Overview: Digital Rights Management (DRM)

This topic provides an overview of using DRM.

Introduction

Digital Rights Management (DRM) prevents your videos from being played back except for clients who are granted permission. Implementations of DRM vary, but the usual mechanism used is to encrypt the video and decrypt it only if the client has some kind of key to authorize playback.

All supported DRM packages also have built-in detection and blocking of screen-recording.

Also see:

For additional content security mechanisms that can be set in either the player configuration or video properties, see:

Supported DRM types

Beacon offers broad support for DRM:

  • Comprehensive support for packaging, license serving and playback
  • Adaptive use of the appropriate DRM for a given device:
    • Beacon favors native device DRM to minimize dependency on plugins
    • Beacon leverages standards to reduce the number of renditions necessary to deliver a cross-platform solution

Brightcove supports the three most popular types of DRM for HTML5 video:

You can sign up for multiple DRM types to protect your content on all devices and platforms.

Summary of DRM support

Support for DRM depends on the video format, as shown in the following table.

Browser Minimum OS Version DASH
Widevine		 DASH
Playready		 HLS FairPlay HLS
Widevine
(Live) 		HLS
Widevine
(VOD)[1-2]
Web Player on Desktop Devices[1-1]
Chrome 35+ Windows and MacOS versions supported by Chrome Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Firefox 47+ Windows and MacOS versions supported by Firefox Yes No No Yes Yes
Safari 8+ MacOS Sierra+ No No Yes No No
Chromium Edge Windows 7/8/8.1, MacOS Yes No No Yes Yes
Chromium Edge Windows 10+ Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Legacy Edge Windows 10 No Yes No No No
Web Player on Mobile Devices
Chrome
last 3 major versions		 Android 6+ Yes No No Yes Yes
Safari iOS 11.2+ No No Yes No No
Web Player on Set-Top Devices
Chrome Android TV, Chromecast Yes No No No No
Chrome Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Roku No Yes No No No
Safari Apple TV (via Airplay) No No Yes No No
Android SDK (Native Player) on Mobile Devices
n/a Android OS 6.0.1+ (all devices) Yes No No Yes Yes
n/a Android TV, Amazon Fire TV Yes No No Yes Yes
iOS SDK (Native Player) on Mobile Devices
n/a iOS 11.2+ (all devices) No No Yes No No
tvOS SDK (Native Player) on Mobile Devices
n/a tvOS (Apple TV) No No Yes No No

Notes

  • [1-1] DRM playback requires TLS 1.2, which may be disabled in older browsers and OS versions. This page shows how it can be enabled.
  • [1-2] We currently support HLS+Widevine. But the renditions are not created by default. Contact Support to enable your account.

    • DRM support details

    Browsers

    DRM for browsers is for desktop or for mobile web (Chrome on Android 6+ devices; Safari on iOS 11.2+ devices). Brightcove uses MPEG-DASH and common encryption together with Widevine Modular, Apple FairPlay, and Microsoft PlayReady to provide DRM on the desktop - which type is used depends on the browser. This provides a single set of assets that can be played across different browsers while leveraging the native DRM that is available with modern browsers.

    iOS and Android applications

    The information below applies to apps built using the Brightcove Native Player SDKs. Note that in addition to regular playback, the SDKs also support offline playback with DRM.

    iOS

    For iOS devices, the current DRM solution is HLS with FairPlay Streaming.

    Apple's FairPlay Streaming (FPS) technology provides a secure solution for delivering HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) video to Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. It uses an established secure key protocol and minimizes the power consumption on mobile devices.

    Android

    For Android devices, the solution is MPEG-DASH + CENC (Widevine Modular).

    Google Widevine offers a multi-platform, multi-format DRM and video optimization solution that content owners, internet video providers, retailers and video operators can use to deliver a branded, high quality entertainment offering to internet-connected entertainment platforms.

    DRM Security Levels with Android Devices

    Widevine implements a set of industry standards, including CENC encryption, licensing key exchange and adaptive streaming quality to manage video protection. Widevine supports multiple levels of streaming quality based on the security capabilities of the receiving device.

    The levels of security are named L1, L2 and L3:

    • Level 1 - Highest security level
      • Clear keys are only visible by security processor
      • Protected video path. Clear video is not exposed.
    • Level 2 - Less secure
      • Clear keys are only visible by security processor
      • No protected video path. Clear video is exposed.
    • Level 3 - Lowest security level
      • Key processing done by main CPU
      • No protected video path. Clear video is exposed.

    Android devices support either L1 or L3 security levels, based on the hardware and software configurations. Only devices that meet the L1 specification can stream HD or higher quality content from Widevine-secured servers. If your device is only L3 compliant, you will not be able to stream DRM-protected HD content.

    For more details, see the following:

    Offline Playback with DRM

    Offline playback allows users to download content while they are connected, and then watch it when they are offline. To protect your content, the Native SDKs use the following:

    • The Native SDK for Android uses Google Widevine
    • The Native SDK for iOS uses FairPlay Streaming

    For details, see the Overview of Offline Playback with the Native Player SDKs.

    Other devices

    MPEG-DASH is supported by many devices, including Android TV and Chromecast. Videos packaged with DRM for the desktop browser can also be played on these devices.

    Many consumer electronics devices support an older form of DRM - PlayReady over Smooth Streaming

    Signing up for DRM

    DRM requires an additional fee. Contact your Customer Success Manager about bundling DRM protection so that you can secure your content wherever it plays.

    Apple FairPlay

    FairPlay Streaming is a DRM system developed by Apple for video content in HLS format.

    To enable your account for FairPlay, you will need to:

    1. Obtain a FairPlay license from Apple
    2. Contact Support to configure your account

    Known issues

    • For FairPlay playback on mobile devices, and an external screen is used, the audio will play but the video is just a black image.

      For more information, see Content Security (DRM) with the Native Player SDKs

    • On MacOS, on an external monitor and using Safari videos will sometimes play only audio (depends on HDCP compatibility of the external screen).
    • If a screen-sharing app such as Zoom is currently running in the system, only audio will play for Brightcove videos.

    Google Widevine Modular

    Widevine Modular is a system developed by Google to protect video content in MPEG DASH format.

    By default, Beacon uses Brightcove's Widevine licensing server.

    Microsoft PlayReady

    PlayReady is a DRM system developed by Microsoft. Playready comes in two forms:

    • Smooth PlayReady - Provides DRM protection for Smooth Streaming content
    • PlayReady - Provides DRM protection for MPEG-DASH content

    Beacon uses Brightcove's PlayReady licensing server.

    Configure your Beacon account

    DRM must be configured for your account by Brightcove Support and your Customer Success Manager. Contact your Customer Success Manager for details.