DVD region

DVD (digital versatile disc) region codes are a digital rights management technique designed to allow film distributors and television companies to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region.

This is achieved by way of region-locked DVD players, which will play back only DVDs encoded to their region (plus those without any region code). The American DVD Copy Control Association also requires that DVD player manufacturers incorporate the regional-playback control (RPC) system. However, region-free DVD players, which ignore region coding, are also commercially available, and many DVD players can be modified to be region-free, allowing playback of all discs.

DVDs may use one code, a combination of codes (multi-region), every code (all region) or no codes (region free).

DVDs in Hispanophone Latin America and Mexico use both the region 1 and region 4 codes.

DVDs sold in the Baltic states use both region 2 and 5 codes, having previously been in region 5 (due to historic links with the USSR) but EU single market law concerning the free movement of goods necessitating a switch to region 2.

Region 0 (playable in all regions except 7 and 8) is widely used by China and the Philippines.

Most DVDs in India combine the region 2, region 4, and region 5 codes, or are region 0; Indian Disney discs contain only the region 3 code.

European region 2 DVDs may be sub-coded "D1" to "D4". "D1" are the UK 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.

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