Netflix does not support Windows 7 or 8 or 8.1. It may seem obvious, but to clarify, you need Windows 10 to stream 4K content on your computer. AMD users should have Radeon RX 400 series or newer GPU to play 4K content on their Windows 10 PCs.

If you are using a discrete GPU from Nvidia, you must have GeForce GTX 1050 or a newer GPU. As 4K content streaming is a heavy-duty task, you need a powerful GPU to handle hardware decoding in the background.

Netflix added the 7th-gen (Kaby Lake) or newer requirement because the integrated GPU in these processors can handle 10-bit HEVC decoding. To play 4K content on a Windows 10 PC, you must have an Intel 7th-Gen or newer CPU or an AMD Ryzen CPU. Some monitors and smart TVs also label the HDMI ports with the HDCP 2.2 label, so you can check for that as well. You can confirm HDCP 2.2 availability on your monitor’s instruction manual or by going to the manufacturer’s website. Also, you need an HDMI 2.0 cable to connect the monitor and PC. Netflix specifically states that HDCP 2.2 must be supported by the monitor for 4K streaming to work. It is used on HDMI connections for digital streaming devices like monitors, smart TVs, and streaming sticks like Roku, Mi Box 4K, and Fire TV. HDCP or High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection is a way to protect copyrighted content while streaming over an external monitor. If you are using an external monitor and Netflix is not streaming in 4K on your PC, it might have to do with HDCP. Apart from that, the monitor must have a refresh rate of 60Hz. Netflix does not downsample its content, unlike YouTube, to play 4K content on a Full HD screen. Yes, the first hardware requirement to run Netflix on your Windows 10 PC is that you must have a 4K-capable display.

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