Studio DRM Overview (JW Platform)

JWP provides a simplified approach to protecting your content with industry-standard Digital Rights Management (DRM). By enabling DRM on a property from your JW Player dashboard, the complex aspects of DRM management are managed by JW Player on your behalf:

Several configured DRM policies
DRM license generation and management for Widevine, PlayReady, and Fairplay DRM solutions
License delivery services for content playback on any device

With JW Player managing the technical aspects of DRM, you can focus on the design and implementation of engaging content experiences.

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If you have not enabled Studio DRM with JW Platform or for a live stream integration, you can use Studio DRM Standalone with your current streaming and hosting solution.

Compatibility

Desktop

The two most recent stable versions of the following listed browsers are supported.

HTML5 Browsers	FairPlay	PlayReady	Widevine
Chrome			✓
Firefox			✓
Internet Explorer 11 (Windows ^8.1+)		✓
Microsoft Edge (Windows ¹⁰⁺)		✓	✓
Opera			✓
Safari	✓

Mobile Phones and Tablets

Browsers & Phones	FairPlay	PlayReady	Widevine
Android ⁵⁺ (native)			✓
Chrome (Android) 3 most recent stable versions			✓
iOS/iPadOS ¹²⁺ (native)	✓
Safari (iOS) 2 most recent stable versions	✓
Windows Phone		✓

OTT

Device	FairPlay	PlayReady	Widevine
Android TV		✓	✓
Apple TV ^12.0+	✓
Chromecast		✓	✓
Fire TV ^6.0+		✓	✓
Roku 2 most recent versions		✓ Support Update	✓
Samsung Tizen (Models 2017+)		✓	✓
Smart TV Alliance (webOS ^6.0+) LG, Panasonic, Philips, Toshiba		✓	✓

High-Level Workflow Overview

The following high-level workflow illustrates how to request and play DRM content.

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High-Level Workflow Explained

Create a new property in your JW Player account and enable Studio DRM on the property. Four predefined DRM policies (see the section later in this guide) are created in the property, and content URL signing is automatically enabled on the property.

Upload content to the new Studio DRM-enabled property.

The content is transcoded, and a unique mediaID and other metadata are created as with any media uploaded to JW Platform.

Your application makes a signed API request to the JW Delivery API to get a single-item playlist that contains Studio DRM media URLs and license acquisition URLs (LA_URL) for a media ID.

NOTE: All DRM API requests must use HTTPS. DRM is not supported over HTTP connections.

Pass the media URL and LA_URL (plus certificate URL if using FairPlay) to your player configuration.

NOTE: If you are using a JW Player HTML5 player in your application, the whole response can be passed directly to the player's setup configuration. For other players, consult the player's DRM configuration documentation.

When playback is initiated, the player sends an encrypted DRM license request to the JW Delivery API.

The JW Delivery API returns the DRM license to the player.

If the device satisfies the policy restrictions in the license, playback begins. If the device does not satisfy the restrictions, the player reports an error.

Requirements

General

Item	Notes
DRM entitlement	Contact your JWP representative for more information.

FairPlay

If you want to use the Apple FairPlay DRM, you must get a FairPlay Streaming Deployment package from Apple and upload the credentials to each DRM-enabled property in your JW dashboard.

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You can use the same FairPlay Deployment package on all your properties, but you must upload the credentials (ASK and .p12 keystore file) to each property, explicitly.

Item	Notes
FairPlay Streaming Deployment package	Set of resources and tools that help content providers implement FairPlay DRM protection for their streaming services
ASK	App secret key This is part of the FairPlay Streaming Deployment package
*Encoded .p12 keystore file**	File containing your FPS Deployment certificate and private key This entire file must be password-protected, not just the private key. Create a FairPlay .p12 file provides guidance on this topic.