DVD region code
DVD video discs may be encoded with a region code restricting the area of the world in which they can be played. Discs without region coding are called all region or region 0 discs.
The commercial DVD player specification requires that a player to be sold in a given place not play discs encoded for a different region (region 0 discs are not restricted). The purpose of this is to allow motion picture studios to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and, especially, price, according to the region. Many DVD players are or can be modified to be region-free, allowing playback of all discs.
Region code Area
0 Informal term meaning "worldwide". Region 0 is not an official setting; discs that bear the region 0 symbol either have no flag set or have region 1–6 flags set.
1 Canada, United States; U.S. territories; Bermuda
2 Western and Central Europe; Western Asia; Egypt, Japan, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho; United Kingdom, Turkey, French overseas territories
3 Southeast Asia; South Korea; Taiwan; Hong Kong; Macau
4 Australia; New Zealand; Oceania; Central and South America; Caribbean; Mexico
5 Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Africa, Central and South Asia, Mongolia, North Korea.
6 China
7 Reserved for future use (found in use on protected screener copies of MPAA-related DVDs and "media copies" of pre-releases in Asia)
8 International venues such as aircraft, cruise ships, etc.
ALL Region ALL discs have all 8 flags set, allowing the disc to be played in any locale on any player.
DVDs sold in the Baltic States use both region 2 and 5 codes. DVDs sold in Japan use the region 2 code while Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use the region 3 code. Region 0 (playable in all regions, except 7/8) is widely used by China, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. DVDs in Latin American Spanish use both the region 1 and region 4 codes. Most DVDs in India combine the region 2, region 4, and region 5 codes; Disney discs contain only the region 3 code.
European region 2 DVDs may be sub-coded "D1" to "D4". "D1" are United Kingdom–only releases; "D2" and "D3" are not sold in the UK and Ireland; "D4" are distributed throughout Europe.
Any combination of regions can be applied to a single disc. For example, a DVD designated Region 2/4 is suitable for playback in Western Europe, Oceania, and any other Region 2 or Region 4 area. So-called "Region 0" and "ALL" discs are meant to be playable worldwide.
The term "Region 0" also describes the DVD players designed or modified to incorporate Regions 1–6, thereby providing compatibility with most discs, regardless of region. This apparent solution was popular in the early days of the DVD format, but studios quickly responded by adjusting discs to refuse to play in such machines. This system is known as "Regional Coding Enhancement".
It may be difficult for American companies to enforce their copyright rights in the countries in the Region 5 area, and thus they may release Region 5 DVDs earlier than Region 1 DVDs to encourage consumers to opt for a legal version, rather than a pirated copy of a DVD screener. Many of the countries in the region 5 area were historically either incapable of or unwilling to uphold American copyrights. In many of the countries in the Region 5 area, war or extreme poverty make intellectual property rights a low-priority interest for the governmentsdubious – discuss. See also R5 (bootleg).
Implementations of region codes
Standalone DVD players
Usually a configuration flag is set in each player's firmware at the factory. This flag holds the region number that the machine is allowed to play. Region-free players are DVD players shipped without the ability to enforce regional lockout (usually by means of a chip that ignores any region coding), or without this flag set. This was partly a result of a landmark ACCC case in which the High Court of Australia ruled that region lockouts breached fair trade and market competition practices.
However, if the player is not region-free, it can often be unlocked with an unlock code entered via the remote control. This code simply allows the user to change the factory-set configuration flag to another region, or to the special region "0". Once unlocked this way, the DVD player allows the owner to watch DVDs from any region. Many websites exist on the Internet offering these codes, often known informally as hacks. Many websites provide instructions for different models of standalone DVD players, to hack, and their factory codes.
Computer DVD drives
Older DVD drives use RPC-1 firmware, which means the drive allows DVDs from any region to play. Newer drives use RPC-2 firmware, which enforces the DVD region coding at the hardware level. These drives can often be reflashed or hacked with Australia and New Zealand (hardware region coding prohibited by law in these countries) RPC-1 firmware, effectively making the drive region-free. However, this usually voids the warranty.
If you insert a DVD in to some computer drives, you can change the region code to play each DVD. (i.e. change region code up to 5 times)
Software DVD players
Most freeware and open source DVD players, such as VLC, ignore region coding. Most commercial players are locked to a region code, but can be easily changed with software.
Other software, known as DVD region killers, transparently remove (or hide) the DVD region code from the software player. Some can also work around locked RPC-2 firmware.
DVD Discs
One can circumvent the region coding of a DVD disc by burning a copy that adds flags for all region codes, creating an all-region DVD. DVD backup software can do this, and can usually remove Macrovision, CSS, and disabled user operations (UOPs) as well.