Coming soon Hardware-backed · FairPlay and Widevine
Content protection

Protect your film with one switch

Tick "Protect this film" in your film settings and Vidreno will deliver it with hardware-backed protection: screenshots and screen recordings of the player show black on supported devices, and the stream cannot be saved or re-shared as a file. Protect this film is coming to your film settings.

Publish your film free Where protected films play
  • Optional, film by film
  • Nothing extra to pay
  • Free, rented and purchased films
  • Off again at any time
Concept preview of the film settings. Coming soon.
How it works

Four steps, none of them yours

You tick a box. The rest happens between Vidreno and the viewer's device.

  1. 01

    Your film is encrypted

    When you tick the box, Vidreno prepares an encrypted version of the streaming files. The original you uploaded is untouched, and the film keeps playing in the clear until the protected version is ready.

  2. 02

    The device asks for a key

    When a viewer presses play, Vidreno first checks their entitlement, exactly as it does for a rental or purchase today. Only then does the viewer's device ask Vidreno's own licence server for the key.

  3. 03

    The key stays inside the hardware

    The key goes straight into the device's secure media pipeline, where the picture is decoded. Neither the browser, nor the app, nor a screen recorder ever sees the decrypted frames.

  4. 04

    Captures come out black

    On supported devices, a screenshot or screen recording of the player shows the page and the controls, with the picture black, and the stream cannot be saved as a playable file.

The protection itself is the one built into the viewer's device: Apple FairPlay on Apple platforms and Google Widevine elsewhere. The licence server that hands out keys is Vidreno's own.

Supported platforms

Where protected films will play

Protected films will play first in Safari on Mac and the Vidreno desktop app for Mac. The Windows desktop app, the Apple TV app, the mobile app for iPhone and iPad, the mobile app for Android and Chrome, Firefox and Edge follow; until then those show a "not supported here" message rather than an unprotected stream.

Where protected films play, now and later
Safari on Mac FairPlay Ready at launch
Vidreno desktop app for Mac FairPlay Ready at launch
Vidreno desktop app for Windows Widevine Coming later
Vidreno Apple TV app FairPlay Coming later
Vidreno mobile app for iPhone and iPad FairPlay Coming later
Vidreno mobile app for Android Widevine Coming later
Chrome, Firefox and Edge Widevine Coming later

Unprotected films, free or paid, keep playing on the website in every browser as they do today. Protection changes nothing for them.

Your call

On, off, and what it costs

Turning it on

Open the film's settings and tick "Protect this film". Vidreno prepares the protected version in the background; your film stays in the clear and keeps playing until it is ready, then viewers switch over. Free, rented and purchased films can all be protected.

Turning it off

Untick the box at any time and the film switches back to playing in the clear, in every browser. Nothing to re-upload, nothing lost. It is your decision, per film, and you can change it as often as you like.

What it costs

Nothing extra. Protection is part of publishing a film on Vidreno: no plan, no per-film charge and no change to the fee on a sale or rental.

Honest limits

What it does not do

Hardware-backed protection is strong, and it is still only protection. Here is where it stops.

Not every kind of capture

Protection removes the easy, high-quality copies: screenshots, screen recordings and saved streams. It does not stop a camera pointed at a screen, and we do not claim it does.

Supported devices only

A protected film plays only where the device can keep the key inside its secure media pipeline. Elsewhere, viewers see a "not supported here" message with the places the film does play, never an unprotected stream. Older devices and browsers may not qualify.

Films only

Protection covers Films. Host & Embed videos are built to be embedded on your own site or app and are not covered.

Trailers and posters stay open

Your trailer, poster and film page are meant to be shared, so they are not protected. Only the film itself is.

Questions

Content protection FAQ

Do I have to protect my films?
No. Protection is optional and you choose it film by film. Many filmmakers will leave free films in the clear and protect the ones they sell or rent; others protect everything or nothing. Both are fine.
Does it cost anything?
Nothing extra. Protection is part of publishing a film on Vidreno: no plan, no per-film charge and no change to the fee on a sale or rental.
What happens to viewers on devices that are not supported yet?
They see a short "not supported here" message with the places the film does play, never an unprotected copy of the stream. At launch that means Safari on Mac and the Vidreno desktop app for Mac; the Windows desktop app, the Apple TV app, the mobile app for iPhone and iPad, the mobile app for Android and Chrome, Firefox and Edge follow. If most of your audience watches in Chrome on Windows right now, you may prefer to wait before switching a free film over.
Can someone still record my film?
On supported devices the player's picture is decoded inside the device's secure media pipeline, so screenshots and screen recordings come out black, and the stream cannot be saved as a playable file. No system blocks all forms of capture, a camera pointed at a screen being the obvious one, and we do not promise otherwise. What protection does is remove the easy, high-quality copies.
What happens while the protected version is being prepared?
Nothing changes for viewers. Your film keeps streaming in the clear until the protected version is ready, then switches over. Untick "Protect this film" and it switches back.
Is this Vidreno's own system?
The licence server, the one that hands out keys after checking a viewer's entitlement, is Vidreno's own, running on our infrastructure. The decryption itself is done by the viewer's device using the protection built into it: Apple FairPlay on Apple platforms and Google Widevine elsewhere.
Does protection cover Host & Embed videos?
No. Protection is for Films. Hosted videos are built to be embedded on your own site or app and stream the way they always have.
What does the player show in a screenshot?
On a supported device the video area is black; the page around it (the title, the credits, the controls) looks as usual. Your trailer and poster are not protected, so they still appear everywhere you share them.
Where is this in the terms?
The Terms' content-protection clause covers the technologies we use and what you authorise when you publish a film. Read the content-protection clause

The legal side, what you authorise when you publish and which technologies we use, is in the Terms' content-protection clause.

Your film. Your call.

Publish free, choose free to watch or buy or rent, and soon switch protection on for the films that need it.

Publish your film free See the desktop app