Learn to Control how much data Netflix uses

by Radu Nicolae · February 2, 2018

Worried about going over the data limit on your Android device and running up a big bill? I totally get you! Netflix is said to use around 1 gigabyte of data per hour and up to 3 gigabytes per hour when you’re streaming in high definition, which could be the reason why your phone bill looks so crazy.

Watching three hours’ worth of your favorite show in HD can easily rack up both data usage and your monthly bill, but you can put an end to this if you learn to control how much data Netflix really uses.

Just track data usage by Netflix on Android and you will find out the truth sooner than expected. Don’t you like what you see? I bet that some of you decided to make a change, so tell the streaming provider how to deliver your data. Choosing for yourself the video quality you desire is the best option and here’s how you can do it:

Learn to Control how much data Netflix uses:

Go to Netflix.com;
Click Sign In to get to your Account;
Sign in on the Login page. Input your account’s email address and password here;
Choose a Profile. If you have multiple profiles, you must choose the option for which you want to change the data-usage settings;
Then, you’ll be brought to your Netflix home page, so don’t hesitate to click your profile name at the top-right of the screen;
From the drop-down box, choose Your Account in order get into the settings for your profile;
Scroll down and choose Playback Settings;
Now, under the My Profile header, you must tap on Playback settings;
It’s time to select your desired playback quality. As you see, by default, Netflix sets the playback quality to Auto, but aside from Auto, you find other data usage options:

Low – Basic video quality, providing up to 0.3 GB per hour of usage;
Medium – this is the Standard video quality, with up to 0.7 GB per hour of usage;
High – you can get the Best video quality, but this means consuming up to 3 GB per hour for HD, 7 GB per hour of Ultra HD;
Automatic – Quality determined by your connection;
Unlimited – the highest quality possible for your Android device and the movie you’re watching peaks at the same rate as High. Remember that Unlimited is only recommended if you also have an unlimited data plan;

After making a choice, the setting will be applied to your account and will determine the quality of your content;
Don’t forget to click Save to keep the changes that you’ve just made.

Note that it may take up to 8 hours for these changes to take effect. Even more, data usage settings only apply to the Netflix profile you set them from, meaning you can have different data usage settings for each profile. If you are concerned about the total amount of data that Netflix uses, then you can change this setting for each profile and solve the problem in your own way.