-friendly HTML5 streams, you have to coax Netflix into actually serving them up.
With more than 50 million paying customers worldwide (July 2014) Netflix has positioned itself as a market leader among video-on-demand (VoD) providers and now has so much market power that it produces its own series and films. In contrast to its competitors, Netflix offers a Linux-friendly HTML5 player for its streams, but the VoD provider has installed many stumbling blocks for users with Linux systems. In this article, I show how to extract HTML5 streams from Netflix.
Online Viewers
Although traditional, linear TV viewing still holds sway in the US, VoD is gaining ground. By 2014Q2, US TV viewing dropped to fewer than five hours per day [1]. Viewership increased with age; viewers aged 65+ years old watched 6.8hr/wk, whereas those aged 12-24 years watched only 2.7hr/wk. Meanwhile, online viewing has increased [2], with 40% of viewers among the Gen-Xers (31-50/54 years), 30% among the Boomers (55+ years) and 12%-18% among the Millennials (18-34 years). Worldwide, the Millennials top VoD and time-shifted TV consumption (75%), followed by the Gen-Xers (54%) and the Boomers (40%) [3].
Netflix
At the time of printing, Netflix was available in 77 countries [4]. Like its competitors, Netflix offers a one-month trial period [5], and during this time, you can put the service through its paces. The offerings cost $7.99 (£5.99/EUR6.99) per month for one standard-definition stream, $8.99 (£6.99/EUR8.99) per month for two high-definition streams, and $11.99 (£8.99/EUR11.99) a month for four devices, so families can use the service without wrangling.
With a modern Smart TV you can run Netflix directly as a TV app. If you have an older TV, you can equip it with a Chromecast dongle [6] or Roku Streaming Stick [7]. A smartphone or tablet equipped with the matching Netflix app [8] also smartens up your TV.
Silverlight
Now that you're equipped, how do you play one of the movies on a Linux PC? At first glance, Netflix disappoints: If you click Play in Firefox, Chromium, or Opera for your choice of Netflix movie, the video service instead serves up a page with the system requirements (Figure 1) – don't bother looking for Linux support!

If you spoof a Firefox browser on Windows with the User Agent Switcher, you have taken one step further toward watching Netflix; however, Netflix now asks you to install the Silverlight plugin (Figure 2), although the HTML5 player is enabled in the Netflix settings out of the box. Under Linux you can meet this request with Firefox and Pipelight [9], but you can also tap into Netflix without Pipelight.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Direct Download
Read full article as PDF:
Price $2.95
News
-
Kali Linux 2022.3 Released
From the creators of the most popular penetration testing distributions on the planet, comes a new release with some new tools and a community, real-time chat option.
-
The 14" Pinebook Pro Linux Laptop is Shipping
After a considerable delay, the 14" version of the Pinebook Pro laptop is, once again, available for purchase.
-
OpenMandriva Lx ROME Technical Preview Released
OpenMandriva’s rolling release distribution technical preview has been released for testing purposes and adds some of the latest/greatest software into the mix.
-
Linux Mint 21 is Now Available
The latest iteration of Linux Mint, codenamed Vanessa, has been released with a new upgrade tool and other fantastic features.
-
Firefox Adds Long-Anticipated Feature
Firefox 103 has arrived and it now includes a feature users have long awaited…sort of.
-
System76 Refreshes Their Popular Oryx Pro Laptop with a New CPU
The System76 Oryx Pro laptop has been relaunched with a 12th Gen CPU and more powerful graphics options.
-
Elive Has Released a New Beta
The Elive team is proud to announce the latest beta version (3.8.30) of its Enlightenment-centric Linux distribution.
-
Rocky Linux 9 Has Arrived
The latest iteration of Rocky Linux is now available and includes a host of new features and support for new architecture.
-
Slimbook Executive Linux Ultrabook Upgrading Their CPUs
The Spanish-based company, Slimbook, has made available their next generation Slimbook Executive Linux ultrabooks with a 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake CPU.
-
Fedora Linux is Coming to the Raspberry Pi 4
Thanks to significant work in the upstream, the upcoming release of Fedora 37 will introduce support for the Raspberry Pi 4.