How to Rent Movies on Amazon

Select the rent button on the Prime Video website or app to watch movies even without a membership

What to Know

  • Rent: Locate the movie on the Prime Video website or app, select a rent option, then choose Continue.
  • Download: Find the title from the Purchases area of the app, and select Download from its menu.
  • You have 30 days to start watching the movie rental. Once you begin the stream, it'll expire within the next week.

This article explains how to find and rent a streaming movie from Amazon, plus how to download the video for offline use. Don't forget Amazon offers free movies; those are explained below as well.

How to Rent Movies on Amazon

You can rent movies from Prime Video on your computer or through the Prime Video app. These screenshots are for the desktop version, but all the menu buttons are the same in the app.

  1. Visit Prime Video from a computer or open the app.

  2. Locate the movie you want to rent.

    A list of Amazon movies you can buy or rent

    Use the Store > Rent or buy menu to easily find all the movie rental options. The Categories menu is handy if you know what genre you're interested in.

  3. Select a rent option that corresponds to the quality you're interested in (e.g., UHD, HD, or SD). Depending on the device and movie, this button might be called Rent movie or Rent. Select More purchase options to see all the options.

    An Amazon movie rental called The Other Zoey
  4. Confirm by selecting Continue (website) or Confirm rental (mobile app).

    The Confirm rental prompt on an Amazon movie rental page

    You'll be charged immediately. If you rent a movie by accident choose Cancel your order right there on that same page to undo the Amazon purchase. Act quickly and don't start the stream or it will become non-refundable.

  5. That's it! You can start the movie immediately by selecting Watch now.

    The watch now button on a rented movie on Amazon

    To stream the movie later, open Amazon's Purchases & Rentals page by going to Account & Lists > Video Purchases & Rentals. If you're in the app, tap your profile icon and then tap Purchases.

How to Download Amazon Rentals and Purchases

Only select titles are available for download, and only on compatible devices. Here's how to download the newly rented movie from the Prime Video Android app:

  1. Select the menu button at the top-right of the screen.

  2. Select the Purchases tab.

  3. Choose the movie you want to save offline, or tap the menu next to it, and then select Download.

    The download option for a Prime Video movie rental

How Amazon Rentals Work

Renting a movie on Amazon lets you watch the film as many times as you want for a limited number of days, usually two or seven, depending on the film. This service is part of Prime Video, but you don't need to be an Amazon Prime member to take advantage of it.

Any Amazon user can browse Prime Video for movie rentals. Movies have a full description, trailer, list of stars from the film, and user reviews. Renting takes just a click or two.

You can watch rented movies from your computer or any other device that supports Prime Video, including phones, tablets, and TVs.

The way it works is very similar to other streaming services like YouTube and Netflix. After browsing for something to rent and then paying for it, all the watching happens either in your browser or through an app.

Amazon Movie Rental Limitations

There are two important restrictions to note about renting from Prime Video: you have 30 days to start watching the movie and then a limited number of hours or days from then before it expires. Some movies give you seven days, but others place a 48-hour limit; you'll see this before and after you make the purchase.

This means you can rent a movie today and wait a few weeks to start watching it, but the moment you press play is when the expiration timer starts.

You can rent movies than once if they expire and you want to watch them again, but there's also an option to buy movies on Prime Video so they're yours to watch for as long as you like.

Are There Free Movies on Amazon?

Amazon Prime subscribers have access to a selection of free titles as part of their subscription. Whether you're a Prime member or not, you can identify these titles because they say Watch with a Prime membership. Another way is to browse all the videos included with Prime.

Another way to get free movies from Amazon is through Freevee. It's a free, ad-supported movie streaming service owned by Amazon and also hosted on the Prime Video website. To find those, look for the ads label.

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