Description of DVD Region Codes - KB Article - 162854

Summary - Description of DVD Region Codes

This article discusses DVD region codes. DVD movies use region codes to represent the geographical area in which DVD playback is intended. This article describes what DVD region codes are, lists the DVD region codes, and contains information about how DVD region codes are used.

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DVD Region Codes

DVD movies have one or more region codes. Region codes represent the region or the regions of the world in which DVD playback is intended. Region codes help prevent playback of certain DVD discs in certain regions. For example, a DVD movie that is set to a certain region can only be played on a DVD player that is set to that same region.

Region codes appear as a label that contains a globe icon together with the region number. (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Example of the Label for Region 1

One or more region codes can be applied to a DVD movie. Region codes can be used in the following ways:

• Single region: A single-region DVD disc can only be played in one region. Only one region number appears in the globe icon.
• Multiple region: A multiple-region DVD disc can be played in more than one region. More than one region number appears in the globe icon.
• Non-regionalized: A non-regionalized DVD disc does not use regional coding. A non-regionalized DVD disc label may or may not have a globe icon. If the disc label does have a globe icon, the word ALL appears instead of a region number.

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DVD Region Code Areas

The DVD region codes and the countries and regions of the world that they represent are listed as follows:

• Region 1: USA, U.S. territories, and Canada
• Region 2: Europe, Japan, the Middle East, Egypt, South Africa, and Greenland
• Region 3: Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Hong Kong
• Region 4: Mexico, South America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, and the Caribbean
• Region 5: Russia, Eastern Europe, India, Africa (excluding South Africa), and Mongolia
• Region 6: People's Republic of China
• Region 7: Not yet defined
• Region 8: Special venues such as airplanes and cruise ships

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DVD Region Code Security

When trying to play a DVD movie that is coded for a region other than the region for which a DVD player is configured, a region code lock error message appears. In most cases, the region setting can be changed on the DVD player.

Some DVD players may only let the region be changed a specific number of times. For example, a DVD player may only allow five region changes. After the limit is reached, the DVD player is locked to the last region that was selected and only DVD discs that are set to that particular region can be played.

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