What is Widevine Certification? Widevine L1, L2, L3 Certificates Explained

Guys if you are a smartphone user, then you might have heard about Widevine Certification and these Widevine L1, L2, L3 certificates. What they really mean?

 

In this article, we will tell you about what Widevine is? what is it used for and what Widevine L1, L2, and L3 certificates are decided, what are the quality of video available and with that in your smartphone or laptop how can you get the certificate, all that will be explained in detail in this article? 

 

What is Widevine Certification?

So if you watch any video you will get to know about Widevine in detail. So let’s begin. So guys, let’s talk about what Widevine is.

 

So Widevine is actually Widevine DRM that is Widevine digital right management standard.  By using this all the OTT platforms like amazon prime or NetFlix or Hotstar the video we see in them. So Widevine stops the piracy of these videos. 

Google had purchased Widevine in 2010. Now let’s talk about the 3 certificate levels we can see here L1, L2, and L3. All these certificates depend on your hardware. 

 

Widevine L1 Certification:

If your phone has an L1 level certificate then the complete content process that is the video you are watching is processing or its cryptographic operation that is if your NetFlix is streaming in an encrypted form and only you will be able to see it. 

 

All the cryptographic operations also take place in your phone’s  CPU, which is called a trusted execution environment.  So all these operations came out here. Here in L1, you see the maximum level of security and here no one can pirate the content. So you can see the 1080p level video. 

 

If your phone has an L1 level certificate and you want to check it, I will give you the procedure later. If you have an L1 level certificate then the 1080 p content can be streamed on your phone.

 

Widevine L2 Certification:

Now guys on your phone if you have an L2 level of security then you will only be able to watch videos at 540p.  This is because there the cryptographic operation happens on your phone but the content processing does not take place in your phone, and hence you get a lower quality of 540p. 

 

Widevine L3 Certification:

The third security level is L3 In this what happens is your phone neither has content processing nor cryptographic operation takes place. 

 

Both happen outside and not on your phone, so because of this, you get only 480p of quality. So these were the 3 security levels of Widevine. 

 

How to check your Smartphone Security Level?

If you want to check your phone’s security level Is it L1 or L2 or L3? It is very much simple, just Download the DRM info Android Application on your smartphone and then check in it.

 

 

From there, you can download it, and then you can see your device’s information. So scroll down at Widevine CDM. And there you can see the vendor is google and here down you see in security level if you have L1 or L2 or whatever security level you have in your phone. So whatever it is, L1, L2, or L3 it will be shown. 

 

I have L1. That means that I can see HD content on my phone in Netflix or Amazon prime but even in there there is a condition, even though it says L1 but what happens is, amazon prime or NetFlix might have their own conditions.

 

In that case, as well your hardware condition should be fulfilled only then even after having an L1 level certificate at times you don’t get HD content. This is one thing that you should remember.

 

Now let’s talk about why Widevine is so important and why you should have the certificate. 

 

Why Widevine is so Important?

The first thing is, if you have Widevine then you will be able to see the videos from the OTT platform else you won’t be able to see them without the certificate. 

 

Secondly, the content processing and all that in L1 L2, and L3 as I have explained.  Using them the Widevine, the Netflix, amazon prime or any other app stops the piracy of the video. So they don’t lose any revenue.

 

Whoever will get a subscription-only will be able to see the content. The ones who won’t take it, won’t be able to watch it for free Although still on telegram the videos or web series are often available. That is a completely different topic.

 

Here piracy doesn’t happen that piracy happens in a whole other way which I cannot tell you and one more thing that happens in Widevine is that the video you are watching on any OTT platform you won’t be able to screen record them. You cannot record them at all.

 

This is one more thing that happens at the L1 level.  If someone starts screen recording then the screen recording will take place smoothly but with this Widevine certificate, the recording will be interrupted.  Because of all this, the Widevine certificate helps the OTT platform to stop the piracy of content. It is very important

 

 

Now let’s talk about how smartphones get the certificate.

 

How Smartphones Get the Widevine Certificate?

What happens is, it is absolutely free. If there is any smartphone brand all they have to do is to pass the certification, if they pass it then they will get it.

 

How does that take place? Firstly this is free, then Widevine has may partners. They go to the partners and then they test their phone for the certificate. The partner completes the test and then they will decide on L1, L2, and L3, as I told you before after then according to the phone, they will give the certificate.

 

Now, who are the partners? When you go to the website of Widevine then you can see the partners there, if you want to join in then you can apply there and they will give you training and then you can become a partner too.

 

There you can see a lot of partners so, from all of them, the phone brands go to any one of them and then they get the certification for their phone, and then according to their hardware, they get the certificate. 

 

Now guys at the time what happens is this Widevine certificate might not be seen on some phones in that case you won’t be able to watch the content therefrom the OTT platform If you have an L2 level then you won’t get the maximum level as well. So that has happened on a few phones.

 

If we talk about the past then few phones had this issue. So what you have to do is in sony’s new phones I don’t remember well but through an update this was available but in some phones, you have to manually go to the service center and then patch the certificate and then you will get it and if you get L1 level then you can watch content in HD. 

 

How to Enable Widevine Certificate in Laptop?

This was one more thing that I had to tell you. Let’s now talk about how to enable such certificates in laptops. If you are using any browser like google chrome, firefox, brave browser, or any other browser. Just go to the settings and you will see the Widevine option which has to be enabled. 

 

Whatever  OTT platform you go, be it Netflix or Amazon Prime it will ask for this certificate to be installed in your browser later they will show you their content videos.

 

You have to enable it, go to settings, and then you have to enable it so that any OTT platform you go to and want to watch a video from your laptop then it will ask for it. If it is enabled then the website will ask for it, and when you install it then you will be able to watch videos there. 

 

This was in a laptop or computer and the certification level depends upon your hardware as well. I have told you everything about Widevine certification. If you have any doubts then do let me know in the comment section and I will answer you back. 

 

For More details check out the Official Widevine Website

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