FairPlay (FairPlay Streaming) is Apple's DRM system, the only one that works on Safari, iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS. Any platform that wants to deliver protected content to Apple devices — a large and high-value audience — must support FairPlay alongside Widevine and PlayReady. It integrates with HLS and Apple's playback stack rather than the EME/CDM path used by browsers.
FairPlay's defining technical constraint is encryption scheme: it requires the cbcs (AES-CBC) variant of Common Encryption. Historically Widevine and PlayReady used cenc (AES-CTR), so serving all three from one set of files was impossible — until the industry converged on cbcs, which Widevine and PlayReady now also support. cbcs is therefore the key to true single-copy multi-DRM with CMAF.
FairPlay licenses are delivered through Apple's Key Security Module flow; the platform runs a FairPlay-capable license server and provisions the application certificate Apple requires.
The handbook · 7 volumes
Fora Soft Video Engineering Handbook
FairPlay is the only DRM that reaches Safari, iOS, and Apple TV, and it requires cbcs-encrypted HLS. The seven volumes cover the video stack; for FairPlay start with Volume 3 on DRM, key delivery, and players, then Volume 2 on HLS and CMAF packaging, with encoding in Volume 1. Written by Nikolay Sapunov, CEO at Fora Soft.
Adding FairPlay so protected content plays on iPhone, Safari, and Apple TV?
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