TL;DR
- Netflix now appears to support 4K streaming in Google Chrome on Windows, eliminating the need to switch to Microsoft Edge for Ultra HD playback.
- You’ll still need compatible hardware, including Windows 11, a Netflix Premium plan, a supported GPU or processor, and a 4K HDCP 2.2-compatible display.
- The upgrade doesn’t extend to macOS, where Chrome remains limited to 1080p and Safari is still required for 4K Netflix streaming.
If you’re paying extra for Netflix‘s Premium plan, you’d probably expect to get the best picture quality no matter which browser you use. But for Chrome users, that hasn’t really been the case. Watching Netflix in 4K has traditionally meant opening Microsoft Edge on Windows or Safari on a Mac, while Chrome users were left with lower-resolution streams despite having capable hardware. That restriction now appears to be disappearing.
According to an X post shared by Saurax (via The Mac Observer), Netflix now supports 4K playback in Google Chrome on Windows, provided you’re running Chrome version 117. The post also includes a screenshot showing 4K playback working in Chrome, something that previously wasn’t possible for most users.
