Disney+ Loses Dolby Vision in Europe Over Patent Dispute

Disney+ users in parts of Europe have lost access to Dolby Vision and HDR10+ on the streaming platform, sparking a growing dispute over video-technology patents. The change first appeared in Germany in late 2025 and has since spread to other European markets, leaving many premium subscribers with lower-quality HDR streams even though they still pay the same price. 

The core of the issue lies in a patent lawsuit filed by US tech firm InterDigital against Disney in a German court. InterDigital claims Disney is using its patented methods for streaming high-dynamic-range (HDR) video without proper licensing, including technology for dynamically overlaying video streams, such as subtitles. In November 2025, the Munich Regional Court issued an injunction ordering Disney to stop infringing the patent, which experts say is why Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support were pulled from Disney+ in Germany. 

Disney has publicly described the loss of Dolby Vision and HDR10+ as a “technical issue”, but has denied that the legal dispute is the real cause. At the same time, the company quietly removed all mentions of Dolby Vision from its European support pages, and those references have also disappeared from its US support site, hinting that the problem may not stay limited to Europe. InterDigital has argued that its innovations underpin much of the modern streaming industry and that companies like Disney must pay for licenses to use its intellectual property. 

For viewers, the practical impact is clear: many Disney+ titles now stream only in standard HDR10 instead of the richer Dolby Vision HDR10+ formats, which offer better contrast, brightness, and colour on compatible TVs. In Germany and some other European countries, the change started in late 2025 and became more visible in early 2026, with users reporting that Dolby Vision simply stopped working on apps for smart TVs, streaming boxes, and even Apple Vision Pro for 3D content. 

The current status is that Disney has not restored Dolby Vision or HDR10+ affected regions, and the legal case is still ongoing. InterDigital is also pursuing a separate patent case against Disney in a US federal court, raising concerns that Dolby Vision support on Disney+ could be at risk in North America as well if the company decides to preempt further injunctions. 

The Disney+ Dolby Vision dispute is a clash between a streaming giant and a patent-holding tech firm over how video compression and HDR technologies are licensed. Until the legal issues are resolved or Disney reaches a licensing deal with InterDigital, European subscribers will likely continue to miss out on some of the highest-quality HDR options they once paid for.