Disney+ loses entry to Dolby Imaginative and prescient in some European nations

Disney+ subscribers in some European nations have misplaced entry to superior HDR options like Dolby Imaginative and prescient, TechRadar and FlatpanelsHD report. The problem was first noticed by German Disney+ subscribers on Reddit, however at the moment additionally impacts subscribers in Portugal, Poland, France and the Netherlands, in line with FlatpanelsHD.

“Dolby Imaginative and prescient help for content material on Disney+ is at the moment unavailable in a number of European nations because of technical challenges,” Disney mentioned in an announcement. “We’re actively working to revive entry to Dolby Imaginative and prescient and can present an replace as quickly as potential. 4K UHD and HDR help stay out there on supported gadgets.”

If the difficulty is the truth is a technical one, it looks as if it could possibly be round for the long-term. Disney has eliminated any reference to Dolby Imaginative and prescient from its Disney+ video quality support page in Germany. As of now, the corporate lists HDR10 as its default HDR format, regardless of Dolby Vision support being a function of Disney+ for a number of years now.

FlatpanelsHD writes that the actual difficulty is likely to be authorized, somewhat than technological. An organization known as InterDigital won an injunction in a German court in opposition to Disney in November 2025 as a result of it violated at the very least one of many firm’s patents on streaming video expertise. The injunction particularly requires Disney to cease violating InterDigital’s patent on “a technique for dynamically overlaying a primary video stream with a second video stream comprising, for instance, subtitles.” It is not fully clear how that performs into the corporate providing Dolby Imaginative and prescient in Europe, however it might clarify why subscribers in Germany had been a number of the first folks to note Dolby Imaginative and prescient’s absence.

Engadget has contacted Disney for extra details about Disney+’s lacking HDR help and whether or not InterDigital’s injunction performed a task. We’ll replace this text if we hear again.

Mentions of Dolby Imaginative and prescient had been additionally stripped out of the US version of Disney+’s video high quality help web page. InterDigital hasn’t received an injunction within the US, however the firm is pursuing a patent case in opposition to Disney in the USA District Courtroom for the Central District of California. That does not essentially imply Dolby Imaginative and prescient help will likely be taken from US subscribers subsequent, however it does counsel there’s extra occurring right here than simply technical challenges.

Replace, February 6, 3:44PM ET: The unique model of this text included point out of Disney+ shedding HDR10+ help in Europe, however Disney says it by no means provided HDR10+ in that area. The article has been up to date accordingly.