In April, Netflix announced that for the web browser version of its streaming video service, it would make the move from using Microsoft's Silverlight to HTML5. Today, Netflix confirmed that people who use Internet Explorer 11 to access the service will do so using HTML5.
In a blog post, Netflix stated that the support began today with the preview version of Windows 8.1, which includes the first public version of IE11. Netflix says that Microsoft has worked to put in versions of the three specific HTML5-based APIs needed to run its videos in IE11: Media Source Extensions, Encrypted Media Extensions, and Web Cryptography API. Previously, the HTML5 support was put into Google's Chrome browser that are installed in Samsung-made ARM Chromebooks.
Netflix added:
We expect premium video on the web to continue to shift away from using proprietary plugin technologies to using these new Premium Video Extensions. We are thrilled to work so closely with the Microsoft team on advancing the HTML5 platform, which gets a big boost today with Internet Explorer’s cutting edge support for premium video. We look forward to these APIs being available on all browsers.
Microsoft plans to end support for the current version of Silverlight in 2021.
Source: Netflix | Image via Netflix
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