The streaming services up pixel-dense 4K Ultra HD telly – but your Wi-Fi might not be up to snuff.
Some people with very slow internet connections might even struggle with Full HD content.
Thankfully there’s an easy way to check.
“To watch TV shows and movies on Netflix, we recommended having a stable internet connection with a download speed shown below in megabits per second (Mbps),” Netflix explained.
The download tiers are as follows:
- High Definition (HD) / 720p – 3 Mbps or higher
- Full High Definition (FHD) / 1080p – 5 Mbps or higher
- Ultra High Definition (UHD) / 4K – 15 Mbps or higher
The list is in Mbps, or megabits-per-second.
Usually internet speeds are list in this format, but you might also see it measured in MBs (megabytes-per-second).
To convert them, just multiply your megabytes by eight – one megabyte is equal to eight megabits.
You can check your own internet speed quickly and easily by using Netflix’s tool.
Remember that your actual download rate might be lower than the advertised speed you paid your provider for.
Checking your speed and seeing if it meets the Netflix standards is important.
After all, you might be paying for a 4K Netflix plan without being able to watch TV shows and movies in the best quality.
So if you can’t get 4K, it might make sense to downgrade your Netflix subscription to a cheaper plan.
4K dreams…
Of course, viewing content in 4K requires much more than a good internet connection.
For a start you’ll need a 4K display – if your TV only supports Full HD content, you won’t get a 4K image.
The same goes for a laptop or smartphone, for which 4K displays are even rarer.
Similarly, if you’re streaming through a device – like a set-top box – then it’ll need to be 4K.
For instance, many Amazon Fire TV Sticks, Roku boxes, and Apple TV pods don’t support 4K.
Typically only the most expensive versions of those devices will support 4K.
So if you’re running Netflix through a stick or box that can’t handle a 4K picture, you’ll be out of luck – even if your TV offers 4K visuals.
Also, note that some Netflix titles aren’t even available in 4K.
How to change your Netflix quality
You can check your Netflix playback quality settings and make adjustments.
This is particularly useful on smartphones, where you might want to choose a lower quality to reduce your data usage.
That way you won’t burn through all of your mobile data and end up with overage charges.
Just launch the app, navigate into settings, and choose the best quality for you.
If you choose the Automatic mode on Netflix’s mobile app, it will choose a setting that “balances data usage and video quality”.
In terms of viewing, this will get you about “about 4 hours per GB of data”.
If you choose the Maximum Data option, it might use as much as a gigabyte every 20 minutes.
This is likely only a good idea if you have an unlimited data plan, Netflix notes.