I've been watching stuff on Netflix and Prime lately, and I swear the picture quality just doesn't compare to when I saw the same movies in IMAX a few months back. Is this just my TV being mediocre, or do streaming services actually compress the video quality? My internet is pretty solid too so I'm confused.
Streaming services absolutely do compress video - Netflix and Prime use codecs like H.264 or H.265 that shrink file sizes so they can actually deliver content over the internet, and this compression is way more aggressive than what you'd see on a 4K Blu-ray or in a theater. IMAX is literally a different beast: massive screen, higher frame rates sometimes, and the film print or DCP has basically zero compression compared to what your home connection can handle. Your TV probably isn't the issue if it's reasonably modern, but even a great display can't recover detail that's already been stripped away by streaming compression. The gap also comes down to bitrate - theaters get lossless or near-lossless video, while streaming has to balance quality against keeping playback smooth for millions of users on varying connection speeds.
Don't assume your TV is the weak link here - the difference comes down to multiple factors working together, not just codec compression like people might suggest. Yes, Netflix and Prime compress video to manage bandwidth, but the real gap is that theatrical releases are mastered for massive screens with professional color grading and sound systems, while streaming versions get re-encoded for smaller home displays where those details matter less to the average viewer. Your internet speed doesn't really factor in because bitrate limits are baked into the service itself - even with gigabit speeds, Netflix caps at certain quality tiers depending on your subscription. So it's partly the compression, partly the mastering choices, and partly that IMAX is literally a different animal designed to blow your mind on a 70-foot screen.
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