How capture is blocked
With hardware-backed DRM, decrypted frames travel through a protected path inside the device that ordinary software cannot read. A recording app or screenshot sees a black rectangle where the video should be. On external displays, HDCP protects the cable link so that capture hardware cannot record the signal.
Protection by platform
- iOS, iPadOS and tvOS: FairPlay-protected video is blanked in recordings and screenshots
- Android: apps can mark the playback window as secure, and Widevine L1 devices use a protected video path
- Smart TVs and streaming devices: closed systems with hardware DRM, and no general recording apps
- Desktop browsers: the weakest point; many use software-level DRM, which rights holders limit to lower resolutions
What it cannot stop
Nothing prevents someone pointing a camera at a screen, and devices with broken or software-only protection can be captured. The practical defenses are to restrict resolution on less secure devices, so that any copy is of poor quality, and to add forensic watermarking, so that a copy can be traced to the account it came from.
Deterrents
- A visible watermark showing the viewer's email or ID, used for screeners and corporate video
- Limits on simultaneous streams and devices, which reduce the accounts available to pirates
- Monitoring of piracy sites and fast takedown requests
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