How to Find and Use Netflix’s Secret Category Codes to Fine-Tune Your Streaming

Netflix has nailed down your taste—or so it thinks. In order to more effectively suggest movies and TV shows that you’re likely to watch, the streaming service comes up with categories it thinks you’re interested in and serves up increasingly niche suggestions until you’re stuck in a loop, missing out on most of the content you’re paying for.

But there’s a way to access the thousands of category codes Netflix uses instead of just the dozen or so you might commonly come across. With a few simple steps, you can see them all and unlock a whole new way to browse the platform

Find the Codes

Netflix has organized everything it has to offer by interests and given each one a number code, a practice that dates all the way back to its DVD days. There are a few places to find these codes.

Netflix-Codes.com has a big list of the basics, sorted into nearly two dozen overarching categories like Foreign Movies, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, with subcategories under each. Just looking at the list might inspire something new for you, like a discovery of Deep-Sea Horror Movies (code 45028).

To get more in depth, visit What’s on Netflix’s list of every movie and series category. Right now it has over 4,000 category codes, which are organized alphabetically and are searchable.

(Credit: Netflix/PCMag)

Netflix itself recently gave the lowdown on some of its latest and quirkiest categories on its companion site, Tudum. You can find things like Very Demure, Very Mindful (code 81931239) from the TikTok sensation Jools Lebron herself, Don’t Watch Hungry (code 3272152) for armchair foodies, and Schemers & Scammers (code 81493295) for those preparing to watch Anna Delvey on next season’s Dancing With the Stars.

How to Add the Codes

To sort through the selections on your account, you’re going to have to use a browser. Go to Netflix.com/browse/genre and then type a slash after that, followed by the code of your choice, and press Enter. You can then look through all that’s on offer and add to your list so that you can then watch what you’ve chosen from any device.

Get More of What You Want to Watch

(Credit: Netflix/PCMag)

If you’ve seen something you really like and want more like it, open the show on Netflix in a web browser and make note of the ID number at the end of the URL that appears after “title.” Then type the URL netflix.com/browse/similars/ in your browser and put that ID at the end.

About Chandra Steele

Senior Features Writer

My title is Senior Features Writer, which is a license to write about absolutely anything if I can connect it to technology (I can). I’ve been at PCMag since 2011 and have covered the surveillance state, vaccination cards, ghost guns, voting, ISIS, art, fashion, film, design, gender bias, and more. You might have seen me on TV talking about these topics or heard me on your commute home on the radio or a podcast. Or maybe you’ve just seen my Bernie meme. 

I strive to explain topics that you might come across in the news but not fully understand, such as NFTs and meme stocks. I’ve had the pleasure of talking tech with Jeff Goldblum, Ang Lee, and other celebrities who have brought a different perspective to it. I put great care into writing gift guides and am always touched by the notes I get from people who’ve used them to choose presents that have been well-received. Though I love that I get to write about the tech industry every day, it’s touched by gender, racial, and socioeconomic inequality and I try to bring these topics to light. 

Outside of PCMag, I write fiction, poetry, humor, and essays on culture.

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