How to Change Netflix Region in 2024 (original) (raw)
Considering that this platform offers different content based on your location, it’s clear why many want to change their Netflix region. This streaming service works in 190+ countries. Yet, every country has a unique content library that differs from the others.
The reason for changing your Netflix country is simple: you want to access a specific movie or series unavailable in your location. Luckily, there are a few ways to change region on Netflix, all of which are explained in this guide.
- How to Change Your Netflix Country: Tutorial
- How to Change Netflix Region Without a VPN?
- Is Changing My Netflix Country Legal?
- How Many Netflix Catalogs Are There?
- Can I Find Subtitles in My Language?
- Why I Can’t Change My Netflix Region?
- Summary
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How to Change Your Netflix Country: Tutorial
We’ll begin this guide with the simplest, yet most effective method. Have you ever heard of a VPN? This service is designed to keep your online privacy intact. In addition, it can change your IP address to hundreds of countries and cities worldwide.
How can this benefit you if you want to alter your Netflix region? Well, exactly as it sounds. Using a VPN to switch your IP address to another country will make Netflix see you as if you’re located there. Let’s say you want to access the American library.
In that case, getting an IP address from the USA with a VPN will do the trick. Not all VPNs work with Netflix and many are detected as a result. For this guide, we’ll use NordVPN to show you how to change your Netflix region because it works perfectly.
That said, alternatives exist. Here is, in fact, the list of the three VPNs that we can recommend:
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1. Subscribe to a VPN Service
As said, we’ll be using NordVPN for this scenario. Subscribing to a VPN is mandatory if you want to successfully change country on Netflix. Premium providers primarily work with this streaming service, and in our experience, free VPN apps won’t suffice because they’re detected.
Besides, you can get NordVPN and its 60+ percent discount below. A 30-day refund policy is included, so if you decide to ditch it because you need it no more, you can do so AND get reimbursed. Visit NordVPN’s site, select your desired plan, and enter your email.
Once this is done, complete the payment and follow the other steps to create your account.
2. Install a VPN
It’s time to install a VPN on the device you want to use for a Netflix region change. NordVPN works on all platforms – Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, and even Linux. With 10 simultaneous connections, you can set it up on multiple devices.
We recommend downloading the app from its official site, installing it, and logging in with your email and password afterward.
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The dashboard will open and look like the one above, so all the steps are complete.
3. Change Your Netflix Country
Actually, we have one more – connecting to a server. Again, think about which Netflix region you want. Let’s say it’s the UK version. Simply open the server list, find the UK by scrolling down, and click once on it.
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After the “Connected” message appears, you’re sure everything works fine. With this IP address, you can go to Netflix and immediately see the UK library with all of its content. The same goes for other countries like Japan, the USA, Canada, and others.
If you’re interested, we have a separate guide on unblocking American Netflix. It’s the most popular library with a litany of exciting series, movies, and shows.
Change your Netflix region with NordVPN
How to Change Netflix Region Without a VPN?
To be clear, using a VPN is the most efficient way to alter your country on Netflix. We don’t want to push it down your throat and say you MUST use it. It’s not mandatory but after trying other methods, you’ll see they aren’t as good.
We have a few in mind with varying degrees of efficiency.
Smart DNS
Smart DNS is incredibly effective at streaming and unblocking content. Much like a VPN, Smart DNS can make you look like you’re accessing the website from another country. It’s done through complex manipulation of DNS requests.
There are two things to note. First, Smart DNS usually comes with VPNs like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, and so on. Second, Smart DNS isn’t secure, so apart from the ability to change your region on Netflix, you get no security. Smart DNS doesn’t use encryption, for example.
© NordVPN
Also, VPN providers usually offer Smart DNS addresses in the USA, so you’re locked to the American library. A solution would be to purchase a separate Smart DNS service – there are many online.
To use Smart DNS, simply get the service, obtain and copy the DNS addresses you want, and paste them into the Network settings on your device. You’ll find detailed tutorials for different devices on NordVPN’s website, for instance.
A huge advantage of Smart DNS is that it works on all devices. This means you can use a new DNS address on your Firestick TV, Apple TV, routers, gaming consoles, and non-VPN-friendly systems like WebOS, Tizen, and many more.
In our tests, however, Smart DNS wasn’t more effective than a great VPN service. It was detected on multiple occasions and its speeds weren’t as fast. You can still try it and see if it works for your needs.
Proxy Services
Proxy services are often confused with VPNs. They work similarly and act as intermediary servers between you and the website you’re trying to visit. Are they great for changing Netflix region? Well, in theory, YES but in practice NO.
Proxies also lack encryption, so they’re insecure, except if we’re talking about Shadowsocks. Your standard HTTP proxies are slower and unoptimized for streaming. We found their connection instabilities to be a result of overcrowding, which can be annoying.
© Hide.me
We noticed they won’t work with Netflix, which is another annoyance. In most cases, you can’t pick the desired location, for instance. Even if you can, you’ll be locked into just a few countries that likely won’t fit the bill. Paid proxies are an opinion.
However, they’re extremely expensive and difficult to set up. Some of them offer website unblocking abilities but sadly offer slow performance. If you want a quality proxy, try Hide.me Proxy but don’t expect miracles, it won’t work with Netflix in 99% of the cases.
Remote Device Access
There’s an interesting method to change your country on Netflix. You can remotely access another device and route your traffic through its IP address.
NordVPN offers its Meshnet function, which allows exactly that. Fortunately, it’s available even if you haven’t bought NordVPN.
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Meshnet lets you connect to up to 60 different devices and share files or remotely access and control them. The other device should also have Meshnet enabled, and by extension, NordVPN installed. From here, it’s smooth sailing.
