Widevine is a proprietary digital rights management (DRM) technology from Google used by the Google Chrome and Firefox web browsers (and some derivatives), Android MediaDRM, Android TV, and other consumer electronics devices. Widevine technology supports various encryption schemes and hardware security to restrict consumer access to distributed video content according to rules defined by content owners. Widevine mainly provides a Content Decryption Module (CDM) as a client to Google Chrome and other browsers and devices. Widevine is free to use by content providers and as such does not charge any fees for license generation or device integration.[1][2]
Usage[edit]
Brave is the one exception with IPFS support but that's it - not even MSFT did something like enabling PlayReady in chromium, it's straight widevine. Folkrav 88 days ago – Curious as to where Servo's gonna go from here, after the Mozilla layoffs. Continue browsing in r/bravebrowser r/bravebrowser Brave is on a mission to fix the web by giving users a safer, faster and better browsing experience while growing support for content creators through a new attention-based ecosystem of rewards.
Widevine DRM is used with the Chromium-based proprietary web browsers and on Android.[3] It supports MPEG-DASH and HLS.[4]Google Chrome and Chrome OS make use of Encrypted Media Extensions and Media Source Extensions with Widevine, where it is used to decrypt content.[5] Over thirty chipsets, six major desktop and mobile operating systems, and Google properties such as Chromecast and Android TV have adopted Widevine.[6]
So guys, let’s talk about what widevine is. So widevine is actually Widevine DRM that is Widevine digital right management standard. By using this all the OTT platforms like amazon prime or NetFlix or Hotstar the video we see in them. So widevine stops the piracy of these videos. Google had purchased widevine in 2010. The Brave browser is a fast, private and secure web browser for PC, Mac and mobile. Download now to enjoy a faster ad-free browsing experience that saves data and battery life by blocking tracking software. Thanks for the reply. Widevine 1.4.8.903 works in XP. It's what Google Chrome 49.0.2623 used for DRM in XP. But perhaps because I'm spoofing the OS to get Widevine to install in FF, I'm ending up with a Win7-dependent variant of Widevine 1.4.8.903 (as you suggested). Jscher2000 said. Websites generally cannot detect Widevine directly.
Companies including Amazon Prime Video, BBC, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify and Disney+ use Widevine DRM to manage the distribution of premium content.[7][8] Microsoft remote desktop client windows 7.
It is also used by Firefox since v47, released in 2016,[9] enabled by default on Microsoft Windows and optionally on Linux; it can be disabled and uninstalled in the browser settings.[10] Prior to that, Mozilla used Adobe's Primetime DRM library for some versions.[11]
Users[edit]
Open source projects[edit]
- Shaka Player – Google developed open-source HTML5 web-based player available on GitHub.[12]
- Shaka Packager – Google developed open-source content packaging solution available on GitHub. The packager supports MPEG-DASH and HLS for VOD or linear based content.[13]
- Shaka Streamer – Google developed simple configuration file based tool for preparing streaming media content.[14]
- Electron Framework – Widevine partnered with castLabs to integrate the Widevine client into the Electron framework for use with desktop application development.[15] The integration, however, still requires anyone who wants to distribute/use it in their application to sign a license agreement with Google.[16]
- Kodi - starting from version 18, the add-on InputStream Helper installs Widevine automatically on supported platforms for DRM playback.[17]
Criticism[edit]
Flash video downloader chrome. In 2019, a developer tried to bundle Widevine in an Electron/Chromium-based application for video playing and did not get any response from Google after asking for a license agreement, effectively blocking DRM usage in the project.[18][19] He later got the reply:
I'm sorry but we're not supporting an open source solution like this
— Google Widevine Support, https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/widevine/gmail-thread.html
The same happened to other Electron projects.[20]
![Widevine Brave Widevine Brave](/uploads/1/1/8/7/118795584/862853080.jpeg)
Developers of a competing browser to Chrome, Brave (a fork of Chromium itself), also had issues during their integration due to Netflix authentication on the reliability of the Brave browser.[21]
History[edit]
Widevine Technologies was a vendor of digital rights management software. One of its early technologies included a software system that replaced smart cards that eliminated the cost and logistical complexity of the card's distribution and introduced the abilities to process more sophisticated rights.[22] It was purchased by Google in 2010 within an acquisition trend that represented the search company's development needs.[23]
References[edit]
- ^'Widevine Media Optimizer | Encoding.com'. Encoding.com. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^'Widevine digital rights management explained'. Android Authority. 2017-12-11. Retrieved 2018-08-06.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Triggs, Robert (2017-12-11). 'Widevine digital rights management explained'. androidauthority.com. Retrieved 2018-01-11.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Semba, Taku (2018-05-31). 'HLS with Widevine for Android'. Taku Semba. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^'The Complete Guide to Widevine'. encoding.com. Retrieved 2018-01-11.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^'Supported Platforms'. Widevine. Archived from the original on 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
