What are region codes?

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)

How is the region code set?

The first time you insert a DVD disc in Mac OS