Once you start watching a download, you have 48 hours to finish watching it before it expires. Unwatched downloads expire after 30 days. Once expired, you can renew or delete the download.
Learn how to adjust your downloads settings to get Netflix to automatically manage it for you with its Smart Downloads features, and how to manage downloads for countries with restricted licenses. For more, learn about Netflix's hidden menu or see CNET's reviews of all the streaming services
If you're familiar with using Netflix on your mobile device, you've probably noticed the dark "Download" button that sits right below "Play." Clicking that button starts a download of a local version of the movie or TV show you want.
You can download Netflix movies and TV shows on iPhone, iPad, Android and Amazon Fire devices, as well as computers with Windows 10 or 11 and some Chromebooks and Chromeboxes. Netflix downloads are set by default to only use Wi-Fi, though you can change that in your app settings.
TV shows can be downloaded individually by clicking the download icon next to each episode. On Android devices, you can download an entire season of a show by tapping the separate Download Season button next to the My List, Rate and Share links near the top of a movie or show listing.
Netflix allows you to keep a maximum of 100 downloads on as many devices as are included in your subscription plan. Each of the downloads has a different expiration date based on its content license -- some expire as early as 48 hours after you first start watching. Downloads can be renewed, but some have a limit on how many times per year. If a movie or show leaves the Netflix service, all downloads for it immediately expire.
You can delete individual movies and shows by unselecting the check box next to each title. You can remove all of your downloads by going into your App Settings and clicking "Delete all downloads" under Downloads.
A "Downloads" tab (called "My Downloads" on Windows) that sits at the bottom of the Netflix app shows you which downloads are in your library and lets you play them. It also lets you customize your download settings, such as Smart Downloads.
When turned on, Download Next Episode will automatically delete TV show episodes once you've watched them and then download the next episode in the season. It's a no-brainer for anyone who downloads TV shows, which is probably why the feature is turned on by default in Netflix apps.
Downloads for You expands the automatic downloading and deleting options for Netflix that are used in Download Next Episode. The feature is available in the iPhone, iPad and Android versions of the Netflix app, as well as some Chromebooks and Chromeboxes.
After Downloads for You is turned on, Netflix uses your viewing habits and preferences to download movies and TV shows that the service thinks you will like. Once you watch them, they're automatically deleted.
If you don't want to watch a downloaded title, you can delete it the same way you would delete downloads that you initiated manually. You can also click the icon of a square surrounded by a broken circle to cancel downloads in progress. Downloads for You only works over Wi-Fi.
Turning that feature on will then open up options for limiting how much data Netflix will automatically download for each user profile, anywhere from 0.5GB to 9.5GB. (Netflix notes that one hour of video at normal quality is about 0.25GB.)
Whether a movie or TV show can be downloaded on Netflix depends on its content license, and licenses vary from title to title. Netflix says that it tries to make as many titles available for download as possible, and when a movie or show is not downloadable it's usually because of three reasons:
In my informal survey, the titles I found mostly likely to be excluded from downloading are popular TV shows from cable or broadcast networks. "Grey's Anatomy," "Gilmore Girls" and "The Walking Dead" are three shows you can stream on Netflix, but not download.
Geographical restrictions that limit streaming titles in certain countries also apply to downloaded movies and TV shows. If you're traveling in a country where Netflix is not showing the title you downloaded, you won't be able to watch it, even though you already downloaded it in your home country.
Trying to watch a downloaded movie in a country where Netflix doesn't show it will result in an error message in the Netflix app: "Download Not Available in This Country -- Not all downloads are available to watch in every country."
VPN software that create virtual private networks can be used to get around geographical restrictions, but Netflix makes a strong effort to block VPN from working with its service. Using a VPN to bypass geo-blocking could also be considered a violation of Netflix's terms of use.
Overall, 62% of online video viewers say that their favorite videos are those that are professionally produced, while 19% of online video viewers express a preference for amateur content. Another 11% say they enjoy both professionally-produced video and amateur online video equally.
Again, young adults stand out as a unique group of online video viewers. Fully 30% of online video viewers ages 18-29 say they prefer amateur video, and 16% say they like both amateur and professionally-produced video equally. Just 51% of young adult viewers say their favorite videos to watch are those that are professionally-produced. For young adult men who are online video viewers, that number is even lower; 43% express a clear preference for professional video, while 34% prefer amateur content. Another 19% of male video viewers ages 18-29 say they enjoy both amateur and professional content.
Those who rate or comment on video are also more likely than the average online video viewer to express a preference for amateur material; while 48% say they still prefer professional video, 26% prefer amateur content and 21% say they enjoy both types of video equally.
News outlets were among the first big investors in the online video realm and their early-mover advantage shows. News video is the most-watched genre of video, with 37% of adult internet users reporting some type of viewing or downloading, and 10% saying they watch news videos on a typical day. Aside from the plethora of news content posted on video sharing sites like YouTube and Google Video, news-related video can now be found on virtually any website associated with major network TV news channels, cable TV news, and on most mainstream newspaper websites. Additionally, blogs, video podcasts, personal websites and social networking websites also feature news-related video.
News content captures the attention of users across all generations, and is the most popular genre with every age group except for those ages 18-29. For young adults, comedy is a bigger draw, with 56% of internet users ages 18-29 saying they watch humorous videos, compared with 43% who say they watch news videos. However, on a typical day, young adult internet users are equally as likely to view news and comedy; 15% of those 18-29 report viewing in both categories on the average day. Indeed, much of the content viewed by young adults, such as clips from The Daily Show or The Colbert Report blurs the line between news and comedy.
Those with higher levels of income and education are more likely to report news video viewing, a trend that is not consistent across all video content categories. Particularly with respect to income, online video viewers in other genres tend to be equally distributed among different earning groups.
Young adults consume and probably also contribute much of the video content that falls into the comedy category. While more than half of young adult internet users say they watch or download humorous video online, just 29% of users ages 30-49, 17% of those 50-64, and 12% of those ages 65 and older report this. As is the case with news content, male users are also more active consumers of comedy content online; 38% of men watch or download comedy video, versus 25% of online women. On a typical day 9% of male users and 5% of female users watch or download humorous video content.
However, as is the case with comedy, young adults are usually the ones watching. While 46% of users ages 18-29 are music video consumers, less than half as many 30-49 year olds (19%) say they watch or download music video online. Just 9% of users age 50 and older watch or download music videos. It comes as no surprise, then, that young adults are also the most frequent music video viewers; 13% say they watch music video on an average day.
Online men are generally more likely to consume music videos when compared with women (26% vs. 19%), but both groups are equally as likely to seek out music videos on a typical day (5% vs. 4%). Much of the gap between men and women for music video viewing stems from the 30-49 age group. For young adults, and users over the age of 50, differences in the incidence of music video viewing are not significant.
While music videos may be created primarily for entertainment, videos with educational content are equally as popular among the general population of internet users, and even more so for older adults. Roughly one in five internet users (22%) say they watch or download educational videos, and 3% do so on a typical day. However, there is very little variation across age groups; young adult internet users watch or download educational video content at about the same rate as users aged 65 and older (28% vs. 21%).
Men and women report educational video watching at the same level; 24% of online men consume educational videos vs. 20% of online women. This is the only genre of online video, other than movies and TV, where there is gender parity among those who watch.
Animation videos have captured the attention of 19% of the online population of adults. Three percent of internet users report watching or downloading animated video on a typical day. Not surprisingly, younger users account for much of the animation audience online, as 32% of internet users ages 18-29 say they watch or download animation or cartoons online, while 19% of users age 30-49 report this. Just 9% of users age 50 and older say they have watched animated videos online.
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