Android 12L reportedly fixes Widevine issues on Pixel devices

Zohaib Ahmed — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 10:56:58 +0000

Following months of beta testing, Android 12L is finally here with numerous features and optimizations designed to make tablet usage better than before. But among these additions, there’s also seems to be a fix for a long-standing Widevine certification bug troubling Pixel owners for a while.

Multiple Redditors on the Google Pixel subreddit acknowledged that the March update fixed the Widevine issues that prevented HD streaming on OTT platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime for them (via Android Police).

For those unaware, users have been complaining about the Widevine on their Pixel devices downgrading from L1 to L3 for over a year now. When L1, streaming services are allowed to play content on 1080p, but when downgraded to L3, the max you get is 480p. Therefore, in order for a device to stream at 1080p, L1 certification is a necessity. The whole system has been put in place to prevent piracy.

When the Widevine issue first hit, Google acknowledged it saying they were working on a fix. But the fix never really rolled out, leaving Pixel owners stuck with an ugly 480p streaming resolution — something that now appears to be changing with the Android 12L update.

Still, there are some who continue to see Widevine L3 even after updating Android 12L. For such users, it is recommended to factory reset the device once. While this isn’t a guaranteed fix, a few users have reported that doing so did the trick for them.

Some Pixel users still forced to watch Netflix in 540p despite Google promising fix around 8 months ago

Zohaib Ahmed — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 09:23:16 +0000

Widevine issues are something that every Android OEM appears to be dealing with lately with a few of their devices, and Google is no exception. Multiple Pixel users had earlier complained about being unable to stream content from Netflix in a resolution higher than 540p, which is definitely not ideal for today’s 1080p and even 2K smartphone displays. It seemed that pretty much every device from Pixel 3 and up was affected.

Google in April this year then acknowledged the problem, promising it was working on a fix. However, fast forward eight months later to today and there’s still no sign of a fix. And new complaints keep piling up.

For the uninitiated, problems with video quality on streaming apps like Netflix emerge due to Widevine issues. OEMs typically get their devices L1 certified which allows playing content at 1080p. The Pixel phones were not excluded from this treatment, but for some reason, the Widevine certification dropped to L3 for some users. L3 means that Netflix can play in quality no further than 540p.

Multiple complaints have resultantly popped up and one Redditor has even compiled a list of complaints across the internet (via XDA Developers). While the list obviously contains reports dating back to early 2021, there are also some from as recent as 21 days ago, proving that the problem never really disappeared.

Eight months sure is quite a long time for fixing a bug like this, which makes us wonder if Google has quietly swept the entire thing under the rug. The Google Pixel 3 is also nearing its EOL with software updates – all the more reason to fix the problem as soon as possible.

Anyhow, for now, we recommend those Google Pixel owners affected by the Widevine issue to take the matter up to the official Pixel Phone forums or Twitter to remind Google about it, just in case they’ve forgotten.

Google Pixel Widevine issue Archives - Gizmochina

Android 12L reportedly fixes Widevine issues on Pixel devices

Some Pixel users still forced to watch Netflix in 540p despite Google promising fix around 8 months ago