Does Amazon Prime Video support 4K resolution?

4K big-screen televisions have slowly decreased in price and are now affordable for most buyers. As a result, the appetite for 4K movies and TV shows is stronger than ever, including from streaming services like Amazon Prime Video.

Whether you’ve got access through a smart TV platform, TV stick, or set-top box, new subscribers to the Amazon Prime Video service who also own 4K TVs likely wonder what sort of 4K content, if any, is available to stream onto their televisions.

Thankfully, the short answer is yes: Amazon Prime Video does support 4K movies and shows. However, that’s not the full story. In this article, we’ll look into the kind of content Amazon offers, which is often seen as a competitor of Netflix. You can sign up for the service at the link below:

How to watch 4K UHD and HDR content on Amazon Prime Video

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you can stream various movies and shows in 4K, as well as nearly all of the service’s original creations. That means that if you have a supported 4K TV, you can stream Amazon Prime original shows in 2160p resolution.

Nearly all of Amazon Prime Video’s original shows also support High Dynamic Range (HDR) features, which should give those shows a larger range of colors, along with better contrast.

Amazon Prime Video’s 4K movie and TV shows support three HDR standards. One is just the basic HDR standard, and another uses ones created by Dolby Labs. Also, the shows that support Dolby Labs will be labeled as Dolby Vision. The other standard is HDR10+, and the shows that use it will be labeled as such.

In addition to Amazon Prime Video content, the service also offers movies and TV shows for rental or purchase. An increasing number of those movies and shows are now available in 4K UHD resolution. You can expect to pay more for renting or purchasing 4K content, compared to their HD and SD versions.

Amazon Prime Video shows in 4K

Here are just a few of the original Amazon Prime Video TV shows that you can watch in full 4K resolution.

What internet download speeds are needed?

Officially, the company states you need at least 18Mbps to stream Amazon Prime Video content in 4K. While those are some fairly high requirements from Amazon, keep in mind that Netflix’s download speed requirements for its 4K videos are even higher at 25Mbps.

Do I need to purchase a more expensive streaming plan?

Unlike Netflix, which forces its customers to pay more to access its supported videos in 4K resolution, Amazon Prime Video is a “one price fits all” business plan. In other words, Amazon Prime Video offers access to 4K content at no extra charge. Again this is just for the movies and series under the Amazon Prime Video subscription; videos you rent or buy may still cost more if you want to watch them in 4K.

What devices support Amazon Prime 4K?

Smart TVs with 4K and HDR support

Amazon’s support page shows that officially, all of the Ultra HD smart TVs manufactured by Sony, Samsung, and LG made in 2015 and afterward can support streaming 4K video from Amazon Prime Video. HDR support from the service is supported by selected Samsung SUHD TVs from 2015 or later, along with certain LG OLED and Super UHD TVs from 2015 or later. Furthermore, all Sony Ultra HD TVs from 2015 or later are compatible with HDR support.

In addition, 4K UHD support is available on supported Phillips, Vizio, Sharp, Grundig, JVC, TCL, SKYWORTH, AOC, Changhong, Haier, Hisense, Panasonic, and Vestel 4K TVs. That includes smart TVs from those companies that use Amazon’s own Fire TV OS or the Roku OS. Panasonic Blu-Ray players from 2016 and after also support 4K streaming.

Game consoles with 4K support

Microsoft’s Xbox One and the new Xbox Series X/S game consoles support streaming the supported movies and TV shows on Amazon Prime Video in 4K resolution. Also, Sony’s new PlayStation 5 console supports 4K streaming with the service.

Set-top boxes and streaming sticks with 4K UHD support

Of course, Amazon’s own Fire TV 4K Stick will allow any 4K television to stream at UHD quality. The same goes for the Fire TV Cube set-top box. Other sticks and set-top boxes that support Amazon Prime Video in 4K include the Google Chromecast Ultra, Roku Streaming Stick Plus, the Roku Ultra, the Apple TV 4K, and the NVIDIA Shield TV.

Smartphones and tablets with 4K support

At the moment, the Android Amazon Prime Video app supports 4K streaming for select movies and TV shows. Of course, your phone or tablet must also support 4K resolutions as well for this to work. The iOS version of the app currently does not support that kind of resolution.

Do desktop and laptop PCs support 4K UHD streaming for Amazon Prime Video?

Suppose you are streaming movies and TV shows from Amazon Prime Video on your Windows, Mac, or Linux laptop or notebook, or even on your Chromebook. In that case, you should note that due to copyright restrictions, you cannot stream the supported 4K videos at their highest resolutions. Instead, the maximum resolution available for these devices is HD.