DVD region codes

DVD movies, players and drives are coded according to their geographic region. The purpose of the coding is to allow regions to determine when a DVD movie can be released to the public without conflict. For example, if a DVD were released in the U.S. that had not yet played in British theaters, unrestricted use of the DVD in England could impinge on subsequent theater sales in Britain. The region codes do not apply to DVD-ROM, DVD-Audio and recordable or rewritable DVDs. See CSS.

 Region
 Code  Location

   0   Unrestricted

   1   U.S. and territories, Canada and Bermuda

   2   U.K., Western Europe, Greenland,
        Japan, Middle East, Egypt,
        South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland

   3   Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea,
        Phillipines, Indonesia, Malaysia

   4   Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands,
        Mexico, Central America, South America
        Caribbean Islands

   5   Russia, Eastern Europe, Mongolia, India,
        All of Africa not in Region 2, North Korea

   6   China

   7   Reserved (used for screening pre-releases)

   8   Airlines, Cruise ships