DVD Player: About DVD-Video Regions

Learn about DVD-Video disc region codes and how DVD Region Manager software works with the DVD Player application to implement them.


Region encoding is the mechanism that enables motion picture studios to control the worldwide release of their movies. It is required by the DVD Forum (http://www.dvdforum.org/forum.shtml) in all commercial hardware DVD players. Every DVD-Video disc contains one byte of data representing a region code, which limits where the disc can be played. Region codes correspond to the following areas of the globe:

1. Canada, United States, and U.S. territories
   
2. Japan, Middle East, South Africa, Western Europe
   
3. East Asia, Southeast Asia
   
4. Australia, Caribbean islands, Central America, Mexico, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, South America
   
5. Africa, Eastern Europe, India, Mongolia, North Korea
   
6. China
   
7. Reserved
   
8. Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, and so forth)

Discs with the region byte set to all zeros (sometimes called Region 0) can be played in any part of the world. Region 0 DVD-Video discs, such as those created by iDVD, do not have a geographical boundary. However, your DVD player and television must be compatible with the video standard used to record the movie on the disc. You should be able to play any Region 0 DVD-Video disc with the DVD Player application since it is compatible with all video standards.

DVD players--including Apple's DVD Player--are generally limited to playing discs of only one region, usually the region where the DVD player was purchased. For example, DVD players purchased in Canada usually only play Region 1 DVD-Video discs.

The Apple DVD Player is capable of playing discs from any region. Once you play a disc, the DVD drive stores the disc's region in its memory (called firmware) and limits you to playing discs from that region. In Mac OS 9, the region is automatically assigned by the Region Manager software when the first region-encoded disc is loaded into the drive.

In Mac OS X, this dialog box appears the first time a DVD disc is inserted:

"Since this is the first use of a DVD disc, the drive region code must be initialized before playing.

"New Drive Setting: Region Code 1

"You can only change the drive region code 5 more times."

DVD region dialog box

The region on the drive is set after clicking Set Drive Region. A similar dialog appears for any subsequent discs that have a different region code.

Apple's DVD Region Manager software allows you to change the region the DVD drive is set to use up to five times. On the fifth time, the drive is permanently set to use that region, and you cannot make any more changes. For example, you have both a Region 1 and Region 2 DVD-Video disc. You insert the Region 1 disc and DVD Player is now set to play only Region 1 discs. You insert the Region 2 disc, and DVD Player is now set to play only Region 2 discs. If you continue to switch between the discs, on the fifth time the DVD drive is permanently set to use the region of that disc.

In Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and later, users with administrative privileges aren't prompted to change the region the very first time a DVD-Video disc of a single region is inserted. Instead, the region of the DVD drive is automatically set to the region of the DVD disc that was inserted. Accounts that don't have administrative privileges must authenticate with an administrator account name and password, because changing the drive's region code requires administrative privileges.

Related documents

If you have Apple DVD Player 1.0, see "Apple DVD Player 1.0: Limited to Region 1 DVD-Video Discs" for information about playing discs of regions other than 0 or 1.