Netflix bumps video streaming in Europe to pre-coronavirus quality (yay, 4K)

Nobody has an idea when the coronavirus pandemic will end, or what lays ahead of us, but one thing’s for sure: Netflix seems to be gradually upping its streaming quality in Europe back to 4K. Whew, what a huge relief that nobody will have to endure sub-par viewing experiences any longer.

Back in March, the streaming giant announced it was temporarily lowering bitrates across the continent to comply with requests by the European Commission to reduce stress on Europe‘s internet infrastructure. But according to Gizmodo UK, users are now reporting that streaming quality is back up to 4K HDR and up to 15 Mb/s bitrate, which hasn’t be the case for at least two months.

So far, the change has been noticed in Denmark, Norway, and Germany, but it appears Netflix is opting for a gradual rollout. “Please note, we are working with ISPs to help increase capacity,” Netflix said in a statement. “In the last month alone we have added four times the normal capacity. As conditions improve we will lift these limitations.”

Similarly to Netflix, Apple TV+ had been serving video streams with resolutions as low as 670 pixels earlier this year, but the company restored 4K streaming last month.

So, don’t worry: if nothing goes terribly wrong, you’ll be back to crispy video quality soon enough.