While having the ability to stream from a multitude of devices is not a new concept whatsoever, there are many variables that can interrupt your favorite show or movie on the go. Whether on a flight, a long drive, or out in the wilderness, streaming can be difficult to impossible to achieve. Thanks to streaming services that are paving the way to the future of streaming, any ad-free Netflix account can download almost any shows and Netflix movies they wish through the latest version of the app, as long as they are currently streaming on Netflix.
Lucky for those who just can’t wait to get home, most modern devices will have the capability to download through the Netflix app. Such as:
- iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 9.0 or later
- Android phone or tablet running Android 4.4.2 or later
- Amazon Fire tablet running Fire OS 4.0 or later
- Windows 10 (version 1709 or later) or Windows 11 tablet or computer
- Chromebook and Chromebox computers using the Netflix app from the Google Play Store.
How to Download Netflix Movies
While navigating through the Netflix app, simply select a title from the list and go to the info section. After selecting a title to see if it is downloadable, there should be a download button–downward-facing arrow–available to tap. To clarify: not every title is available for download, but most are.
There can be a few possibilities as to why a title is not available for download:
- The content rights are currently exclusive to another company.
- The rights are not available to purchase from the content provider.
- Popularity, cost, seasonal or other localized factors, or availability.
Once the download button is activated, go back to the home screen in the app. From there, there will be a “Downloads” section available to select furthest to the right in the bottom toolbar. For those running the app on Windows 10 or 11, the downloads can be found under ‘Menu’.
Depending on the device being used, one can select ‘See What You Can Download’, ‘Find Something to Download’, ‘Find More to Download’, or ‘Available for Download’.
When it comes to downloading shows, there will be a ‘Download’ button on the right of each episode when searching through the seasons. For the lucky Android users, there is also a ‘Download Season’ option to take advantage of.
Downloading on data will definitely exhaust a good portion of it, so downloading it over Wi-Fi is highly recommended.
Active downloads on any one account are limited to 100 downloads per device, which is an exceptionally large amount of data to have on one device.
Once downloaded onto a specific device, any profile under that account may access the downloaded content. The downloads won’t last forever, so make sure to check that the download didn’t expire before planning to watch something on a long flight.
Netflix Download FAQs
To answer some possible future questions, some titles are even limited to a finite amount of times that they can be downloaded to one account. To make things easier, it’s best to delete downloads from the device once the title is watched.
Canceling your Netflix account will result in all downloads being deleted from each and every device, which means the downloads will have to be done again if the account is activated again.
Luckily for the parents out there, the parental controls are still activated and limited on the kids' accounts, making it impossible to watch or download any titles while logged into the respective accounts.
In this futuristic age of streaming, it’s easy to be thankful for the near-endless content at our fingertips. Happy watching.
Which Plans Allow for Downloads?
Only the Standard ($15.49/month) and Premium ($19.99/month) plans support downloads. The former allows downloads on 2 supported devices at a time while the latter allows downloads on 6 supported devices at a time. To learn more about what's included with subscription plans alongside downloads, visit our page on Netflix subscription plans, explained.
Connor Sheppard is an Oregon-grown entertainment writer for IGN with a love for pop culture and movies.
