Netflix is arguably the biggest and most popular streaming platform worldwide with north of a hundred million paying subscribers and a never-ending catalogue of videos. However, the video quality in Netflix is one of the most important factors. It helps you choose the best quality to improve your experience and dial down that quality when you’re low on data.
In addition to the video quality in Netflix during playback, users can also change the download quality of Netflix videos. In this article, we’re going to explain how to change the video quality on Netflix both for playback as well as downloads across all of your devices.
Also read: How much data does Netflix use?
How to change the video playback quality on Netflix?
The video quality on Netflix for playback is set independently for every profile. So, if you’ve multiple profiles in your account, you might want to follow the steps below to change the video quality for every profile.
Step 1: Click on your Profile icon at the top-right and select Account from the dropdown menu or go to netflix.com/YourAccount directly.
Step 2: On your account page, scroll down to Profile & Parental Controls and click on the arrow icon to the right of your profile name. From the options that appear below, scroll down and click on the Change button beside Playback settings.
Step 3: On the next page, you can choose one of the four options under Data usage per screen — Auto, Low, Medium, High. Once you’ve selected the desired video quality, click on the Save button.
Here you can also control the autoplay settings for series as well as previews.
If you’re using cellular data to stream Netflix videos, check out our guide below to change the video quality.
How to change Netflix video quality on Cellular Data?
Now, if you’re watching videos using cellular data on your smartphone, Netflix allows you to adjust the video quality separately. Follow the steps mentioned below to change Netflix video quality during playback on cellular data.
- Tap on the Profile icon at the top-right or More button at the bottom-right corner.
- Then on the next page, tap on App Settings.
- Then tap on Mobile Data Usage under Video Playback.
- Then on the next page, select one of the four options — Automatic, Wi-Fi Only, Save Data, Maximum Data.
If you don’t want to use your cellular data, select Wi-Fi Only. If you want to view videos in relatively lower quality, select Save Data and if you want to view them in the highest quality that your plan and device allows, select Maximum Data.
Also read: Top 11 lawyer movies on Netflix
How to change the video download quality on Netflix?
The video quality on Netflix for downloads isn’t profile-specific but device-specific. So, you’ll need to follow the steps mentioned below the change the download video quality on Netflix for each one of your devices.
The following steps will work for Netflix on Android and iOS smartphones/tablets, Amazon Fire tablet and also the desktop app.
- Tap on the Profile icon at the top-right or More button at the bottom-right (three-dots icon on PC).
- Then on the next page, tap on App Settings.
- Then tap on Video Quality under Downloads.
- Then on the next page, select either Standard or Higher.
The Standard option loses relatively less data and downloads a lower quality of video on Netflix. In comparison, the Higher option uses relatively more data and downloads the highest quality video permitted by your plan and device.
Also read: What is the Download Limit for Netflix?
