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This article was published on February 7, 2020

How to save data while watching Netflix on Android


How to save data while watching Netflix on Android

Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff.

Netflix is quite addictive, and sometimes you want to watch shows on the go. But, streaming video can eat up a lot of data. So, the company has adopted a new codec that c can save your data while maintaining the quality when streaming content through its Android app.

The company said in a blog post that the new AV1 codec is 20 percent more data-efficient than the older VP9 codec. But to save that data, you need to enable a setting in the app.

[Read: How to opt out of Netflix’s autoplay previews]

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Here’s how to enable the data saver settings:

  • Open the Netflix app on your Android phone.
  • Go to More>App Settings.
  • Under the Video Playback section, tap on the Mobile Data Usage option.
  • Select the Save Data option.
Save Data option for Netflix’s Android app

Netflix said it currently only select titles available with this new codec, but it aims to stream all titles with AV1. Plus, it’s also working to bring codec to other platforms.

If you don’t want to use data at all, you can always download titles when you’re using wifi.

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