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Welcome to Brain Stuff from howstuffworks.com, where smart happens.

Marshall Brain

Hi, I’m Marshall Brain with today’s question, why can I play some DVD movies but not others on my computer’s DVD ROM player? DVD movies have region codes and they typically only play on a player or DVD ROM drive sold in the country where the DVD movie was sold. The actually region code is in one byte on the DVD. The DVD player or drive has a region code in its firmware. Personal computer DVD ROM players often have the code either in their software or their mpg2 decoder.

The two codes must match for the player or drive to play the movie. The code is also printed on the back of the DVD package superimposed on a small image of the globe. Region code protection is used by the movie studios to thwart an authorized duplication of their copyrighted material and to control the worldwide release dates. Movie studios agreed to the DVD format when DVD manufacturers agreed to put a region code on every disc. DVD region locking is used to control which DVD movies play in which regions or groups of countries.

Movies are often released on different dates around the world. Region one has its own player that will only play region one discs. Likewise, region two players only play region two discs and so on. The six region codes are, 1.) United States and Canada, 2.) Europe and Japan, 3.) Southeast Asia, 4.) Latin America and Australia, 5.) Russia and the rest of Asia and Africa, 6.) China.

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