While there's a user-agent hack to get Netflix working on Linux using the native HTML5 video support, an updated NSS library is landing on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and 14.04 LTS to allow Netflix support out-of-the-box.

Last week was a mailing list post by a Netflix engineer inquiring about updating the NSS version in Ubuntu so Netflix can play. The version of NSS on Ubuntu 14.04 and previous releases is too old for what's needed by Netflix.

Fortunately, given the popularity of Netflix, a new NSS version is landing that will meet Netflix requirements. Netflix is specifically targeting newer than NSS 3.16.2.

On the Netflix end, they need to lift the user-agent filtering to allow the Chrome browser in Ubuntu to play without the user-agent hack. As of this morning with the new NSS in Ubuntu 12.04/14.04, the user-agent hack is required but will hopefully be lifted shortly, so you can now play Netflix videos on Chrome in Ubuntu with ease!