Netflix just gave Linux users some much-needed love
Sean Keach Contact via Twitter | March 22, 2017 10:16 am GMT
Good news, Linux users! You'll now be able to watch Netflix using the Firefox browser without any need for workarounds.
Until now, Linux users were only able to view Netflix content using Google's Chrome browser. It was technically still possible to use Netflix on Firefox, but it involved tricking the service to think that Chrome was being used.
However, from today, Linux users will get Netflix access on Firefox without requiring plug-ins.
"Starting today, users of Firefox can also enjoy Netflix on Linux," a blog post written by the Netflix technology team reads. "This marks a huge milestone for us and our partners, including Google, Microsoft, Apple and Mozilla that helped make it possible."
It's part of Netflix's continuing rollout of support for HTML5 video, the standard that's replacing Adobe Flash as the main way to showcase video on webpages.
Mozilla modified Firefox for Linux last year, enabling support for encrypted content, so it's not a massive surprise to see Netflix jumping on the bandwagon.
Linux is a Unix-based operating system that's been around for a quarter of a century. Much of its popularity stems from the fact that it's based on open source code. In fact, Google's Android operating system is based on the Linux kernel, and is by far the most popular mobile OS.
Netflix has nearly 100 million subscribers globally.
Related: Netflix Offline Viewing
What's your favourite way to watch Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
Sean Keach
Contact via Twitter
Deputy News & Features Editor