DVD Knowledge: DVD Region Code

DVD impacts the home entertainment significantly, especially for the movie fans. Recently, DVD has spurred growth in home theater with excellent picture and audio performance. DVD is very popular all around the world, so the question comes: region code.

There are six major geographical regions and other two specialized ones.


Simply speaking, DVDs and DVD players only can operation with a specific geographical region in the world. For example, Japan is in region 2. This means all the DVD players sold in Japan can only region 2 DVD discs. DVDs encoded for regions other than Region 2 cannot be played on a region 2 DVD player, The DVD discs are encrypted for a specific region. You can find a region number on the back of each DVD package.

The geographical regions are as follows:

REGION 1 -- USA, Canada


REGION 2 -- Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Greenland


REGION 3 -- S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Parts of South East Asia


REGION 4 -- Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (including Mexico)

REGION 5 -- Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Africa


REGION 6 -- China


REGION 7 -- Reserved for Unspecified Special Use


REGION 8 -- Reserved for Cruise Ships, Airlines, etc...


REGION 0 or REGION ALL -- Discs are uncoded and can be played worldwide, however, PAL discs must be played in a PAL-compatible unit and NTSC discs must be played in an NTSC-compatible unit.

The Reasons for DVD Region Coding


Now, I guess you will ask why DVD region code exists. It is a kind of tool to protect copyright and film distribution rights.


Normally, movies are released in theaters in different parts of the world at different times.


After the movie finish showing in theater in one area, there will be DVD version of the movie. If there is no region code, DVD version will be out oversea where theatrical release is available.

Region Coding - The Good and the Bad


Every coin has two sides. It is up to who you are. If you are a consumer who is waiting for the movie that’s available on DVD in your friends’ country, you have to wait a while. If you are movie studio executive, it is great for you to maximize your profit for the theatrical release. Whereas the DVD burner or creation is another method to gain more money.