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Can Hulu stream movies and TV shows in 4K? Yes, but it’s complicated

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If you’re serious about media, you want to watch your movies and TV shows with the best picture possible. That means you need 4K. With 4K Ultra HD televisions becoming cheaper than ever and streaming services like Netflix (for an extra fee) and Disney+ offering 4K, at-home entertainment has never looked better.

But what about Hulu, the other streaming service controlled by Disney? Does it offer a 4K option? The answer is complicated. While Hulu does have some 4K programming, your options are extremely sparse. If 4K is a deal-breaker for you, you’ll want to check out a different service.

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Can you get 4K on Hulu?

Technically, yes. Hulu has 4K capabilities, although you’re going to have to look very hard to find them. Currently, only a few devices support 4K Hulu streams, and the shows that you can watch in 4K are much more limited than Hulu’s support page suggests.

In addition, while Hulu supports 4K resolution, it doesn’t support a High-Dynamic Range (HDR) picture. Even if you have an HDR-capable TV, the contrast won’t be as extreme and the colors won’t be as rich and vivid as you expect. It’s a strange omission, and one we expect Disney will want to rectify sooner than later.

You’ll need a 16 Mbps internet connection to watch 4K content. On the plus side, unlike Netflix, 4K streaming is free with your regular Hulu subscription.

What devices currently stream Hulu in 4K?

Only a limited number of devices can stream Hulu at 4K. As of this writing, 4K Hulu streams are only available on the Apple TV 4K, Chromecast Ultra, and the Xbox One, with 4K support coming to Amazon Fire TV and LG WebOS devices soon. If you use any other streaming solution, you’re out of luck.

In 2016, when Hulu first introduced 4K streams, you could use your PlayStation 4 Pro to get 4K Hulu content. At some point, however, all of Hulu’s 4K capabilities were removed. They returned in July 2019, but 4K support hasn’t come back to the PS4 just yet, so don’t rely on your console for 4K even if it worked in the past. It won’t now.

What movies and shows are available to stream in 4K on Hulu?

While Hulu promises “a select list of programming” available to stream in 4K, that’s misleading. You have even fewer options than Hulu implies. Right now, the only 4K content on the service seems to be some of Hulu’s original series — and not even all of those. If you want to watch Hulu’s big shows, like The Handmaid’s Tale and Catch-22 in 4K, that’s fine. Other, more obscure original series seem to be hit-or-miss. 

As far as we can tell, no third-party movies or shows are available on Hulu in 4K (we’ve reached out to Hulu for a full list of their 4K programming, and will update if/when we hear back). This includes the James Bond flicks, where were available in 4K on Hulu in 2016, but are no longer available on the service at all.

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Chris Gates
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Christopher Gates lives in Los Angeles, CA and writes about movies, TV, video games, and other pop culture curiosities. In…
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