How to watch videos and movies on a Chromebook (the best possible way)

After these three previous articles talking quite a bit about Chromebook devices:

• How to optimize a Chromebook.
• How to use VPN on Chromebook.
• How to download torrents on Chromebook.

The time has come to write about one not-so-positive aspect of these machines: video playback.

And it is something that affects all these PCs, but especially low-end ones. I’ll explain why.

The problems with playing videos on a Chromebook

There are quite a few drawbacks in this regard. We can group them into three types:

• Software problems: video players that are more limited than on Windows.
• Hardware problems: computers with underpowered CPUs, unable to play 4K videos through software. They can only decode them through hardware, if the CPU does it natively, which is not always the case.
• Codec licensing issues: Google does not pay what the companies that own certain very widespread private codecs ask for, so Chromebooks cannot play them or do passthrough (letting the external device decode the video when you connect an HDMI).

So, if what you want is to use the device to watch downloaded series and movies (not streaming), I’d say you may be better off looking for another kind of device.

Let’s look at each point.

Software problems

The first thing is that the stock ChromeOS app is limited and you are going to have problems playing many downloaded videos.  

Whether because of the video codec they use, or the audio codec, the video resolution, the color depth,  or the subtitles…

More often than you would like, you will see the message “the video cannot be played” when you try to open it.

Hardware problems

The technical capacity of the processors most of these machines use (low-end or lower-mid-range) is very limited, since they were aimed at students. So the CPUs do not have native capability to decode, for example, AV1, or to a lesser extent H265.

And the processor is not powerful enough to brute-force it either. So you will not be able to play many videos at 4K resolution.

Let’s say that anything beyond H264 and MP3 files without subtitles may cause problems. It is not exactly like that, but it works as a baseline.

So, if you are not demanding about quality, fine. But if you are… these devices are not going to play anything for you.

Licensing problems

Google does not pay the licenses for formats such as HEVC, AV1 or VP9 or audio formats such as DTS or AC3. If that sounds like Chinese to you, take a look at this article where I explain all this about video formats and codecs..

Although something has been changing lately, the truth is that compatibility is still much lower than on Windows or Linux.

The possible solutions

I’ll warn you now: on low-end machines, there is no possible magic.

Using Android or Linux programs

You may think that using an Android app like VLC, which on Windows includes its own codec packages, will solve the problem. But it won’t.

It may play a few more videos than the native ChromeOS app, but not much more, because it is very likely that it cannot enable CPU graphics acceleration, which makes watching 4K movies impossible.

And if you think the Linux version of VLC (or MPV, which is even better) is going to solve it for you, you should know it won’t either. At least on my PC with an Intel N3450 with native decoding support for H265, no Android or Linux program is able to get the graphics acceleration needed to watch 4K movies with this codec (the most popular one).

And, as I said before, the processor is not powerful enough to brute-force decode it.

It is possible that on newer Chromebooks or models with more powerful CPUs acceleration can be enabled, or the CPU will be able to decode it, but for now, with low-end models, don’t even try.

Use compatible formats

The only real route: use what the native app is able to play.

This configuration will never fail you:

• Resolution: 1080p (Full-HD).
• Codec: H264.
• Color depth: 8-bit (never 10-bit).
• Subtitles: although it is the least relevant part, it is better without subtitles or with them embedded in the video. If they are separate, a simple .srt plain-text format will improve compatibility.

Beyond this, you are taking your chances and testing.

To get these videos you have two routes:

1. Download them like this (for example, as I told you here).
2. Convert the videos you already have —using HandBrake or an online converter— to the format above, for which you will need another PC.

Personal video server

One last, more technical route is setting up your own server and/or a NAS and transcoding there, so the server sends the signal to your Chromebook in a format it understands and you can watch it without problems.

It is your private streaming service: like Netflix, but with your own videos.

Speaking of the big red N, using Netflix or HBO is also a solution, but you need an account and you are limited to whatever catalog they have. Also, videos recorded with your phone will not be there, unlike on your personal server.

Conclusions

As you can see, video playback is not one of the best-implemented use cases on Chromebooks.

I’m telling you: unless it is occasional or you know very well what you are doing, there are easier ways to watch series and movies, and probably any cheap but modern Android tablet will be better here.

But of course, for work or for the rest of the uses we have seen in this series of articles about Chromebooks, ChromeOS proves superior, so it is up to you to be clear about what you are going to use it for and choose one route or the other.

Here is a FAQ module ready to place under that article.