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Region Code: Unlock Blu-ray and DVD Region Code

blu-ray-dvd-region-code

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in October 2016 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Region codes are basically DRM (digital rights management) techniques that allow studios to control the release of films in various regions. So, for example, they can release a new movie in the USA first, and then the UK, and then elsewhere.

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DVD Region codes

dvd-region

Region coding for DVDs is implemented at the drive level, with all DVD drives made since early 2000 required to implement region coding. Drives which enforce region control are known as RPC-2 ("region protection control"), while drives which do not are known as RPC-1.

In practice, an RPC-2 drive maintains a record of its current region setting in non-volatile firmware. Each time you put a disc into the drive that has a region code which differs from the drive's current setting, you will be prompted by the player to change the region on the drive. Even if you don’t attempt to play the disc, the drive will lock the data and not allow you to read the disc until you change the region. Typically, you can change the region on your RPC-2 drive a maximum of 5 times, after which the region is frozen and can no longer be changed.

Region Control Enhanced (RCE)

Drive level region control only applies to pre-recorded DVD discs, not to recordable discs. In an effort to close this loophole, the studios introduced a system called "Region Control Enhanced" (RCE). In RCE, the DVD player software reads the current region setting of the drive upon startup and provides this information to programs that run off of the disc. The RCE DVD includes a small program on the disc that queries the player to find the current region and refuses to play if the region does not match stored settings on the disc. RCE programs are now commonly included on major release discs as an additional protection measure.

dvd-region-codes-guide-map
Region Assigned Countries
1 United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, the Virgin Islands, and some islands in the Pacific
2 Japan, western Europe (including Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Balkans), South Africa, Turkey, and the Middle East (including Iran and Egypt)
3 Southeast Asia (including Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macau)
4 Australia, New Zealand, South America most of Central America, western New Guinea, and most of the South Pacific
5 Most of Africa, Russia, (and former Soviet states), Mongolia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, North Korea
6 China and Tibet
7 Unassigned Region
8 Special non-theatrical venues (airplanes, cruise ships and hotels)

Blu-ray Region codes

blu-ray-region

Blu-ray does not enforce region coding at the drive level. There are generally no restrictions on reading the data off of the disc even if the player and drive do not have matching regions. If the drive is a combination Blu-ray and DVD drive, however, it is possible that the drive may be RPC-2 region-locked for DVD playback but not for Blu-ray.

Blu-ray region control operates in a similar way to RCE on DVD discs. The Blu-ray player software allows programs that run from the disc to query the player to determine the player region. If the region does not match the disc, the program instructs the player to display a message saying that there is a region mismatch and that the disc cannot be played.

blu-ray-region-code-map-1024x474
Region Assigned Countries
A North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia
B Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand
C Pakistan, India, China, Russia, Central and South Asia

Remove region code from Blu-ray/DVD disc

Therefore, before purchasing Blu-ray or DVD disc, make sure that the region code on your disc is the same with your Blu-ray or DVD disc player.

However, sometimes, if the Blu-ray or DVD disc are borrowed from your friends or purchased from overseas, you have two ways:

First, enable your DVD or Blu-ray player to plays every region disc available, it is a litter diffcult to change the machine.

For your great convenience, the second is, got a special program to assist you to bypass Blu-ray/DVD region code.

blu-ray-ripper-screenshot

Required software: DVD Ripper or Blu-ray Ripper
Trial download: turn to Download center to get FREE TRAIL version

Most free conversion programs won't work with copy protected DVDs and Blu-rays disc. Here Brorsoft DVD Ripper or Blu-ray Ripper come outs, both of two can remove DVD disc region code. Brorsoft Blu-ray Ripper can not only remove DVD disc region code, but also remove Blu-ray disc region code well, just like the Blu-ray Player can play the DVD disc well. If you want to remove both Blu-ray and DVD disc region code, there is no harm in trying Blu-ray Ripper.

Besides, applying Brorsoft DVD Ripper or Blu-ray Ripper, all commercial protected DVDs and Blu-rays can be ripped to nearly all popular video and audio formats like MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, AAC, MP3 as you need for playback on different devices and media servers, such as Android, iPhone(7), HDTV, Plex, NAS, etc.

==> Guide: How to Remove Region Code from Blu-ray and DVD Movies

Download and install Brorsoft DVD Ripper or Blu-ray Ripper FREE TRAIL version on your Windows (10) PC. Follow the guide to remove Blu-ray and DVD region code step-by-step. For Mac users, please switch to Brorsoft DVD Ripper for Mac or Blu-ray Ripper for Mac (compatible with macOS High Sierra).

Here we take Windows Blu-ray Ripper screenshot, other program mentioned above share the same steps besides the tiny difference in interface.

Step 1. Load Blu-ray or DVD movies.

Run the Blu-ray Ripper, then click the disc like button to load your Blu-ray/DVD disc. The Blu-ray/DVD titles and chapters will be listed on the program within a few seconds.

blu-ray-to-windows-8-steps.gif

Tip: Before loading Blu-ray content, a BD drive is needed and computer should networked so that the ripper can access key for cracking the copy-protections.

Tip: If you need to rip Blu-ray/DVD with wanted subtitles and audio track, you can click the drop down menu after "Subtitles" and "Audio" to select your desired tracks. What’s more, it also offers an option called Forced subtitles, which enables you to see subtitles only when actors are speaking a different language.

choose-subtitles-for-note8.gif

Step 2. Choose output format

Select an compatible format, e.g. H.264 .mp4, since it is compatible with almost any devices and media players.

Basically the "Common Video -> H.264 Video (*.mp4)" is just all right.

Or depends on your device, you can choose a suitable video format from catalogues.

new-mp4-format.gif

Tip: If you think the video size this not suitable for your devices, you can first choose any one of the provided type, then change the settings. Please remember the file size is based more on bitrate than resolution which means bitrate higher results in bigger file size, and lower visible quality loss.

Step 3. Start to remove region code

When all the settings are OK, click "Convert" button to remove Blu-ray or DVD region code automaticlly(no extra steps or options you need do, bypass region code is automaticlly when you start converting).

You can view the conversion progress and are able to cancel the converting process at anytime..

When the conversion is over, click "open" to locate the ripped video files without region code.

Tips & Tricks

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