Best Browser for Watching Videos & Streaming [YouTube, Netflix]
Try our expert's browser recommendations for watching videos online
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Key notes
- The best browser for watching videos will load them fast and without annoying lags.
- A browser with a video player and built-in AdBlocker is an excellent choice.
- With plenty of security features like VPN, you’ll find a browser to play online videos below.
- If you’re looking for the best YouTube browser, you can choose any from the list below.
Browser video playback has come a long way largely thanks to the advent of HTML5 video, which has largely replaced browser plug-ins such as Flash.
Users can watch high-resolution videos on websites such as YouTube or subscribe to video-streaming services to watch movies and shows within their browsers.
The best browser for online video supports most HTML5 video and audio codecs provides fast browsing speeds and has plenty of extensions so that users can enhance and customize playback.
When choosing the best browser for streaming video on Windows 10 and 11, it can get confusing with all the information found online, and for this reason, we’ve compiled a great list of the best Windows browsers for watching videos.
Which browsers can play 4K video?
As the evolution of video equipment and image quality keeps improving exponentially, almost all well-known browsers can play videos in 4K quality, but not all of them perform the same.
Opera One and Opera GX are our top recommendations for watching 4K videos because of the easily-accessible VPN and adblocker, which will significantly improve your experience no matter if you’re using it on Netflix or other streaming services.
Added to that, having easy access to all messengers and social media accounts can be extremely useful if you want to share your favorite videos with your family and friends.
You could of course also play 4K videos on your Edge, Firefox, or Chrome browsers, but when considering the overall performance, Opera One is still the best.
What are the best fast browsers for YouTube and video streaming?
Opera One – The best browser for streaming
Opera One incorporates some unique video options and features that users won’t find in most alternative browsers, making it one of the best browsers for YouTube.
It includes a video pop-out that enables users to move videos out of the Opera One page tabs into separate standalone frames and put them anywhere on the Windows desktop. Only this feature makes the app the best browser for movies, as having customization options can be extremely useful.
Turbo Mode is a similar feature to the Opera One desktop browser that can save bandwidth when playing videos and speed up browsing.
Mobile versions of the browser enable users to compress videos, which reduces buffering, making it the best browser to watch Anime with. Additionally, Opera One incorporates a 360 video player for virtual reality headsets.
The browser’s built-in ad blocker will remove ads from video website pages and their clips, which will further speed up browsing on YouTube, Vimeo, and other sites. The processing speeds also make Opera One the best browser for Netflix.
You can find 195 extensions for YouTube in the browser’s own extension library if you enter the keyword YouTube in the add-ons search box.
If preferred, one can also add Chrome’s video extensions to Opera One, as it’s based on the same Chromium engine.
Other useful features:
- Built-in free and unlimited VPN service
- Screenshot tool included
- Syncs browsing data across devices
- Share notes, links, and files by using the Opera One Flow feature
Opera One
Use the video pop-out feature in Opera One to detach videos and stream without switching between tabs.UR browser – Good browsing speeds and privacy features
UR is one of the best browsers for watching videos that you have probably never heard of. Yet, UR has been getting some rave reviews and scores highly on HTML5 video, audio, and streaming benchmarks.
This browser is great for watching videos on websites primarily because it’s based on the same Chromium engine as Chrome and Chromium-Edge.
Thus, the HTML5 support is comparable to Google’s flagship browser; and users can utilize Chrome’s video extensions to customize playback on YouTube and other websites.
UR also boasts a built-in VPN that allows you to watch location-restricted content. Few other browsers can match this feature.
Other useful features:
- 3 levels of privacy and security
- Low impact on system resources
- Great UI
- Customizable with add-ons and extensions
UR Browser
Use UR browser to get rid of the ads, trackers, and cookies, and enjoy a smooth video streaming experience.Edge – Faster than other browsers but lacks in features
Microsoft Edge is the browser included with Windows 10 that most users overlook in favor of other alternatives. Yet, Edge is certainly one of the best browsers for videos.
Edge is the only browser that currently supports all HTML 5 video and audio codecs. It’s also the only browser that can play Netflix video at a 4K resolution thanks to its PlayReady DRM tech.
The browser provides the most battery-efficient video playback on laptops. Furthermore, Edge users can add Chrome’s YouTube extensions now that it’s embracing a Chromium engine.
Other useful features:
- Chromium engine with a revamped interface
- Supports all Chrome extensions
- Can customize starting page
- Useful in business and home settings
- Good browsing speeds
⇒ Get Edge
Google Chrome – Huge number of extensions and addons
Google Chrome boasts a massive user base nowadays. It generally provides the most extensive HTML5 support and incorporates the latest web technologies to ensure the best video playback.
Chrome is among the fastest browsers for streaming videos. In addition, users can add many great YouTube video extensions to Chrome, such as Magic Actions, Turn Off the Lights, YouTube Plus, and more.
Chrome is also a good choice for streaming, and users can certainly be sure all the extensive video-streaming services support Google’s flagship browser.
Watching Netflix movies at a high-definition resolution with the Netflix 1080p extension is among Chrome’s top features. In addition, there are numerous Netflix extensions in Chrome’s vast add-on repository.
Other useful features:
- Malicious website identification
- Built-in adblocker
- Frequent security updates
- Can stream multimedia to Chromecast devices
⇒ Get Chrome
Vivaldi – Great customization features
Another great browser that can be used to play videos online and have a great viewing experience is Vivaldi.
This browser has many customizable elements, allowing you to make your browsing experience your own.
Workspaces are customized just by quickly dragging and dropping elements from one location to another, and pinning the tabs to the sidebar can make you even more efficient.
Additionally, Vivaldi doesn’t track or store your data, so no third parties will ever have access to your data.
Other useful features:
- Great bookmarks organizer features
- Reader-view option allows you to read without distractions
- Can sync data across devices
- Advanced browser history
⇒ Get Vivaldi
Which browser has a built-in video player?
Opera One is the only browser on the market with some advantageous video-related features. This versatile browser has a built-in video player that allows users to customize how they watch online videos.
The video pop-out element can be beneficial, allowing you to move videos out of Opera One’s page tabs into standalone frames.
This feature can be handy when used properly, as in the case of comparing products by using video reviews, hunting for your favorite items on shopping platforms, etc.
As you can see, Opera One, UR, Edge, and Chrome are all excellent browsers for watching videos that also fully support HTML5 multimedia.
They’re all Chromium-based browsers and share Chrome’s repository for video websites and streaming services. So, Chromium browsers are the best for playing videos.
Which browser do you prefer? Share with us your experience using the dedicated comments area.
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