Is it OK to disable HDCP?

As a passionate gamer and streaming content creator, one of the most common questions I see popping up is: "Is it OK to disable HDCP while gaming and recording gameplay?"

The short answer is yes, it‘s perfectly fine to disable HDCP when you specifically want to record or stream your gameplay sessions. However, doing so does come with a few important caveats.

What Happens When You Disable HDCP?

HDCP (High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) is a form of DRM (Digital Rights Management) that game console makers and other media devices implement to prevent unauthorized copying of video streams.

So what happens when you turn it off? Here‘s the key things:

• You will NOT be able to use any streaming video apps like Netflix, Hulu, etc.
• You may not be able to play certain DRM-protected content like Blu-Ray movies
• You WILL then be able to record and stream gameplay using a capture card or software capture utilities

The reason HDCP gets in the way of gameplay recording is that it encrypts the video output signal. Capture devices can‘t access the raw feeds necessary to record when encryption is enabled.

Flipping HDCP off removes this restriction, opening up your console‘s video output to be captured.

HDCP Adoption Trends and Gaming Implications

As this table shows, the latest HDCP standard that most modern gaming consoles and streamers need to care about is version 2.2, ratified in 2015. This iteration supports full, high-bandwidth 4K feeds at 60 frames per second.

However, HDCP has also garnered increasing criticism over the years for needlessly hampering legitimate recording and streaming uses. As gaming video capture continues to explode in popularity, calls to scale back HDCP restrictions have grown.

According to recent data from Streamhatchet, the number of gaming content creators grew over 35% to over 8 million in 2022 alone. Yet outdated DRM like HDCP threatens to inhibit these streaming innovations.

So whether or not disabling HDCP is "OK" or not, the tensions around meeting both entertainment industry protections and gaming community demands are clearly coming to a head.

Should You Disable HDCP for Gaming Capture?

Given the massive growth around gaming video content and streaming, I fully expect publishers will steadily provide tools that legally sanction capture and streaming of gameplay footage. We‘ve already seen steps in this direction with built-in sharing on platforms like Steam and Xbox.

That said, the reality is HDCP is still an impediment to seamless gameplay recording today on modern consoles. As a gaming content creator myself, I find it gratifying to produce videos and streams that share my passion for games with the world. HDCP only gets in the way of that goal.

My recommendation is to disable HDCP when you specifically intend to record or broadcast gameplay. Simply toggling it off during capture sessions, then re-enabling it afterwards poses little downside. Just keep the following usage guidance in mind:

• Do disable HDCP when explicitly recording or streaming gameplay using a capture card or software utilities.
• Don‘t keep HDCP disabled as your default console setting. You‘ll lose access to media apps!

With 100+ million active streamers as of 2022 based on Streamlabs metrics, it‘s clear gameplay recording and streaming is a juggernaut. As both a gamer and content producer myself, I‘m hopeful that HDCP standards will continue to adapt to promote this emergent entertainment medium, rather than hinder it.

But until hardware and software content protections catch up, disabling HDCP as needed remains a permissible, viable workaround. Just be smart about re-enabling it afterwards!