What is Widevine?

Widevine is an optional browser component that allows you to play DRM-protected content. Websites such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Amazon Prime Video use it to protect their videos. For more information about Widevine in Brave, please see here. 

How do I enable Widevine on Linux?

If the architecture of your Linux operating system is x64, then you can follow the instructions on this page.  For other systems (such as an ARM64-based system), you need to install Widevine manually by following the steps below. These instructions work on Brave version 1.63.x and later. You can see your version of Brave by typing brave://version into the address bar.

Installing Widevine manually on ARM64 Linux

1. Obtain a copy of Widevine. This is a folder with the files manifest.json and _platform_specific/linux_arm64/libwidevinecdm.so. Some Linux distributions such as Raspberry Pi OS ship with a copy of Widevine in /opt.

2. To install Widevine for all users, name the folder from step 1 above WidevineCdm and copy or symlink it into Brave’s installation directory. As of this writing, in Raspberry Pi OS, this can be done with the command:
   sudo ln -s /opt/WidevineCdm/ /opt/brave.com/brave/WidevineCdm
   After this step, you should have the file <Brave installation dir.>/WidevineCdm/manifest.json and similar others.

   If you cannot or do not want to place Widevine into Brave’s installation directory, then you can still register a copy of Widevine that is in a different location. To do this, create the file latest-component-updated-widevine-cdm in the WidevineCdm subdirectory of Brave’s User Data Directory. Give it the following contents: {"Path":"/path/to/the/folder/from/step/1"}. The default User Data Directory for the Release version of Brave is ~/.config/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser. So you can for example create the file with the command:
   echo '{"Path":"/path/to/the/folder/from/step/1"}' > ~/.config/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/WidevineCdm/latest-component-updated-widevine-cdm.

3. Enable Widevine in brave://settings. See this page for instructions.
4. Restart Brave.

Once you have performed these steps, you should be able to view DRM-protected content.

The instructions can also be used on architectures other than ARM64. In those cases, the path that mentions linux_arm64 above will differ.