You can access the device in the USA (or any other country), visit Netflix through it, and watch the American library abroad. To use Meshnet, simply download the NordVPN app, sign up for an account, and you’re free to take advantage of it – no payment needed.
With a free account, you won’t be able to use NordVPN, however.
It is worth noting that more and more internet users seem to be using Meshnet and NordVPN to get around the Netflix password-sharing ban.
Discover NordVPN’s Meshnet feature
Tor Browser (The Worst Option)
Tor is phenomenal if you aim to get on the dark web. In our experience, it’s hardly great for anything more except for hiding your IP address and enjoying anonymity.
VPNs are still superior in this regard, but what about changing countries on Netflix?
Sadly, this is a viable but also the worst option. Tor will hide your IP address and protect your privacy but won’t let you choose the location. The browser is also extremely slow because of the way it works, with its entry/exit nodes, encryption, and everything else.
Tor’s speed will make Netflix load for minutes before you can access anything. You can also forget about HD streaming and the snappiness you can get from a VPN. Worst of all, using Tor doesn’t guarantee you’ll change your Netflix region.
Remember – you can’t pick the location, so you don’t know how the website will interpret the connection originating from the Tor network.
Is Changing My Netflix Country Legal?
Using a VPN to circumvent geo-blocks is a common practice. It is legal if we’re talking about changing our Netflix country too. This means you won’t suffer repercussions like fines, jail time, and so on. It’s worth mentioning that it’s against the platform’s terms of service.
If you look at its terms of service, you’ll see that the company is against using a VPN to access its restricted content. This makes sense because its content is usually blocked because of licensing agreements, allowing it to display certain titles only in some countries.
Since you’re watching something you’re not supposed to, it’s logical that changing your Netflix region is against the “rules.” Can you be banned in that case? No, not to our knowledge. The worst that could happen is that your VPN gets detected by the streaming platform.
How Many Netflix Catalogs Are There?
Given that this streaming giant works in 190 countries – more or less – we’re looking at 190 different libraries. Bear in mind that VPNs that work with Netflix can’t unblock all of them. They can, however, help you access dozens.
We’re talking about popular catalogs from Europe, the USA, Asia, and a few other regions. If you’re interested in the largest, most title-rich libraries of this platform, here are a few that might spike your interest even more.
| Netflix Catalog | Number of Titles |
|---|---|
| Slovakia | 8,427 |
| Bulgaria | 8,272 |
| Latvia | 8,092 |
| UK | 7,482 |
| Ireland | 7,394 |
| Canada | 6,475 |
| Australia | 6,383 |
| USA | 6,074 |
| Japan | 5,065 |
The libraries you see above are known as the largest at the time of writing. As you can see, Slovakia has more than 8,400 titles while Netflix US is smaller with a tad over 6,00. You can access all of these libraries with a VPN, so these regions’ titles are accessible anywhere.
Simply connect to a VPN server in the corresponding country and you’re all set.
Can I Find Subtitles in My Language?
Finding subtitles in your language often poses a problem when you change your country on Netflix. Sometimes, you can find the content you want but if there are no subtitles and the content isn’t in your language, your attempt is futile.
What can you do? This streaming platform offers several subtitle options based on where it “thinks” you are. It also includes a few popular subtitle languages. In most cases, your language will be listed and you’ll be able to select it. If that’s not the case, try this.
Visit the “Manage Profiles” menu, select another preferred language, and see if the subtitles in that language appear. If not, you can opt for a third-party solution that will add subtitles to Netflix shows and movies. Substital is a good option but it works only on computers.
It’s a nifty little browser extension that works on Firefox and Chrome – it’s free, as well. To get it, download it from your web browser store, open Netflix, and turn on Substital. The extension will automatically detect the title you’re watching.
From here, select the subtitle language, click on the result if it appears, and the desired subtitles will appear. This extension supports subtitle customization, so you can carefully “align” it to fit the title you’re watching, customize its color, and so on…
Why I Can’t Change My Netflix Region?
Likely because you’re not using a VPN. Jokes aside, you sometimes won’t be able to switch your Netflix country even with a VPN service.
This happens rarely and is a sign that your VPN has been detected by the platform. Don’t fret, you can try some of these fixes that work.
- Use another server. It’s a bog-standard solution that works pretty much always. Connect to another server in another country, refresh the page, and see if it works.
- Clear your browser cache and cookies. This fix works very well if the first fails. If you can’t change your region on Netflix, go to Settings in your browser and delete cookies and cache. Now connect to a VPN again, restart the browser, and try again.
- Enable obfuscation. It can help to mask your VPN connection and make any site you visit to see your connection as non-VPN-originating. NordVPN has obfuscated servers that work with this platform reliably.
- Try another protocol. Switch from a few protocols to see how they work. While WireGuard is almost always the best option, OpenVPN TCP or even IKEv2 can be handy in this scenario.
- Use a VPN browser extension. This fix is viable if the VPN app isn’t working properly. Open the VPN browser extension, enable WebRTC Leak Protection, and give it a go. It should work because your WebRTC isn’t leaking.
- Contact customer support. If all else fails, customer support should be your go-to option. They’ll explain which server to use and how to set up your VPN to make it work for changing the Netflix country.
Summary
Traveling overseas just to change your Netflix region is nonsensical. You don’t need to overcomplicate things when you can switch your IP address to another country, go to this streaming platform, and have your region altered in seconds.
The most effective way is to use a VPN – we leave the choice of the provider to you. NordVPN is the most reliable and even includes Meshnet which lets you perform the trick with device remote access. Other methods like proxies, Tor, and Smart DNS are less likely to work.
Using a VPN for this purpose can be risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. With a refund in the first 30 days, you won’t lose any cash. However, the choice is yours – we gave you plenty of methods to try and experiment with.