Step-by-Step Tutorial on Removing DVD Region Restrictions for Global Playback

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How to Make DVDs Region Free and Unlock DVD Player Regions

By Bella Brown ｜Last updated on July 5, 2022

“I boutght a DVD from Southeast Asia on a trip and found it not playing on my DVD player (US). I know it restricts playback of some DVDs but how many regions are there and is there a drive that supports all regions.”

“Whenever I try to run a DVD I get a note ‘Your system is set to region 2. to play this DVD set your system to region 4’.”

Can’t play a foreign DVD due to region codes? Do you need to buy a region-free DVD player in order to play a disc from other country? Here we will talk about DVD copy protection and how to make DVD region free. Instead of a region free DVD player, you can convert region 1/2/3/4/5/6 DVDs and unlock your DVD player region to play any DVD in U.S, Europe, China, etc.

Make All DVDs Region Free in Clicks

MacX DVD Ripper Pro will rip regional DVDs and make all DVDs region codes free. It will remove Region-code enhanced (RCE) and protections incl. CSS, Sony ARccOS, Disney X-project protection, etc. Convert region-locked DVDs to region-free MPEG2, MKV, ISO image, MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, MPEG4, H.264 etc. for free playback. No need to resetting DVD drive.

Download for PC Download for Mac

How to Make DVD Region Free:

Part 1: What’s a DVD Region Code

DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique created to enable motion picture studios to control the worldwide release of their movies, including content, release date and price, based upon the region. To be specific, region-free discs will play on any player, irrespective of the country. But for the region-locked DVDs, they are unplayable on the DVD player sold in other regions.

Generally, DVDs are embedded with six major region codes, along with two additional regions reserved for other purposes. Below are the detailed geographical regions:

R1/Region 1 - U.S.A., U.S. Territories and Canada
R2/Region 2 - Europe, Japan, the Middle East, Egypt, South Africa, Greenland
R3/Region 3 - Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong
R4/Region 4 - Mexico, South and Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Caribbean
R5/Region 5 - Russia, Eastern Europe, India, Africa (excluding South Africa), North Korea, Mongolia
R6/Region 6 - China

DVD Region Codes

Note: Discs that bear region 0 (commonly referred as region free) or region all means they are uncoded and can be played worldwide. But for the PAL-formatted discs, please make sure you are using a PAL-compatible unit to play the discs. While similar to PAL, NTSC discs are playable in an NTSC-compatible unit.

Part 2: How to Change the Region Codes of Your DVD Player

As it is mentioned above, DVD Players and discs are identified within a specific geographic region in the world. A DVD from region 1 is only playable in the DVD player originated from region 1. The same is true for region 2,3,4,5 and 6. For instance, the region 1 DVDs are only playable in DVD players purchased in the U.S. or Canada. The region 2 DVDs won’t play in a standard DVD player you bought from Mexico. So it’s advised to take a look at the region code on the back of the DVD package and be sure the DVD you’re going to purchase is compatible with your DVD player. Consequently, for movie lovers who live in USA but want to play DVDs from Europe, Japan or countries other than those of region 1, to change the regions becomes top of priority. So how to overcome DVD region code, change DVD from region 1 to region 2 or make the DVD region free? Moving on.

For window users, 5 times are allowed to change DVD region code as below:

Click the Start menu and then Control Panel;
Double-click the Device Manger;
Click on the + near DVD/CD-ROM drives and double-click on the entry below the DVD/CD-ROM drives;
Click the DVD Region tab after the window opens;
Select the Region in which you’d like to change to and hit OK.

Note: the Region Code cannot be changed, even though the OS is reinstalled or the DVD Drive is moved to another PC.

For Mac users, 4 more chances too to rip DVD from region to region:

A dialog box that urges you to choose a region for your DVD drive is opened once you insert the DVD into the optical drive on your Mac.
Consult the DVD package to verify the code.
Click Change Drive Region to and click the region code.
Click Set Drive Region.
Click on the Lock icon to save your settings.

Part 3: How to Make Your DVD Player Region Free

Once you have set the region in your DVD player five times, it will be locked to the last region code that you set. What can you do? You can use DVD hacks to unlock the DVD region of your DVD player. To hack a DVD player, you need to get the hack codes first. You can go to the forum videohelp to check if anyone has shared a hack code for the model of your DVD player. The steps to unlock DVD players from different manufacturers are different. Below we will show you how to hack a LG DVD player (it also works with Sony, Samsung, Panasonic DVD players):

Turn DVD player ON without a disc in the tray or USB stick inserted. “No Disc”should appear on the screen.
When the main menu appears, press the REPEAT button.
Next, enter a code of the region you need. For example, to unlock Samsung DVD player, the hack codes are:
1 – 2 9 3 3 4 (US)
2 – 5 7 5 3 8 (Europe)
3 – 5 6 7 3 2 (South East Asia)
4 – 7 6 8 8 4 (South America)
5 – 5 3 8 1 4 (India, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Africa)
6 – 2 4 4 6 2 (China)
9 - Region Free
For example, if you want to make the DVD player region free, press 9.
Then turn off and on and your DVD player will now be region free.

Part 4: How to Make DVDs Region Free Permanently

MacX DVD Ripper Pro is an all-region/region 0/region free DVD region code remover for Mac/PC. It can copy and rip DVD even encrypted with region code enhanced, region 1-6, and copy protections like CSS, Sony ARccOS, Disney X-project protection, etc. It will save the region-free DVD video in MPEG2, MKV, ISO image with 100% quality and convert DVDs to MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, MPEG4, H264, etc. Whether you have region 1 DVD or region 2 DVD, you can play them on your DVD player, TVs, iPhone, iPad, Android, other devices freely.

Download for PC Download for Mac

Step 1: Free download and install the region free DVD ripper, run it and insert a regional DVD, click “DVD Disc” button. It will start to detect the DVD region codes and other copy protections.

DVD region code remover

Step 2: Once finished scanning, the program will automatically remove the DVD region codes /protections and pop up an output format window. Choose an output format based on your needs. With 1000+ output profiles, you can convert the region encoded new DVD movies to any devices.

Step 3: Click “Browse” button in output setting area and select a destination folder to save your converted video.

How to make DVD region free

Step 4: Hit “RUN” button and start to rip copy protected DVD. After that, the converted DVD is region free and playable on any media player.

Notice: We only advocate using those best Mac DVD rippers to copy and rip DVDs under the concept of Fair Use and do not encourage any illegal reproduction or distribution of copyrighted content. Please abide by the local DVD copyright law before doing it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bella Brown

Bella has been working with DVD digitization for over 12 years. She writes articles about everything related to DVD, from disc drive, DVD copyright protection, physical structure, burning and backup tips. The unceasing passion of DVD movies helps her build a rich DVD library and ensure a practical solution to address almost all possible DVD issues. Bella is also a crazy fan for Apple products.

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Step-by-Step Tutorial on Removing DVD Region Restrictions for Global Playback