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 1 Players/DVDs include: Canada, United States, US Territories, and Bermuda. See below:
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;
United Kingdom,
Turkey,
French overseas territories
3
Southeast Asia;
South Korea;
Taiwan;
Hong Kong
4
Australia;
Oceania;
Central and
South America;
Caribbean;
Mexico
5
Ukraine,
Belarus,
Russia,
Africa,
Central and
South Asia,
Mongolia,
North Korea.
6
China,
Hong Kong
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.
[1]
ALL
Region ALL discs have all 8 flags set, allowing the disc to be played in any locale on any player.
