About DVD Region Codes: Everything You Need to Know!

Greeted with an error message like “Can’t play this disc due to region restrictions” when you try to enjoy a newly bought DVD? It’s frustrating but also easy to fix so long as you have basic knowledge of region codes. In this article, we will cover everything you need to know about DVD region codes and offer tips to remove the annoying restrictions for hassle-free DVD playback.

Simply put, DVD region codes are a DRM (Digital Rights Management) system used by DVD manufacturers to restrict the playback of DVDs to specific geographic regions.

Most commercial DVDs are regional-coded and can only be played on a DVD player that was manufactured with the same region code as the DVD.

Protect copyright holders? Yes. Region codes do help prevent piracy. However, that’s just one of its purposes. They are primarily used to give film distributors full control over the international distribution of their DVDs, including content, release dates, and prices.

There are two main ways to find your DVD region codes:

Check it on DVD packaging: You can usually find the region code number printed over a small globe icon on the back of the DVD package cover.

Check it on the disc itself: The region code might also be printed directly on the disc, often near the center hub or on the outer edge.

If the disc can be played in multiple regions, it will have more than one number. If there’s no region code displayed or it says “0” or “ALL”, then the DVD is region-free.

The DVD world is currently divided into 6 geographical regions, along with two additional regions reserved for specialized use.

The following chart outlines all DVD region codes and the corresponding geographical areas. With this DVD region maps, you can quickly figure out what the region codes are used in your area:

As mentioned, to play region coded DVDs, the DVD player should also be set to the same region. If their region codes don’t match, you’ll get a Region Code Error message. For example, the region code in the UK is 2 and the UK DVD players can only play Region 2 DVDs. If you attempt to play a DVD released in China using the region code 6, it will most likely reject the disc and pop up the wrong region error.

However, this doesn’t mean the foreign region-locked DVDs cannot be played in your country. In the next section, we’ll guide you on how to remove the region code limit so that you can enjoy the DVD in any country.

Before proceeding with the guide, it’s important to note that many commercial DVDs contain not only region codes, but also other copy protection schemes such as DVD CSS, Multi-angle, RCE, etc., which could also cause playback failures on your DVD player. Additionally, the NTSC and PAL standards have an impact on the DVD playback as well.

Aside from using a region-matched DVD player, you can try these methods:

Method 1. Buy a region-free DVD player.
Method 2. Change the DVD drive region.
Method 3. Make a region-free digital copy of your DVD.

Here, we’ll focus on the method 2 & 3.

DVD region codes exist mainly for the benefit of film studios. For customers, these codes often cause problems, such as the “Wrong Region Code” error. Fortunately, when you have a basic understanding of DVD region codes, you will know how to handle foreign DVDs with ease. Hope this article helps. Thanks for reading. Have a great day!