Netflix has managed to annoy a good number of its users with an announcement about an upcoming update to its Windows 11 (and Windows 10) app: support for adverts and live events will be added, but the ability to download content is being taken away.
Netflix must realize that it’s a huge frustration for people who relied on offline downloads to watch content without internet access: on planes, trains, and campsites, and anywhere else where Wi-Fi is unavailable or unreliable.
There’s a small chance that Netflix will change its mind if it gets enough complaints, but the streaming service seems determined to add as many money-making features as possible, while taking away genuinely useful ones.
By using software designed to trick the server into thinking it’s a legitimate Netflix/AMZN/Paramount/Apple/etc app so the server serves the video. The software merges the chunks of video/audio the server sends into a video file once it completes the download. Then they take that video file, download the subtitles, and mux them all into the final mkv that you, the end-user, downloads from wherever.