What are “regional codes,” “country codes,” or “zone codes”?
Motion picture studios want to control the home release of movies in different countries because theater releases aren’t simultaneous. Therefore they required that the DVD standard include codes to prevent playback of certain discs in certain geographical regions. Each player is given a code for the region in which it’s sold. The player will refuse to play discs that are not coded for its region. This means that a disc bought in one country may not play on a player bought in another country. Regional codes are entirely optional for the maker of a disc. Discs without region locks will play on any player in any country. It’s not an encryption system, it’s just one byte of information on the disc that the player checks. Region codes don’t apply to DVD-Audio, DVD-ROM, or recordable DVD. Seven regions (also called locales or zones) have been defined, and each one is assigned a number, 1 -7, plus 8 for airlines & cruise ships. Technically there is no such thing as a region zero disc or a reg