nearly 4 billion devices
CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link) - ^Langner, Christoph (2016-05-05). 'Amazon Prime Video mit Kodi und dem Raspberry Pi (jetzt mit Input Stream und Widevine)' (in German). linuxundich.de. Retrieved 2018-01-11.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^'BBC deploys BuyDRM to secure premium digital content'. Digital TV News. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
- ^Mozilla. 'Mozilla To Test Widevine CDM in Firefox Nightly To Facilitate Video Watching Online'. Future Releases. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
- ^'Watch DRM content on Firefox | Firefox Help'. support.mozilla.org. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
- ^'Firefox 52: Adobe Primetime CDM removal – gHacks Tech News'. www.ghacks.net. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
- ^JavaScript player library / DASH & HLS client / MSE-EME player: google/shaka-player, Google, 2019-03-01, retrieved 2019-03-01
- ^A media packaging and development framework for VOD and Live DASH and HLS applications, supporting Common Encryption for Widevine and other DRM Systems.: google/shaka-packager, Google, 2019-03-01, retrieved 2019-03-01
- ^A simple config-file based approach to preparing streaming media, based on FFmpeg and Shaka Packager.: google/shaka-streamer, Google, 2019-11-08, retrieved 2019-11-12
- ^GitHub – castlabs/electron-releases: castLabs Electron for Content Security., castLabs GmbH, 2019-02-28, retrieved 2019-03-01
- ^Maddock, Samuel. 'Support Widevine CDM · Issue #85 · samuelmaddock/metastream'. GitHub. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
- ^Matt Huisman (2018-05-28). 'Kodi Widevine Support'.
- ^Doctorow, Cory. 'After years of insisting that DRM in HTML wouldn't block open source implementations, Google says it won't support open source implementations'. Boing Boing. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
- ^Maddock, Samuel (2019-04-02). 'I tried creating a web browser, and Google blocked me'. samuelmaddock.github.io. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
- ^'Netflix isn't working even with Widevine correctly loaded. · Issue #12427 · electron/electron'. GitHub. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
- ^Bondy, Brian R. (2017-08-21). 'Netflix Streaming Error · Issue #10449 · brave/browser-laptop'. GitHub. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
- ^Gerbarg, Darcy (2008). Television Goes Digital. New York: Springer Science+Business Media. pp. 214. ISBN9780387799773.
- ^Watson, James; Hill, Anne (2015). Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies, 9th edition. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 119. ISBN9781628921489.
External links[edit]
Widevine Brave Browser Android
- Official website
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Widevine&oldid=1016775029'
After 4 months of waiting, that is the response I got from Widevine, Google’s DRM for web browsers, regarding a license agreement. For the last 2 years I’ve been working on a web browser that now cannot be completed because Google, the creators of the open source browser Chrome, won’t allow DRM in an open source project. Enable flash in chrome mac.
The browser I’m building, called Metastream, is an Electron-based (Chromium derived), MIT-licensed browser hosted on GitHub. Its main feature is the ability to playback videos on the web, synchronized with other peers. Each client runs its own instance of the Metastream browser and transmits playback information to keep them in sync—no audio or video content is sent.
If someone is creating a browser that wants to playback media, they’ll soon discover the requirement of DRM for larger web media services such as Netflix and Hulu. There are a few DRM providers for the web including Widevine, PlayReady, and FairPlay.
As far as I’m aware, Widevine is the only available DRM for a Chromium-based browser, especially so for Electron. Chromium accounts for roughly 70% market share of all web browsers, soon to include Microsoft’s upcoming Edge browser rewrite. Waiting 4 months for a minimal response from a vendor with such a large percentage of the market is unacceptable.
Install Widevine Brave
This isn’t something I’m alone in either, several Electron users have waited months for a response. More prominently, the creators of Brave Browser also had issues waiting for replies from Google Widevine.
“This is a prime example for why free as in beer is not enough. Small share browsers are at the mercy of Google, and Google is stalling us for no communicated-to-us reason.”
- Brian Bondy, Co-founder & CTO of Brave
- Brian Bondy, Co-founder & CTO of Brave
I’m now only left with two options regarding the fate of Metastream: stop development of a desktop browser version, or pivot my project to a browser extension with reduced features. The latter requiring publishing to the Google Chrome Web Store which would further entrench the project into a Google walled garden.
![Edge Edge](/uploads/1/1/8/7/118795584/683036707.jpg)
If you know of any way to help out, please get in touch.
April 4th edit: No response from Google Widevine yet. Because a few folks asked, here is the full email exchange I had with Widevine. The initial response was received after getting in contact with another browser vendor to ping a Widevine contact they have. If you intend to inquire about a license agreement for your project, including the information they requested upfront could help.
Widevine Braves
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