How to Watch Movies on Steam Deck

A computer engineer by degree, Varun has 7+ years of experience in the field of technology. After his stints at Beebom and MrPhone, Varun has been covering different facets of technology at Guiding Tech. Here, he contributes to Team GT by helping its readers make better purchases while also understanding the meaning of each feature. In his free time, you can find him sharing his excellent photography skills along with his Aces in Valorant over Twitter.

Stream YouTube, Netflix, or Other Websites on Steam Deck

Step 1: Ensure your Steam Deck is connected to the Internet. To do that, press theSteam buttonon your console. In the pop-up menu, selectSettings.

Step 2: Now, tap onInternetfrom the sidebar. Then, connect to aWi-Fiof your choice.

Step 3: Next, enter the Desktop Mode. For that, press theSteambuttonon your console and selectPower.

Step 4: SelectSwitch to Desktopfrom the pop-up list.

Step 5: Next, launch a web browser. By default, the Steam Deck has the Mozilla Firefox browser installed. To access it, tap on the Application Launcher icon and navigate toInternet>Firefox Web Browser.

Step 6: In the address bar, enter theURLof the streaming website you wish to access.

Note: You can access any website, such as Netflix,Amazon Prime Video, or YouTube. For this guide, we’ll be using Netflix.

Step 7: Once the streaming website opens, log in or sign up and start watching movies.

Note: If the website requires you to enable DRM, you’ll get a notification at the top. Simply click on Enable DRM to proceed.

Step 8: That’s it. Now, refresh the webpage and enjoy your movie, TV show, or any video on your Steam Deck.

Watch Offline Movies and Videos on Steam Deck

If you don’t have an internet connection or prefer watching movies offline, you can also watch movies on Steam Deck stored in your device’s internal storage or external storage device. To watch offline movies on Steam Deck, download a media player app. We will go with the VLC media player for illustration.

Step 1: Open theApplication Launcherand navigate toAll Applications > Discover.

Step 2: Click on theSearchsection at the top. Type the name of the media player you wish to install and search for it. We’ll useVLC.

Step 3: From the search results,select VLC media player. Click onInstallto proceed.

Step 4: Now that VLC is installed on your Steam Deck, it’s time totransfer media to your console. You can download videos from a cloud storage service, connect your Steam Deck to a PC, or transfer media to a microSD card.

Step 5: Once you have the media loaded,launch VLC. To do that, open the Application Launcher and navigate to Multimedia > VLC media player.

Step 6: Inside the VLC media player, click theMedia optionin the menu bar. Then, select the‘Open File…’option.

Step 7: Now, navigate to the folder containing the video file you want to play. Once done, highlight it and click onOpen.

And that’s it. Your offline video file will now play inside the VLC media player.

Watch Movies on a Bigger Display With Steam Deck

You can also connect your Steam Deck to a TV or monitor if you want to watch movies on a bigger display. To do this, you will need aUSB-C to HDMI cable. Alternatively, you can use aSteam Deck dockas well. Once the cable is connected, select the display output option as you like.

Once done, you can playback the media file on your TV, monitor, or any other external display connected to the Steam Deck.

FAQs on Watching Movies on Steam Deck

Yes, you can install Kodi on your Steam Deck. Kodi is a free, open-source media player that can be used to organize and play your movies, TV shows, music, and other media. You can install Kodi on your Steam Deck from the Discover Store app.

Netflix on Steam Deck is currently limited to 720p resolution. This is due to the platform’s DRM restrictions. However, considering the Steam Deck has an 800p display, this shouldn’t make a massive difference in quality.

In the Desktop Mode, the Steam Deck works like a normal PC. As such, you can access any streaming service through the web browser if it is supported in your location. Some popular streaming services Steam Deck supports are Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, etc.

The go-to recommendation is the VLC Media Player on Steam Deck. However, you can also check out SMPlayer, Haruna Media Player, PlasmaTube, or MPV. Additionally, you can check out Elisa, Amberol, and Vvave media players if you prefer listening to music files. Finally, Kasts is excellent for listening to podcasts on Steam Deck.

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Last updated on 04 April, 2024

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