Ewelike Guides

Region Coding for DVD and Blu-ray

Guides

DVD and Blu-ray both use Region Codes (which differ between the two). These allow the studios to release a movie in different territories at different times. Region coding isn't popular - but we're stuck with it. Hopefully we can help you understand it a bit better below.

DVD Regions

DVD regions are split up into 7 (in a practical sense) different regions. Roughly, these are;

  • 0 - Region Free - in theory any DVD player can play/view Region 0 discs
  • 1 - North America
  • 2 - EU, Japan, Israel, Arab States, Turkey..
  • 3 - South Eastern Asia
  • 4 - South America & Caribbean
  • 5 - Africa, India, ex-Soviet States
  • 6 - China (excluding Hong Kong)

Before progressing it's worth stating that DVD region coding is more complex than Blu-ray's scheme. This is because;

  • DVDs also vary according to their display mechanism according to the territory (and this varies the resolution/number of pixels that they use and the refresh rate) - for example PAL is used in Europe, SECAM in other parts of Europe, and NTSC in North America
  • DVDs are easily (and widely) available in "Region Free" versions that will play discs for other regions
  • Few DVDs are "Region Free"
  • Some advanced schemes prevent Region Free players from viewing some DVDs

For more information see our guide on DVD or Wikipedia's article on DVD Regions.

Blu-ray

Unlike HD-DVD Sony chose to implement a region coding scheme, however, it's not mandatory for studios to use it, and some studios leave some discs are Region Free (these are known informally as "Region 0" or "Region Free" discs).

Blu-ray's scheme is considerably simpler than DVD: the world is split into 3 regions and at present a fair number of discs are not Region Free.

Blu-rays regions are;

  1. 0 - Region Free - in theory any Blu-ray player can play/view Region 0 discs
  2. A (aka 1) - The Americas and East and South-east Asia
  3. B (aka 2) - Africa, Europe, Middle East, Australasia.
  4. C (aka 3) - Central and Southern Asia, Russia and China

As an aid to our users we try and maintain a list of Region Free Blu-ray discs. Users can then import these discs from the cheapest source and play them regardless of their region.

For more information see Wikipedia's excellent Region Coding Information.