Netflix introduced its download feature for offline viewing back in 2016, allowing users to download content and watch it offline on the go. The feature has really caught on in the Indian market, with a number of daily commuters relying heavily on it to keep themselves entertained even when they don’t have access to the Internet. The feature also really comes in handy when you don’t have access to an unlimited data plan on your mobile device or in places where the WiFi charges are unjustifiably exorbitant (looking at you, luxury hotels). However, Netflix’s download feature has some limitations, something you might already be aware of in case you use the feature a whole lot. If you’re a heavy user who downloads a bunch of movies or TV shows, then you might have already encountered some download limit related errors on Netflix. So what exactly is the download limit on Netflix and how can you get around it? Read on to find out:

While the platform allows users to download Netflix movies to watch offline, there’s a limit set in place which prohibits users from downloading too many movies or TV shows. According to a Netflix support page on the matter, a user can download a maximum of 100 titles of a single device at any given time, following which they will be greeted by an error that prevents them from downloading any more content on that device. Additionally, depending on the Netflix subscription plan you’re using, you’ll only be able to download titles on one, two or four devices at any given time.

In recent years, Netflix has invested heavily in original content and has created a strong library of movies, TV shows and documentaries, but the platform still has a lot of content which it licenses from other content creators. The download limit on Netflix is something that is controlled by these license holders and it varies from title to title. Netflix doesn’t reveal the download limit set on each title and users are only notified about the download limit when there’s just one final download left.

Since the platform isn’t upfront about its download limits there’s no way to know when you’ve exceeded a limit, until you get an error message when you’re trying to download Netflix shows. There are a couple of different errors you might encounter when you download Netflix movies to watch offline and you need to know what those errors mean before you can try to get around them. Here are some of the most common errors you might encounter while downloading Netflix content for offline viewing:

According to Netflix, users can store a maximum of 100 unique titles on a single device at any given time. In case you exceed that download limit, which seems to be quite unlikely, you’ll see an error on your app which says that you have too many downloaded videos on your device. In order to download any more titles, you’ll need to delete older downloads from your device.

How You Can Resolve these Netflix Errors?

Now that you’re familiar with the most common download limit-related errors you might encounter on Netflix, lets take a look at how you can resolve the errors:

If you’re trying to download a video and Netflix alerts you that you’ve already downloaded too many videos, you’ll need to delete older downloads before you can proceed with the current download. You can delete older downloads by navigating to the downloads section within the Netflix app on Android, iOS or Windows 10 and select the titles that you wish to download.

How to Fix Netflix’s “You have downloads on too many devices” Error

If you encounter the ‘You have downloads on too many devices’ error, you’ll need to delete all the downloads from an older device in order to start downloading on a new device. You can follow the same method mentioned above to delete all downloads from an older device, but in case you don’t have access to the device, you can follow these steps to remove downloads from the older device:

  • Remove the older device from the list by clicking on the ‘Remove device’ button under the corresponding device

Your older device and all of the downloaded videos on the device should now be removed, allowing you to download more titles on your new device.

If you don’t want to go through the hassle of maintaining the downloaded videos on your devices, you can make use of the Netflix Smart Downloads feature. The feature, which was released for Android devices earlier this year, automatically downloads the next episode (only if you’re connected to WiFi) in a series that you’re watching, while also deleting the episodes that you’ve already watched.