Katarzyna Petru
As reported by the flatpanelshd service Disney+ has lowered the image quality in some markets by removing support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and 3D content. This matter is related to an ongoing patent litigation in Germany that, according to reports, may expand to other countries in Europe.
Previous technical issues with the Disney+ app were indeed resolved in the fall of 2025; however, current limitations now concern the formats of the image itself. By the end of 2025, German media noted the disappearance of Dolby Vision and HDR10+ from the Disney+ offering in Germany, which meant that even users on the Premium plan could only watch content in HDR10. In January 2026, the German service Heise linked these changes to a patent lawsuit in which Disney was accused of infringing rights owned by the American company InterDigital. The court issued an order that has a direct impact on the operation of the platform.
If you are interested in HDR and Dolby Vision, be sure to check out this material on Dolby Vision 2!
The problem is spreading to Europe
In February, more reports began to emerge from Disney+ subscribers in various countries across Europe, including France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and Poland. Dutch media confirmed that Dolby Vision support has disappeared from the local market, and similar signals are also coming from Nordic countries. Disney explains the situation in an official statement as "technical challenges" and neither confirms nor denies that it is related to the ongoing patent dispute. However, the company assures that it is working on restoring Dolby Vision and that support for 4K UHD and HDR (HDR10) remains available on compatible devices. At the same time, Disney+ has removed all mentions of Dolby Vision from its European help pages and even from some support materials in the USA. Additionally, 3D movies that were showcased in Dolby Vision have also disappeared from the offerings in several countries.
As far as it can be assumed that HDR10+ has a greater chance of returning to Disney+, the situation with Dolby Vision remains significantly less certain. HDR10+ is an open and completely free format for creators, and any potential licensing fees are incomparably lower than those for Dolby technology. This makes it an attractive alternative for streaming platforms, especially in the context of patent disputes and rising costs.
Source: flatpanelshd
