Netflix is ​​reducing streaming quality in Europe

Following a call from the EU Commission, Netflix has reduced streaming quality in Europe and thus reduced the data volume by 25 percent. 4K users continue to receive 4K.

Switzerland initially brought a temporary shutdown of Netflix into play because the Swiss-com network had not been able to withstand the stress test of the corona crisis. Later, warning voices were heard in Austria that increasing streaming could overload the network. The German providers, on the other hand, had assured that this was not a problem. Nevertheless, Netflix had responded by reducing streaming quality in Europe.

However, the group has now specified that users who have subscribed to a 4K resolution subscription - and accordingly pay more for it - should continue to receive 4K. The throttling in the other subscription versions should also be designed. Netflix wants to continue to offer the booked resolution, but deliver the streams with a lower bandwidth, as . Users who are particularly fixated on streaming quality might notice something. Overall, the loss of quality is low, says Netflix .

Netflix thus complied with a call from the EU Commission . EU Commissioner Thierry Breton has spoken to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings several times in the past few days. Last Wednesday, Breton suggested to the CEO, among other things, that the image quality should be automatically reduced from HD to standard resolution when the workload was high. Netflix will now reduce the amount of data in its video streaming service even during off-peak hours. Overall, the video service will cause 25 percent less traffic.

The announced reduction in streaming quality should initially apply for 30 days. However, Netflix assured that its users would still get a "good quality" service. It is known that one hour of streaming in standard resolution (SD) consumes around one gigabyte of data, while at high resolution (HD) it is up to three gigabytes of data per hour. The Utra-HD format (4K), which is also offered by Netflix, requires yet another multiple of data.

A. The Age of Netflix: Critical Essays on Streaming Media, Digital Delivery and Instant Access