# What is Digital Rights Management (DRM)?

> Digital rights management (DRM) is the use of policy, cryptography, licensing, and trusted software or hardware to control how digital content may be accessed and used.

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## Content

A DRM system can express and enforce conditions concerning who or what may open content, for how long, on which devices, and whether copying, printing, modification, or redistribution is permitted.

A typical design encrypts content and releases a usable key or license after checking identity, device, entitlement, time, or other constraints. Rights expressions, license services, client enforcement, output controls, and sometimes fingerprinting or watermarking work together; the exact model varies by media and business context.

### Key points

- **Policy and entitlement:** Define permitted actions and constraints for an asset, associate them with users, accounts, subscriptions, roles, or devices, and maintain revocation or expiry rules.
- **Protected delivery:** Encrypt or package content, authenticate the license transaction, protect keys, and bind authorization decisions to a client or execution environment where appropriate.
- **Enforcement and evidence:** Have the authorized client enforce supported restrictions and record relevant license or usage events while respecting privacy, retention, and legal requirements.
- **Important limitation:** DRM does not ensure control after content is legitimately rendered to a person or output device. Screen capture, recording, re-creation, compromised clients, stolen credentials, implementation flaws, and analog outputs can bypass restrictions.

### Related terms

[Encryption](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/encryption/>) · [Data protection](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/data-protection/>) · [Data loss prevention (DLP)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/data-loss-prevention/>) · [Access control](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/access-control/>) · [Data classification](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/data-classification/>)

### Sources

[ISO/IEC 23078-1:2024: Digital Rights Management](https://www.iso.org/standard/84956.html) · [W3C ODRL Information Model 2.2](https://www.w3.org/TR/odrl-model/) · [W3C Encrypted Media Extensions Recommendation](https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/REC-encrypted-media-20170918/)

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