Netflix, the service that offers a catalog of movies and series to watch online in exchange for a monthly payment, implemented several years ago the option to download a large part of its movies and series to the cell phone, tablet or PC, for free, but as long as you have an active account (the downloads can no longer be seen if your subscription has expired or you close the account). Sure, this has its obvious limitations. For example, due to DRM and to the .nfv file of the movies, you can only see the downloads in the Netflix app, on the device you downloaded, you can download up to 100 titles (some titles only certain times a year), the downloads "expire" every so often ( 2 to 7 days) and you can only download on the maximum number of devices supported by your plan. The policies will surely be similar in all streaming services such as HBO Max or Go , Amazon Prime Video , Disney Plus and even related to music such as Spotify ..
Of course, this is far from what it means to be able to "download free from Netflix", since you need a valid account first. However, there are many programs for Windows such as FlixGrab , Kigo Netflix Downloader or Flixicam , which allow you to download Netflix movies in the form of friendlier files, such as mp4 or mkv, so that you can have those movies forever and watch them in any program and device whenever you want. It's something you could do during your Netflix free trial, without having to pay a single penny. These programs have other advantages, such as being able to download faster from Netflix, deciding by title the quality of the movie and subtitles you want to use, etc.
The risk of using these types of programs is that, in addition to obviously going against the terms of use of the company, they can suspend the Netflix account that you are using in these programs, either for a couple of days or block you said account indefinitely in the most extreme case..
Another disadvantage of these programs is that they are for Windows, so you will only be able to download Netflix movies on your PC. Apparently there are no Android apps of this type, although they are probably not necessary since, on the other hand, for cell phones there are many free movie apps with the possibility of downloading movies from Netflix and other platforms. One of the most popular today is Movie Plus. Unlike FlixGrab, in this case we are talking about an app that collects movies on its own, and in addition to being able to watch them streaming or online, it has an option to download those movies to the mobile device.
In conclusion, it is mandatory to have a functional Netflix account to download movies from this service (it does not matter if you have canceled the subscription or the recurring payment). The only advantage of using this type of program is that, once the movies are downloaded, the files will be yours to play wherever you want as many times as you want. Sure, this is something illegal or against the Netflix business..
How long does Netflix download take (Annex)
Speaking of download speed , a long time ago I tested how fast you can download movies from Netflix. Downloading an hour-long episode of the Narcos series over WiFi and with a 5 Mbps internet connection, I obtained the following data:
Standard Quality : 8 to 10 minutes; 227 MB in size.
High quality : 15 to 20 minutes; 457 MB in size.
It can be concluded that high quality takes about twice as long to download than standard quality. It also takes up more than double the storage space.
This information can also be useful for those who watch Netflix online (streaming). The amount of data consumed is similar when viewing or downloading content. Obviously, in case of downloading it will be advisable to use WiFi networks. The Netflix app is configured by default to use only WiFi connection when downloading. This avoids a high consumption of mobile data.
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