Helium browser developer confirms DRM support is coming soon

The developer behind the open-source Helium browser has revealed plans to bring official DRM support to the app in the near future.

This confirmation came out of nowhere in a casual reply on X after a user pointed out that missing media playback support was holding back alternative browsers. Developer Wukko jumped into the thread and commented that “we’re adding drm support to @heliumbrowser soon!” before asking what other pain points users were running into.

If you have ever tried watching Netflix or listening to Spotify on a smaller indie browser and hit an annoying playback error, DRM is the culprit.

It’s because big streaming services rely on digital rights management software like Google’s Widevine to block piracy and verify that your browser is allowed to play protected streams.

Up until now, Helium has struggled with this exact roadblock just like practically every other indie project on the market, including Zen browser.

Helium’s own FAQ section currently notes that “Google restricts Widevine licensing to its partners” and complains that everyone else has to go through third-party vendors “who charge a ridiculous recurring fee for licensing.”

That said, this is largely why some users keep another backup browser (like Brave, Chrome, Edge, etc.) on their devices to watch content. I’m in the same boat myself.

Sorting out official media playback is a massive step forward for a team that has been strictly selective about where it spends its energy. Just last month, the developer ruled out bringing Helium to Googlebooks because the target audience of privacy fans would never buy laptops locked into Google’s ecosystem anyway.

This decision also comes at a time when many Arc users are looking for alternatives since The Browser Company has decided to sunset the browser later this year. Since Arc supports DRM playback, it’s only natural that its users would also want to move to a browser that supports it. If Helium can nail this along with other pain points like better tab groups and so on, it could very well be a browser to watch out for. 

In fact, in the same thread, Wukko mentioned that they’ll be working on improving tab groups.

So it’s good to see indie developers taking initiative to improve their products, as corporate giants primarily concern themselves with making money instead.

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