Microsoft is offering a final boost in 2022 for its Windows Subsystem Services for Android (WSA). Specifically, the company is working on supporting DRM-protected high-resolution video streaming.
If you’re unfamiliar with WSA, it’s the system that allows Windows 11 to natively support Android apps.
When Microsoft initially announced Windows 11 in June 2021, one of the big announcements was support for Android apps, the company’s latest effort to close the app gap. This is thanks to a collaboration between Microsoft and the Amazon App Store.
Despite the improvements made to make Android apps look as native as possible on Windows 11, video streaming had some serious limitations. For example, it was unable to play DRM-protected videos in Android system on Windows.
Microsoft now says it is working on changes that will fix this issue:
“This is something on our radar already for new feature requests, we appreciate feedback here,” Microsoft engineer Hamza Usmani confirms in a response to the “Hardware DRM/Widevine L1” feature request post.
Android 13 support
Earlier this month, Microsoft brought Android 13 support to Windows Subsystem for Android.
Google officially unveiled Android 13 in August and it looks like Microsoft has been working to bring the platform to Windows 11 via WSA. The company has been developing integration since October.
Microsoft seems to be paying a lot of attention to WSA and clearly sees it as an important component of Windows 11. I expect to see many new features coming to the container in 2023.
Tip of the day: Although many VPN providers have their own apps, in many cases you can connect to a VPN on Windows without any third-party software. This is ideal if you have a self-hosted VPN or are using a PC with restricted permissions. In our tutorial, we show you how to connect to a VPN on Windows.