--- title: Netflix: Offline Viewing Is 'Never Going to Happen' description: The company is counting on the fact that wi-fi will get better and faster and that downloads for offline viewing will become obsolete canonical: https://time.com/3639414/netflix-offline-viewing-never/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-18T06:12:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:57:58.386Z article:section: Business og:title: Stop Hoping for Netflix Downloads og:description: The company says they're "never going to happen." og:url: https://time.com/3639414/netflix-offline-viewing-never/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4405adf72e115ef9/69876fb3a988caee7f6ab7a9/464215297.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Netflix Illustrations Ahead Of Earnings og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stop Hoping for Netflix Downloads twitter:description: The company says they're "never going to happen." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4405adf72e115ef9/69876fb3a988caee7f6ab7a9/464215297.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Offline Viewing Is 'Never Going to Happen' Netflix Executive Says by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Dec 18, 2014 6:12 AM CUT  The Netflix website and logo are displayed on laptop computers arranged for a photograph in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2014 The Netflix website and logo are displayed on laptop computers arranged for a photograph in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2014Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Dec 18, 2014 6:12 AM CUT You [won’t be able](http://www.techradar.com/news/video/netflix-offline-viewing-is-never-going-to-happen--1277413#null "undefined") to watch Netflix without an Internet connection. Ever. “It’s never going to happen,” said Cliff Edwards, the video-streaming site’s director of corporate communications and technology, speaking to TechRadar about the possibility of offline viewing. A few other streaming services do offer the ability to download shows and then view them without Internet access, but Edwards said Netflix is of the view that downloadable content is “a short-term fix for a bigger problem” of wi-fi access and quality. The Netflix top brass fully expects both those things to improve significantly in the near future, and Edwards opined that the concept of offline viewing may be a thing of the past as early as five years from now. \[[_TechRadar_](http://www.techradar.com/news/video/netflix-offline-viewing-is-never-going-to-happen--1277413#null "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3639414/netflix-offline-viewing-never/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3639414/netflix-offline-viewing-never/"},"headline":"Offline Viewing Is 'Never Going to Happen' Netflix Executive Says","datePublished":"2014-12-18T06:12:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:57:58.386Z","description":"#SorryNotSorry","url":"https://time.com/3639414/netflix-offline-viewing-never/","keywords":["Television","Netflix","streaming"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4405adf72e115ef9/69876fb3a988caee7f6ab7a9/464215297.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4405adf72e115ef9/69876fb3a988caee7f6ab7a9/464215297.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Netflix Illustrations Ahead Of Earnings","caption":"Netflix Illustrations Ahead Of Earnings","creditText":"Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3639414/netflix-offline-viewing-never/","name":"Offline Viewing Is 'Never Going to Happen' Netflix Executive Says"}}]}] ```