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https://github.com/proprietary/chromium-widevine
How to install Widevine on Chromium on Linux; how to watch Netflix on Chromium Ubuntu or Debian
https://github.com/proprietary/chromium-widevine
chromium chromium-browser debian drm google-chrome linux ungoogled-chromium widevine
Last synced: 12 days ago
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How to install Widevine on Chromium on Linux; how to watch Netflix on Chromium Ubuntu or Debian
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/proprietary/chromium-widevine
- Owner: proprietary
- License: apache-2.0
- Created: 2019-11-10T10:00:14.000Z (about 5 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2024-02-09T11:42:05.000Z (12 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-01-02T22:09:05.533Z (19 days ago)
- Topics: chromium, chromium-browser, debian, drm, google-chrome, linux, ungoogled-chromium, widevine
- Language: Shell
- Homepage:
- Size: 19.5 KB
- Stars: 165
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 25
- Open Issues: 13
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# Installing Widevine on Chromium on GNU/Linux
Or: How to get Spotify/Netflix working on Chromium in Linux
Most distributions' package managers come with Chromium but without Widevine, a proprietary binary blob required for DRM protected content (e.g., Netflix or Spotify). Normally your only option to access DRM-protected content would be to use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, but here are some alternate ways you can keep using stock Chromium.
Instructions are for Debian GNU/Linux amd64; should work for other Debian-based distros like Ubuntu.
## (easiest) Install Google Chrome and use its Widevine distribution
### Install Google Chrome **stable** (beta or unstable won't work)
Skip this if you already have it.
```bash
$ wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -
$ echo 'deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y google-chrome-stable
```
### Run script
The following script symlinks Google Chrome's Widevine library to Chromium's directory.
Paste this into your terminal:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/proprietary/chromium-widevine.git && \
cd chromium-widevine && \
./use-from-google-chrome.sh
```
## Test Widevine
Paste into terminal (*warning: restarts Chromium*):
```bash
killall -q -SIGTERM chromium-browser || \
killall -q -SIGTERM chromium && \
exec $(command -v chromium-browser || command -v chromium) ./test-widevine.html &
```
…Or manually:
1. Restart Chromium. If it was already open, then go to [chrome://restart](chrome://restart).
2. Make sure Protected Content is enabled in settings: [chrome://settings/content/protectedContent](chrome://settings/content/protectedContent).
3. Open `test-widevine.html` from this cloned repo in Chromium.
…Alternatively, visit Netflix, Spotify, or $DEGENERATE_DRM_CONTENT_PROVIDER to see if it works directly.
# Limitations
- [Some streaming sites](https://web.archive.org/web/20191026132853/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Disney-Plus-Not-On-Linux) refuse to run at all on Linux because the kernel does not provide access to chipset-level fencing of DRM decryption as provided by Microsoft and Apple systems.
- These scripts assume a standard instlalation from Debian/Ubuntu packages. If you installed Google Chrome or Chromium manually, you might have to edit the scripts.
- Because we are installing files directly to `/usr` (as opposed to the more appropriate `/usr/local`), and we have to for Chromium to find Widevine, on system upgrades your package manager might clobber these files, and you will have to redo these steps.
- These instructions only work for amd64 (64-bit x86_64) on GNU/Linux. For alternate architectures like ARM or i386 (32-bit x86), please fork this and submit a pull request.
## (alternative) Install Widevine alone without Google Chrome
Paste this into your shell:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/proprietary/chromium-widevine.git && \
cd chromium-widevine && \
./use-standalone-widevine.sh && \
killall -q -SIGTERM chromium-browser || \
killall -q -SIGTERM chromium && \
exec $(command -v chromium-browser || command -v chromium) ./test-widevine.html &
```
The first method using Google Chrome just copied one directory from its installation. Observe the Widevine directory in the Google Chrome distribution:
```text
/opt/google/chrome/WidevineCdm
├── LICENSE
├── manifest.json
└── _platform_specific
└── linux_x64
└── libwidevinecdm.so
```
We don't actually need the whole Google Chrome installation. We can recreate that tree in the Chromium directory (i.e., `/usr/lib/chromium`) with a standalone distribution of the Widevine shared library. Copying just `libwidevinecdm.so` into `/usr/lib/chromium` doesn't work.
N.B. Disadvantage of this method: You might have to manually re-run this script whenever Chromium updates to get the latest Widevine. The first method piggybacks Google Chrome's distribution which is assumed to be up-to-date and updated by the same package manager that updates Chromium. Use that method unless you really don't want Google Chrome on your system.